It's an age old problem. Well, ok, only an age old problem if you have plenty of money and leisure time to spend time exploring the mountain ranges of the world - TouchMountain is an innovative tool for Windows Phone that marries up the sensors in your smartphone to bring GPS-accurate data to an augmented reality view on your device's screen. Which peak is which, around you, how high are they and how far away? TouchMountain is here to help.

From the Store description:

TouchMountain is the perfect tourist guide in the mountains and lets you discover peaks worldwide. You can find nearby mountains on the camera's viewfinder (Augmented Reality), on the map, via the search or on the list.

TouchMountain offers a whole bunch of information of every peak: elevation, distance to the peak, live webcams, wikipedia articles of the surroundings, weather and other useful information about the place. You can see the peaks through the camera (Augmented Reality), on a map or in a list! This app also includes dozens of little features like a compass, navigation, sharing, screenshots, etc.

Think of TouchMountain as Nokia City Lens, but for the great outdoors. The app is very fully featured, which is why it's £2.29 (in the UK Store), with the trial version giving you everything but the ability to widen your visual scope beyond the closest 'distance' settings.

Here's TouchMountain in action:

Note that your Windows Phone needs to have a digital compass to use the main Live View. Budget devices like the LG Optimus 7, Nokia Lumia 510, Nokia Lumia 520, Nokia Lumia 610, ZTE Orbit, HTC Radar and HTC 8S don't have a digital compass and can therefore not run this view.

The app's front screen and the start of its 'panorama' view (gaining new meaning, given the subject matter!); flicking through the various views...

You can download a trial version for free, or buy the full version of TouchMountain, here in the Windows Phone Store. 

(via)