Here’s an app for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad that will alert the driver when he’s coming up on a government scale, allowing him to make sure his logbook’s in order, for example, or all his lights are working before he gets there. From Quebec developer Marchaula, Scalechek costs $4.99 at the iTunes app store.

The app uses the GPS location capabilities of the iOS device. It requires iOS 3.1.3 or later.

The company says an Android version will be ready by the end of this month and it will consider a Blackberry version if interest is expressed.

Users can configure the application to warn of an upcoming scale at either 10 or 50 miles away, or both, or just to visualize the location on the map. Scales in both Canada and the U.S. are covered. Both truck and scale location are displayed.

With enough users and enough co-operation, the app will also show whether a scale is open or closed. Marchaula says it envisions a "community of users" working together to keep the status of government weigh stations continuously updated. The app prompts drivers to indicate ‘closed’ or ‘open’ as a scale’s status when arriving there, and that indication is instantly visible to all users.