Sunday, 23 August 2009

Greenbelt , Tech

Festival.app is go!

In the early hours of this morning with the push of a button by someone at Apple, the fruit of my past month's evening hacking was laid bare to the world.

Yes, the Greenbelt 2009 Festival Guide app is now live!

festival-app.pngIf you get fed up lugging the paper Daily Diary around with you, or just find it difficult to use then this is the app for you. The Now&Next screen will show what's currently happening in each venue and what will happen next; the interactive site map will point out where to go; you can mark events as favourites and see at a glance where you should be; you can search for artists, events, genres and venues; the app will even download updates as the festival schedule changes.

It's been a long road to get here, one that started with a glimmer of an idea about fifteen months ago. I wrote the first lines of code while leaning against a pillar in the cloisters of Iona Abbey and finished the first version just in time for last year's festival. Ten people helped road-test the idea back then and came back with a resounding thumbs up. Over the past year I've substantially reworked the code base and streamlined the user interface while adding some key features.

I'm now nervously looking forwards to the festival. The early reviews are extremely positive, but it's only out there - quite literally "in the field" - that we'll discover if it was all worth it. Exciting times.

(And now the advert: if you run an event and would like an app like this, or if you want to talk to an iPhone app developer about other possibilities, do get in touch - I'd love to talk with you.)

Posted by pab at 22:47 | Comments will be back later in the year. Please email me instead!