Okay, so, spring is just around the corner, and you know what that means – time to hit those trails! I’ve been itching to get back out there, and this year I decided to up my hiking game with an app I’ve been calling “TrailTrekker”.
I started by thinking about what I really need when I’m out there in the wilderness. First thing’s first, I gotta know where I’m going, right? So, GPS navigation was a no-brainer. I messed around with a few different mapping APIs and finally settled on one that’s pretty reliable and doesn’t eat up too much battery. Got that implemented, and boom, we’ve got a map that tracks my location.
Then, I thought, it would be cool to have some augmented reality features. You know, point your phone at a mountain and it tells you what it is? So, I did a bit of digging and found an open-source library that does just that. It was a bit of a pain to integrate, had to write a bunch of custom code to get it working smoothly, but I finally cracked it. Now, I can see the names of peaks and other landmarks overlaid on my camera view.
- Next up, offline maps. Because let’s be real, signal can be spotty in the mountains. I figured out a way to let users download map tiles for specific areas so they can still navigate even when they’re off the grid. That took some serious tinkering, had to optimize the storage to make sure it didn’t take up too much space.
- I also wanted to make it easy to plan routes. So, I built a tool that lets you draw a path on the map, and it automatically calculates the distance and elevation gain. You can save your routes, share them with friends, the whole nine yards.
- And because safety is super important, I added an SOS feature. Basically, you press a button, and it sends your location to your emergency contacts. Had to test that one a bunch of times to make sure it worked flawlessly. Even simulated some no-signal scenarios to make it extra reliable.
I’m also thinking of adding a feature to identify plants and animals using the camera. But that’s gonna take some time.
Building TrailTrekker was a real challenge, I spent countless nights staring at my screen, fueled by coffee and sheer determination. But you know what? It was totally worth it. I took it out for a spin last weekend on a local trail, and it worked like a charm. I was able to explore a new area without getting lost, discovered a hidden waterfall thanks to the AR feature, and even used the offline maps when I lost signal for a bit.
It’s still a work in progress, but I’m pretty stoked about how it’s turned out. I think I’m gonna keep tweaking it, adding more features, and maybe even release it to the public someday. Who knows, maybe TrailTrekker will become the next big thing in hiking apps!
