Current interaction techniques for mobile map-based applications suffer from several usability problems. Tilt interaction provides an alternative form of interaction which combines the benefits of one handed interaction with intuitive physical gestures. Research has shown that tilt interaction suffers from a lack of controllability, high mental demand and practical concerns. In this paper, the design and evaluation of a new tilt interaction technique, called IntelliTilt, is described. IntelliTilt incorporates several intelligent techniques to address the shortcomings of tilt interaction. IntelliTilt was compared to a basic tilt interaction technique using a prototype mobile map-based application in an experiment. The results of this experiment showed that IntelliTilt was preferred by the participants and that it offered significant advantages in terms of mental demand, perceived efficiency and controllability.