Having kicked off a journey to bring Highway Radar to iOS a few weeks ago, I thought it proper to create a thread for posting updates as I'm ready/able to share them.
This thread is a continuation of the discussion/updates here, but will hopefully eventually include many more updates and details.
My thanks to @ferius for working with me to make this happen! You've been extremely helpful and responsive thus far, and I look forward to continuing to work with you as this project continues.
Here are a few Q&As just to kick things off, but feel free to ask/bring up anything I may have missed:
What exactly are you doing?
I'm developing a version of Highway Radar for iOS. It will be lightweight at first so that I can get something released to you, likely starting with police/airplane alerts and heat maps. Because HR is written specifically for Android (native), there isn't a process by which some things can be changed/tweaked to run it on iOS. The entire application has to be written from scratch, although ferius is providing access to some of his data which will help speed up the process a bit. This means that the process is not a short one, but it also means that I can make full use of some iOS-specific features/frameworks to provide the best experience possible.
When will you be done?
Since the time I'm spending on this is not generating income and I have to be respectful to my family, job, and step away from the computer at times to stay sane, this is a "no-guarantees" process. I'm taking the project seriously (hence deciding to stick with it for a few weeks before posting this thread), and am motivated by a desire to have this for myself as well as to contribute to the community, but I'm aware that sometimes life happens.
That said, I'm targeting a final beta in early-July, in time to really put it to the test on the Houston to Toronto Dustball Rally (2020 gimmick champs!). If I miss it I miss it, but I'm hopeful that this is a doable target.
When will you update us? What's the current state?
I'll provide updates as I have things worth sharing. I'm going to avoid posting too frequently so as to not pressure myself day-by-day. I'm going to take time off, maybe a week or more at a time. I'm going to binge work on this more than once, I'm sure. I'll do my best to share the latest as soon as I have something worth sharing. While I won't be put off for requests for status, just know that the answer will likely be a bunch of technical jargon that you may not want or care about.
Will/can you include [feature x]?
Probably. Probably not in the initial release, which will be a "minimum viable product" sort of release targeting the US (though as @Vancity23 suggested I'll likely add KMs from the get-go).
What are your long-term plans?
I'd love to continue development over time to bring the app in line with all of the feature offerings of the Android app, and even begin pushing into uncharted territory once we're there. Admittedly, I'll need to figure out a pricing model that makes sense for continued development since I do need to be able to justify my time, but I imagine that that will depend on lots of factors that I have no insight into at this point (and so this probably isn't even worth mentioning).
Again, thank you @ferius for your support in this process! I'm looking forward to sharing updates and getting this launched for you all!
JaySC
Current state:
Looks like Apple is adding a feature for crowdsourcing alerts. I'm hopeful that this will be available to developers but not holding my breath. Wouldn't surprise if they waiting until WWDC (summer) to release such a thing, if at all.
This thread is a continuation of the discussion/updates here, but will hopefully eventually include many more updates and details.
My thanks to @ferius for working with me to make this happen! You've been extremely helpful and responsive thus far, and I look forward to continuing to work with you as this project continues.
Here are a few Q&As just to kick things off, but feel free to ask/bring up anything I may have missed:
What exactly are you doing?
I'm developing a version of Highway Radar for iOS. It will be lightweight at first so that I can get something released to you, likely starting with police/airplane alerts and heat maps. Because HR is written specifically for Android (native), there isn't a process by which some things can be changed/tweaked to run it on iOS. The entire application has to be written from scratch, although ferius is providing access to some of his data which will help speed up the process a bit. This means that the process is not a short one, but it also means that I can make full use of some iOS-specific features/frameworks to provide the best experience possible.
When will you be done?
Since the time I'm spending on this is not generating income and I have to be respectful to my family, job, and step away from the computer at times to stay sane, this is a "no-guarantees" process. I'm taking the project seriously (hence deciding to stick with it for a few weeks before posting this thread), and am motivated by a desire to have this for myself as well as to contribute to the community, but I'm aware that sometimes life happens.
That said, I'm targeting a final beta in early-July, in time to really put it to the test on the Houston to Toronto Dustball Rally (2020 gimmick champs!). If I miss it I miss it, but I'm hopeful that this is a doable target.
When will you update us? What's the current state?
I'll provide updates as I have things worth sharing. I'm going to avoid posting too frequently so as to not pressure myself day-by-day. I'm going to take time off, maybe a week or more at a time. I'm going to binge work on this more than once, I'm sure. I'll do my best to share the latest as soon as I have something worth sharing. While I won't be put off for requests for status, just know that the answer will likely be a bunch of technical jargon that you may not want or care about.
Will/can you include [feature x]?
Probably. Probably not in the initial release, which will be a "minimum viable product" sort of release targeting the US (though as @Vancity23 suggested I'll likely add KMs from the get-go).
What are your long-term plans?
I'd love to continue development over time to bring the app in line with all of the feature offerings of the Android app, and even begin pushing into uncharted territory once we're there. Admittedly, I'll need to figure out a pricing model that makes sense for continued development since I do need to be able to justify my time, but I imagine that that will depend on lots of factors that I have no insight into at this point (and so this probably isn't even worth mentioning).
Again, thank you @ferius for your support in this process! I'm looking forward to sharing updates and getting this launched for you all!
JaySC
Post automatically merged:
Current state:
- Map, alerts, settings, speed limit indicator, and notifications UI elements complete.
- Able to request and receive crowdsourced data, filtering and converting results into usable data
- Fetching crowdsource data for a "box" around current location (math was interesting for this since miles:degrees longitude changes based on latitude) and populating map with alerts when app starts
- Able to store alerts after fetching and populate map with only those alerts that are still "valid" after each fetch
- Fetch and store data on a background thread so that the app remains usable while continuously updating
- Update the map continuously with valid alerts, remove stale alerts
Post automatically merged:
Looks like Apple is adding a feature for crowdsourcing alerts. I'm hopeful that this will be available to developers but not holding my breath. Wouldn't surprise if they waiting until WWDC (summer) to release such a thing, if at all.
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