trail location app

Willock

if were to make an app for windows phone showing routes within the uk would anyone use it, just want to know if it is worth me putting the time in

cat_with_no_tail

What would it do that Endomondo et al don't?

Willock

well as far a i know with endomondo its just a gps tracker with a timer and cal counter where as mine would be a case of search for a area and tells you the trials in that area so if you put in manchester youd get places like duhnam forest and others depending on what you were looking for it would also contain photos of the area

Greer_

Not a bad idea but will it do something google can't? If I'm researching somewhere to go I'm far more likely to look it up on my computer than my android as the screen is too small for browsing. A plus however would be that all the info is one place ... but then again there's websites designed for that (such as trailbadger for me)... so the answer is I don't know!

cooldad

As long as it's free.

YeehaaMcgee

Yeah, why not. Would be nice to have a single "go-to" place for trail locations.

Willock

Looks like i have a project then it will take me a while to do it will be free as i never charge for apps and will be for windows phone only , i will more than likely need help for locations i dont know much about and will only be small to start with

YeehaaMcgee

I can send you a Bing maps link with a few of my regular trails, or even gps trails if you want.

peter413

Problem is some trails shouldn't be publisised, some trails are built for a select few to ride for various reasons.

Sometimes they just won't survive with more than a few people riding them, sometimes there is an agreement with landowners that only certain people who have paid a membership or signed something can ride them, sometimes they just aren't legal and anyone that gets caught on them will be punished and sometimes people just don't want them found because they want to keep them in top condition. Some of those might sound a bit selfish but think about it from the trail builders perspective, they don't want a big group of people coming and ruining their trail beyond repair that they spent so long on just because someone said it was there.

At Glentress for example there are plenty of secret trails. If someone comes and asks where zoom or bust is I'll show them quite happily but if someone asks where secrets and lies is I'll just say if you don't know.... Simply because zoom or bust is a well maintained trail that can handle traffic whereas secrets and lies isn't.

So with that in mind I would think you should go and speak to the individuals who are responsible for that trail to check it's alright to make their trails public and if they can't be found there's usually a reason for that And obviously if they say no, don't do it!

oodboo

Not sure it's something I'd use as an app but a set of POIs I could put in my tomtom would be good.

oodboo

Willock wrote:

if were to make an app for windows phone

Who has a windows phone?

marko75

https://sites.google.com/site/mtbtrailtime/

my friend did this..... i am sure this could be modified quite easily for apps.....

cooldad

Windows? I'm out.

YeehaaMcgee

oodboo wrote:

Willock wrote:

if were to make an app for windows phone

Who has a windows phone?

People who aren't you, evidently.

Anonymous

Anything that can display Open Street Map currently shows marked trails outside of public footpaths and bridleways, though not many will be marked depending on the area and sensitivity of the trails. Basically as said there are many complications with publishing trails.

Still that hasn't stopped people tracking away and we do have Strava now that marks segments, i.e. trails. Strava app doesn't seem to currently show the trails on the app, but give it time and it probably will.

Anyway, as for worth the effort:

Are you looking to do this as a free app or looking to make money from it? Your own cost, development paid for by a company or with some investment? Do you know what the potential costs are yet? That's a key part as frequently the costs are way under estimated, especially if there are back-end costs, hosting, third party costs (mapping services etc).

A hundred people may say they'll use it, but a hundred for something that takes a lot of effort and money is not a lot. Will a hundred turn into thousands, or just tail off? Can it scale to cope with the potential users if there are back-end services involved? Something very basic then okay, though it will sit down in the pile of the other million rubbish apps out there. Then again if you're looking to do it for fun and/or pick up skills then maybe it's worth a shot.

Also if you ask "will you use it", but then charge for it they probably won't use it. Very few actually pay for apps. Though depends on the platform. iPhone users are more likely to pay, but it's more difficult to publish. Windows users, bit of an unknown yet. Small audience, though MS and Nokia are providing incentives to develop apps. Worth checking those out. Android users won't pay. Very few anyway.

If you don't charge, it may be worth doing it if you can find some other way of making money from it. Advertising, sales of extra features, sales of gadgets to go with it, or build it up under a company with potential for a big company to buy it.

Then you have to consider if someone else is already doing it. As said, Strava could do what you're proposing just by stepping further to showing the trails on the app (not sure, but they may already be doing that on the iPhone app. I've just got the Android one). There are probably others in the works.

cooldad

He's just doing because he loves us DK, like a saint.

Willock

it would be free as i am a computer science student nearing the end of my course and i use my apps as i portfolio for jobs, i will only start by putting on places that are good places to cycle more than trails so not to upset anyone for example looking for a forest area to cycle near manchester why not try duhnam massey with with some photos and description, mapping info will more than likely be done through bing maps with it being a free built in service to windows phones and for those of you that do not like it being on a windows phone i will not do it for other phones as the support given to there developers is sub par and you have pay to develop for them and android + apple which i do not for windows with me previously developing for them also if this goes well as windows 8, phone 8 and xbox will all be using the same OS kernel means the app will be compatible with all microsoft products so pc phone and console

YeehaaMcgee

Willock wrote:

i will not do it for other phones as the support given to there developers is sub par and you have pay to develop for them

Hear, hear.

YIMan

There's an app. called BikeHub that does this sort of thing.

Mccraque

Has anyone mentioned Strava yet?

YeehaaMcgee

Mccraque wrote:

Has anyone mentioned Strava yet?

Isn't that an endomondo-ish thing?
And it's not on wp7.

Anonymous

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

And it's not on wp7.

Is the standard answer for anything asked about WP7.

But hey, it's got to be cool enough to bin your own existing platform, apps and millions of users to go for another that has none of value, has less features and is struggling to get people to develop for it, *cough* Nokia *cough*.

YeehaaMcgee

deadkenny wrote:

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

And it's not on wp7.

Is the standard answer for anything asked about WP7.

But hey, it's got to be cool enough to bin your own existing platform, apps and millions of users to go for another that has none of value, has less features and is struggling to get people to develop for it, *cough* Nokia *cough*.

Have you actually tried it? It's a really neat take on a smartphone interface, and genuinely offers something different to iOS, and the "me too" Android.
The number of developers on board, and the number of applications are growing rapidly, and everyone who isn't as short sighted and close minded as you, are taking at least a passing interest in it's development.

But asides from that, Strava doesn't do what the OP was suggesting. But then given Mccraque and your reply, I guess an intelligent contribution is too much to expect.

Willock

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

deadkenny wrote:

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

And it's not on wp7.

Is the standard answer for anything asked about WP7.

But hey, it's got to be cool enough to bin your own existing platform, apps and millions of users to go for another that has none of value, has less features and is struggling to get people to develop for it, *cough* Nokia *cough*.

Have you actually tried it? It's a really neat take on a smartphone interface, and genuinely offers something different to iOS, and the "me too" Android.
The number of developers on board, and the number of applications are growing rapidly, and everyone who isn't as short sighted and close minded as you, are taking at least a passing interest in it's development.

But asides from that, Strava doesn't do what the OP was suggesting. But then given Mccraque and your reply, I guess an intelligent contribution is too much to expect.

and if you look at the way tech and OS's are moving on what windows has to offer with WP7/8 and windows 8 is more advanced and compatable

Anonymous

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

Have you actually tried it? It's a really neat take on a smartphone interface, and genuinely offers something different to iOS, and the "me too" Android.
The number of developers on board, and the number of applications are growing rapidly, and everyone who isn't as short sighted and close minded as you, are taking at least a passing interest in it's development.

But asides from that, Strava doesn't do what the OP was suggesting. But then given Mccraque and your reply, I guess an intelligent contribution is too much to expect.

Yeah tried it (due to Nokia work), and may be doing some development on it anyway. The OS is actually nice (even with some drawbacks in it's current version) and it's a more original interface that at least keep's the Apple lawyers away.

By beef isn't really WP7, but Nokia's decision to throw what they had away (no matter how bad a reputation Symbian had got. Though it was actually reaching a nice maturity), kill sales dead, and jump to a platform with just about zero content and have to spend the next five years trying to get back to where they were ten years ago! (by which time everyone's moved on). Sure it's growing, but it was a mad decision, at least to declare what they were doing so early with nothing to offer whilst declaring Symbian dead.

Oh, and my proper contribution was on the last page. And yes, Strava had already been mentioned.

Mccraque

But asides from that, Strava doesn't do what the OP was suggesting. But then given Mccraque and your reply, I guess an intelligent contribution is too much to expect.

Sure it's an endomondo type thing - but once a trail is in there, and named, it overlays trails on to your phones GPS right? Thus - a trail locator of sorts?

So in which way is that not a valid contribution - at least to some degree - to this thread?

Anonymous

as I said earlier

we do have Strava now that marks segments, i.e. trails. Strava app doesn't seem to currently show the trails on the app, but give it time and it probably will.

and actually it does show the trails, though on the Android version at least only when browsing rides, not as you ride.

Point is, the idea has pretty much been thought of, if not fully implemented yet. That's something to contribute to whether it's worth doing it.

If you can get something good though, first to market, then maybe worth it. And of course, if you're solely looking at WP7 then you're in a better position as many of these apps are not on WP7 (and many of the top developers are still uninterested in the platform. Rovio for example declared they weren't interested in doing a port of Angry Birds Space, but they changed their mind after a load of public fuss over it).

YeehaaMcgee

deadkenny wrote:

If you can get something good though, first to market, then maybe worth it.

Doesn;t need to be first to market either though. Look at all the various word processing, graphics, database, video editing, audio recording/editing suites on the market for computers, not to mention the number of mapping apps, spirit levels, fart apps and so on on smartphones.
Software isn't a zero-sum market. You can have two almost identical pieces of software that can coexist happily.

sandy771

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

Have you actually tried it? It's a really neat take on a smartphone interface, and genuinely offers something different to iOS, and the "me too" Android.
The number of developers on board, and the number of applications are growing rapidly, and everyone who isn't as short sighted and close minded as you, are taking at least a passing interest in it's development.

But asides from that, Strava doesn't do what the OP was suggesting. But then given Mccraque and your reply, I guess an intelligent contribution is too much to expect.

Are you having a bad day/week/month/life? it seems 90% of your posts are flames of some sort. Can't you disagree with someone without insulting them?

YeehaaMcgee

sandy771 wrote:

Are you having a bad day/week/month/life? it seems 90% of your posts are flames of some sort. Can't you disagree with someone without insulting them?

Are you suggesting that mindless put-downs of something is fine, but taking a stand against such behaviour is wrong?
You have some strange prioroties.
I happen to think it's a great platform, with some fantastic tools and support for developers, and it really annoys me when people dismiss it offhand because it's not "the trendy thing" right now.

wobbem

The great thing about Strava is that you can race others who have done the same trails as yourself. Its other great point is that if you don't know where the trail is, you can't find it on their map (not detailed enough) This keeps the secret trails safer from the masses ( there will be more and more of them) and means you can race only those in the know or get a nice suprise when you actualy discover new trail that was up on Strava.
If you can create a similar app to Strava but make it better you would be onto a good thing.
Some things Strava are not good at:
Creating a new segment of exact trail you want to name ( Strava maps aren't good detail)
Creating your own challenges ie so you can race your mates or locals who ride the same trails as you.
Compairing each others results.
Contacting the other riders.
Deleting part of a trail & time you have done but know the time was way out.
The trails over the years will modify so king of the mountains - KOMs should stay for a certain period ie a year, then be auto deleted.
Categries for just MTB, running, road etc not all coming up on the dash ( I couldn't give a toss how far a mate has run)