If you're anything like me, chances are you've found yourself somewhere you don't know too well, almost out of gas, and have no idea where the nearest gas station is. At times like these you'll want something that can steer you in the right direction quickly and easily, right? Well, as they say, there's an app for that! Recently put up as "App of the week" for the New Zealand app store, Localscope is just the kind of app you need if you fancy a drive through some remote town, or even if you just find yourself waiting for a friend who has just told you they'll be half an hour late. With this app you can search for whatever it is you're feeling like, and it'll tell you where the nearest vendor of said goods is. Now there are a few apps that do this type of thing. FindNZ is a very popular one, perhaps the main reason being that it's free.

And while it does do it's job well, it's not particularly fancy. What really separates Localscope is the intuitive features they've incorporated, such as being able to view a list of the nearest amenities, or switch to a map view that shows where you are as well as little pins showing what's close by. The third and final option you have is the "Augmented reality" where you simply point the camera in a direction, and it'll tell you what is in that direction. It's an amazingly well incorporated feature, and works extremely well.

Something else this does that others don't is have the option of multiple search engines, either Google, Bing, Foursquare, Twitter, or Wikimapia. I personally have found Google to be enough, but the extra engines are simply more incentive to buy, in my opinion. The twitter search also shows the nearest Twitterer, which is pretty fancy. Once you've found what you want, you have various options to choose from. The phone number is there, so all it takes is one click to ring them; perfect if you need to book a restaurant. You can also open either Google maps, Tom Tom, or Navigon to navigate you there, depending on which you own and/or prefer. You can add the listing as a contact, or set it as your current location. You can also share the location via an SMS, email, or post it on your Facebook or Twitter page.

All in all, in my opinion at least, this app trumps all others in its class. Nothing comes close to the Augmented reality option, and the amount of other features it has really make it worth it. For less than the price of a decent coffee, you'll always know where the nearest good coffee shop is. By all means though, let us know your opinion, tell us if you've heard of another app that does the job better, or post some features that I may have missed.