What Do You Think Of This Approach Of Sharing Trip

[erebrus]

Hi,
First of all, if this is not the appropriate section to post, please let me know.

I've been working on a way to share my trips and keep my family and friends up-to-date and lately I've been encouraged to check out if others would find it interested in using such a tool.

Basically, I have a android mobile app, that doesn't require internet connection - maps offline - and that allows to track my route over long distances and periods of time, plus add photos and notes on the map. When I get internet connection I can then push these to a website which animates the route we've done, placing pictures and notes on their position in the map and also displaying them on a side panel as a travel blog. The result is this: http://www.roamingonwheels.com

On top of that, the mobile app also also allows you to record expenses, like gas, parking, tolls, and then compute statistics like average speeds and fuel consumption by each trip segment. This part isn't visible in the website yet though, just in the mobile app for now.

Like I said, I did this primarily for myself, but some friends have insisted that maybe other people would find it useful to use something like this. If there would be interest I could make this available to others, but I'd only want to go through that work if this was actually something that others would use it also. As such, I thought that maybe this forum would be a good place to ask. What do you guys think?

I'm looking forward to hear your thoughts.

Thank you!

PS: If you find any bugs don't judge me too harshly hehe
PPS: If you have questions on how to use the website, let me know please, but mostly you just use the back/play/forward controls display the trip

 

[budgie1888]

Thanks for that, we would certainly be interested in using this sort of technology to record our travels, be it in the motorhome or on the bikes. What was the name of the app you used on your phone ?

 

[erebrus]

Hi budgie,
The app is not yet available as it is directly connected to my website. My goal at this stage has been to survey the interest in the app to decide whether or not I'll make the changes required to make it available for others. For that purpose I've been posting in a few forums.
There has been considerable interest in the app and as such, I'll be moving forward with the project.

The first step is to precisely identify who is interested. With that in mind, if you and anybody else are interested please send me your contact data (name + e-mail) either via a private message here, an e-mail to roamingonwheels innovationtm com (just add the AT and the DOT in the spaces) or use the contact link in the website.
My idea is maybe send out a simple questionnaire surveying the interest in different features and then prepare a roadmap and proceed with the development. I'm starting some parts already.

Currently the application is enjoying free hosting due to the limited traffic and storage required. Making it available to multiple users will change that and as such I'm looking into options. The most obvious is to charge a small fee for the service, assuming users believe this provides enough value.
These are not final values, but I'm currently thinking of:
1- Selling the mobile app for 5€
2- Charging 10€ yearly for the website

A few points should be noted:
1 - The website will allow all data to be exported (e.g. to files compatible with Google Earth and Excel) in case the users wishes to cancel the account.
2 - The mobile app does not publish the data to the website in real time, both for privacy reasons and for connectivity issues (internet abroad is always more complicated)
3 - The mobile app and the website work together, but can also be used independently. The mobile app can be used alone to view the route taken (even if not as nicely as in the website) and see the reports. The website can get data from the mobile app, but also allows manually entering a trip - my moroccan trip in the website was added like that.
4- The application is currently only for android, there is an iOS version in the works, but given the work I'll have with the website, it will take a while.

If there is enough interest, I'm also considering:
1- A lite version of the mobile app, with limited capacity
2- A 30 day trial period - no trip exporting allowed here though

Meanwhile, when I can I'll try to get some screenshots of the mobile app and share here so you can have an idea of it looks like and how it works.