Oppo I Have an Idea

"Branden J -Reading the Manual" (intakelake)
05/11/2015 at 13:04 • Filed to: None

I’ve been thinking recently about a possible phone app, but seeing as I have no idea how to go about making one, I’ll just share my idea. (CTS-V for your time)

So, I was thinking, what if you made an app that allowed you to find local roads that are perfect for spirited drives?

There’s a few parts I think it would need in order to make it optimal:

1. A location based search that suggests local sections of road with the potential to be interesting (This one would probably be quite difficult)

2. A way to tag roads after you’ve driven them for yourself and others to drive and enjoy (Almost like Foursquare, but for roads)

3. A place to share local car related events (Track days, SCCA, C&C, etc.)

4. And eventually, after the tagging has been in place for a while, a road trip generator that could plan anything from a spirited Sunday drive to an cross-continent journey, and make it as enjoyable as possible (So you can avoid all interstate driving)

What do you think? Does this seem like a good idea to anybody else? Anyone wanna help me find a way to make it happen? Does something like this already exist that I don’t know about?

DISCUSSION (18)

CB > Branden J -Reading the Manual
05/11/2015 at 13:08

Problems I see so far:

-Driving roads becoming more crowded with people, and becoming less enjoyable

-Cops finding the lesser known driving roads and camping out on them, looking for people on “spirited drives”

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Branden J -Reading the Manual
05/11/2015 at 13:09

I don’t know squat about coding. But it’s a good idea.

Tareim - V8 powered > Branden J -Reading the Manual
05/11/2015 at 13:09

as soon as this app exists expect cops to start patrolling those nice roads more frequently to catch speeders

Branden J -Reading the Manual > CB
05/11/2015 at 13:11

True, I guess I never really thought of that, but I don’t think it would be too bad because the app probably wouldn’t get huge widespread attention, it’s not like everyone and their brother would be using it and using all the fun roads all the time.

E. Julius > Branden J -Reading the Manual
05/11/2015 at 13:12

How fun a road is is inversely related to the number of people that know about it.

Mattbob > Branden J -Reading the Manual
05/11/2015 at 13:12

there are at least two apps like this already. Porsche came out with one with a whole road “Porsche” rating system. There is another one out as well, but I cannot remember the name.

*edit* BMW also makes one https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ultimat…

also I found the one I forgot: https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/greates…

from this article on jalopnik http://jalopnik.com/the-ten-best-d…

GhostZ > Branden J -Reading the Manual
05/11/2015 at 13:13

Don’t just have tags, but also have ratings. When you do the trip planner, allow it to set a priority for efficient vs fun. The higher the slider is toward fun, the more it will go out of its way to go to highly rated fun roads.

So a slider value of, say, 0 is always the fastest route. The slider of 10 means it will always take the the most fun road, as long as the start and end points of the intersection are pointing in the vague direction of the start and end points of the journey. The higher the fun : deviation from your path ratio, the more it prioritizes those roads.

As for developing a phone app, acquire funding and go to a professional software development company. Give them a brief that explains every detail of the app, ask them to code it. They’ll quote you a price. Pay them, then sell the app. Get money back via ad sales or download sales. It’s a very straightforward process, but rarely profitable. If you can find someone who will do

Branden J -Reading the Manual > Tareim - V8 powered
05/11/2015 at 13:13

I don’t think it would probably ever become big enough for them to really notice it though.

BeaterGT > Branden J -Reading the Manual
05/11/2015 at 13:15

Seems like a decent idea except for what has been outlined by other commenters with cops and safety and all that. Pretty much a Strava but for cars (Strava is a cycling/running app).

That V though.../drool

Branden J -Reading the Manual > GhostZ
05/11/2015 at 13:16

Yeah the idea of rating it is kind of what I was thinking, you would be able to keep a trip fun but be able to adjust how far out of the way you go.

71MGBGT Likes Subarus of Unusual Colors > Branden J -Reading the Manual
05/11/2015 at 13:20

Unfortunately, that already basically exists. Google “Porsche GTS routes”.

GhostZ > Branden J -Reading the Manual
05/11/2015 at 13:21

You could also have an algorithm where you put in how much time or distance you have and where you need to go, and then it just calculates the route with the highest fun possible within that time span. Maybe do a round trip setting.

It’s all just data aggregation. The problem isn’t in the idea generation, is the coding and funding. If you put together an app and show that there’s real interest in it, you could find funding or fund it yourself and get it made. If there IS real interest, you should profit off of it, but with something like this, it’s a risky proposition.

If you have a university near you, you might be able to pitch it to computer science students and ask for a coding partner to help you out.

Branden J -Reading the Manual > Mattbob
05/11/2015 at 13:21

That greatest drive app seems pretty much about what I had in mind, I guess there in something that exists

Stapleface-Now Hyphenated! > Branden J -Reading the Manual
05/11/2015 at 13:23

I dig the idea. No clue how you’d implement it though.

Branden J -Reading the Manual > 71MGBGT Likes Subarus of Unusual Colors
05/11/2015 at 13:24

It’s not unfortunate, I really wasn’t looking to profit or anything, only that I felt like it was something that should exist

R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet > Branden J -Reading the Manual
05/11/2015 at 14:06

So a lot like Waze but only able to be found in a phone-OS Tor-based browser?

random001 > Branden J -Reading the Manual
05/11/2015 at 14:19

I don't know. I peed a little at the scary car you posted.

DrScientist > Branden J -Reading the Manual
05/11/2015 at 14:27

i feel like someone had a similar post to this a while back... like last fall. search around.