Saturday, October 28, 2017

Walk tracking app ideas

So many things a walk tracking mobile phone app should be able to do:

  • Automatically stop or pause tracking: Walk tracking apps should analyze the saved track, and figure out when the user forgot to stop it, at the end of the activity, and climbed in the car to go somewhere else. Realizing it's not easy to do that in real-time, maybe a post-activity analysis could fix the data.
  • Edit the track log: Offer the user the opportunity to edit out bogus location points. In the app, not just on the website! Some services offer the capability to fix or remove bogus points in the track, but only using their website, and not through their app. More and more people are spending less and less time on their computers, and doing everything through apps on their phones. We need all service features available through the mobile apps!
  • Capture geo-tagged photos: It's fun to snap photos during a walk, and be able to see where they were taken, on the map that also shows the walking route. It's understood that runners probably don't care about this, because they've got their head down trying to keep up a good pace, but walkers are more interested in looking around and enjoying the points of interest.
  • Calculate calories burned: The calculation should consider distance covered, time taken, and altitude change. The calorie burn data should sync to the phone's health repository, so it can be used by other diet / exercise / health apps. 
  • Weather overlays: Display weather data overlaid on the walking map. This can help immensely with decisions about which way to go, to avoid incoming weather cells, or even when to take cover. Yes, this information is easily available through other weather-specific apps, but when it's not integrated, it can easily be ignored until it's too late to take action.