FT Community App

[mrstamp80]

I am all for it!! I was just thinking about this when i took the survey. I actually added it in the comments that they need a app. So it could send you notifications that someone is gonna be flying in your area. Or if you are traveling to visit the "inlaws" a few hours away, you could see someone is flying near by.

They actually was a app a couple years ago called "whos flying where" that did this same thing. I contacted the developer, and found out they started it and then it got pushed off to the backburner for bigger projects.

I honestly thought this would be a great idea. I know i would even pay a few bucks for it. Here is the video of how it worked etc. I think it was good but needed some overhaul. I am looking forward to see what you come up with.

 

[jnpetersen]

mrstamp80, thanks for the information and the video. I need to search around and see if there is a database already out there that contains different flying spots, so that it gives people a chance to find existing ones already and of course they can add them too.

I'm still hoping to hear a response from the FT team, but if not, I'm thinking of coming up with a name for the app that doesn't specifically tie into FT, but if they decide they want to be a part of it, it could always be "Powered by FliteTest" or something like that.

So let's get the ideas all into one post for now.

Flight Log - Be able to track flight date, time, battery consumption, weather, condition of plane or quad/tri/hexa etc before and after, check off preflight checklist, and notes. A log can be assigned to an event or on-demand flying as to have a history of where you flew and who you flew with.

Now Flying Map - A map to see who is currently flying and where. An option will be given to say your flying and have it pushed to Friends associated within the app, social media or anyone near your current location asking to be notified within a certain radius. This way people can find new people to fly with.

Events - Setup or view events happening based on your current location. Events can be public or private or require registration. If you are part of an event the app will allow you to use your device to show people asking who you are, who created the event and if you've associated your FAA registration number, that number will also be present to allow the individual to know you are FAA registered.

Feed - Based on your friends, will display photos they have uploaded to the app. This would give a more centralized and specific "instagram" feel, hopefully only showing pictures related to flying.

If you can think of any other ideas, please let me know and I'll consider there feasibility and add them to the list.

 

[mrstamp80]

You can go to the ama website and they have a list of ama flying fields. Keep in mind public parks and empty fields they people fly and gather at, won't be listed. I am sure everyone on here would list their own places they fly at. Just have a way that when you arrive at the park/field you generally fly at it, you could drop a pin and name the location ...."joe's grassy field" but be able to add additional info. Meaning is it private or public property, ama required yes or no. paved runway yes or no. electric only. Just a few suggestions, or even be able to throw a picture in there. I my be dreaming and it may be to much to put into a app.
You could always make it very basic to start with, and see how it goes and update it later.

 

[Winglet]

Do it! Please.

 

[jnpetersen]

Thanks for the infor about the AMA listed locations mrstamp80, I will look into it. Thats good information to know about how a place should be marked (info about the area).

Everything proposed so far is very feasible and will be included in the first version. We can add to it afterwards. I've found if something is too basic, its seen more as a "beta" in production territory, where as giving a few things makes it feel a little more complete and worth updating.

Winglet, it's coming. I've been working on the app since I brought the idea up here and I've already gotten registration, start of a profile page, the start of the map screen, which will contain ways to create an event, or fly on-demand, I believe.

So far it's just rough and I will wireframe it out to give you guys an idea of what I'm thinking, and if anyone has any suggestions on how it could differ for better use, don't hold back, I'm up for suggestions. I'd like to make this more of a community ideas contribution so that it's not just one person's idea and it's up to them on features. I want to be able to follow the app statistics and see this app used every day

 

[mrstamp80]

Did you ever hear back from flite test?

 

[jnpetersen]

When you sent this message, no. But as of 5:27 PM PST I received an email from Jen Bixler saying she would pass it along to the guys.

 

[jnpetersen]

Ok, I'm getting close to putting up the photoshopped idea of what the screens might look like, just trying to make sure I have all the right things needed for the flight log.

I have:
- Date/Time
- Location (pull from current location information)
- Weather (will probably pull the data from some weather service)
- # of Batteries used
- Battery Usage
- Notes

Can anyone thing of anything else I should add?

 

[mrstamp80]

DO you have like a member log in / member list?

 

[jnpetersen]

mrstamp80 what do you mean? You have to register an account to use the app, so that it will store your data for use from multiple devices.

 

[mrstamp80]

yes, Otherwise how else would you see who is where? I am not a i.t. guy so maybe i don't know what i am talking about. example, mrstamp80 is now flying at "joe's grassy field". Maybe not register to use on multiple devices. But some type of screen name / username. You understand what i mean?

 

[jnpetersen]

mrstamp80 just wanted to make sure. Yes there is a whole backend system that will be handling registration. If I hear from the FT team, I'll talked to them about linking registration up to FT, but for now, I've created my own. You'll be able to use the account on any device so you can choose to communicate with others, lets say on your phone, but use your tablet for flight logs or others flights.

I'll be putting up shortly a screenshot of what things I'm planning to incorporate into the app, then following that one will be the corresponding screens.

 

[Spastickitten]

So if you got a profile for planes (a picture, plane type name, all that), a place to add text and stuff, and location. someone could check in at their flying field, click on the plane, click the location, and post it! I really love this idea, and I hope you guys can connect with FT on this stuff.

 

[jnpetersen]

Spastickitten that's pretty much how I was planning it. Thanks for putting this information in a post, so that I can have a reference for type of information people want to show.

 

[jnpetersen]

Sorry for the delay in getting back to the forum. I've been sick and work has been crazy. I'm working on the photoshopped idea so hopefully within a day or so I'll post them for comments.

 

[mrstamp80]

Cool can't wait to see it. Thanks for the update.

 

[jnpetersen]

So here is just a mockup of what the profile screen might look like. When selecting a plan, it will bring up a screen with stats about that plane. I'll get that mockup uploaded shortly.



And remember, they may have a similar look to other apps, but this is just to get what would be nice to have on screen, and then the formatting of the app will come as it starts falling together.

 

[jnpetersen]

Hello All, sorry for being MIA the last few months. I had work that got in the way, but now I'm back. I got to thinking that since I haven't heard from the FliteTest team yet, that I may end up just making this into an app not specific to FliteTest (even though I'd really like to), so I need your help.

I'm looking for a good app name, let's get some names here and then I'll take the top 5 I like and then we'll leave it to the community to chose the name.

I'd really like to make this a community built app, so any suggestions are appreciated.

 

[mrstamp80]

R/C Fly, Let's Fly, Who's Flying, Meet and Fly, Let's Go Fly, Just woke up so the hamster in my head isn't moving to fast to turn those wheels.

 

[airhawk]

well a ft groups mobile app would be similar to that idea