Spring is a great time to get out and walk, ride your bike or just head to the local playground. As parents, we revel in getting outdoors to enjoy the weather and get some exercise. Indeed, my wife and I love to walk around Chicago.

The kids would much rather hang out at the playground than admire the architecture of our Chicago neighborhood. Of course, there's often some gelato to be had along the route, but I've discovered a new trick with my iPhone to get the kids engaged in a long walk.

An app called Path Tracker will mark the route you travel. I downloaded the $1.99 app last year for a vacation with my wife where we spent a lot of time on our bikes in northern Michigan. It was a great tool, helping us determine how far we went as well as putting our route into context with the area we were visiting.

Recently, I've started to use Path Tracker to engage the kids, particularly the 6-year-old boy. He was whining about taking the "long way" home after eating at the Leona's pizza place near our house. It was a nice night and my wife and I wanted to walk off the meal. I decided to track our route so we could see how far we went.

When we got home, I went to the computer and logged in to my Path Tracker account, which stores your routes. Then I showed the boy, who loved retracing our steps. I pointed out the streets, the landmarks we passed and noted our total mileage -- about 1.5 miles. He thought it was very cool, and I thought it was pretty educational.

Using the map app is simple. Open the app, select "start new path" and then put your iPhone in your pocket. Using GPS, it marks your route. If a call comes in, the app works in the background. When you're finished with the walk or ride, hit save to Pathtracks.com. Then you can log on to your account to view the map.

Path Tracker uses Google maps, so you can see a standard map view or a satellite map. The boy thought the satellite was very cool, particularly when we zoomed in our roof.

Some people like to make map art, and this Path Tracker map is titled "Dog walking a pig." That might be our next activity -- create a few more maps and see what shapes we can see.

Related apps include Trails - GPS Tracker, EveryTrail and EasyTrails GPS.

This post was first published on Bendable Gadgets.