At least an 8 or 9 step hike. Let me tell you…
I was 'testing' my Kelty 20 degree down bag and a thermorest inside a bivy bag. I was thinking to myself high of 53, low of 46. Warm, but not too warm. Thermorest inside the bivy was a bit snug at first, but fine by morning.
How in the !@#$%^ am I going to remember this next month, much less next year. I need to log this.
There ought to be an app for that…
I can't find one.
So, this got me to thinking… I need to make a 'social' app where we can keep our gear lists, select our load outs for a trip, and 'score' the comfort night to night. Pull in the weather data.
You can select a piece of gear, see all the trips it was on, and in what range of conditions it was comfortable or not.
Interest?
Thoughts?
i'd be interested in working on this with you mike, i like the idea, like a travel planner for backpacking … you could also include calendar functionality for planning, along with list management so you can create shopping lists, equipment lists, agendas & itineraries, etc.
the thing about backpacking in the Sierras is anything can hit you … at any time !
my equipment list is the same every trip … covering every conceivable condition including intense heat, high winds,heavy rain, and even snow … on several trips i have had to deal with all those conditions, so my equipment list is longer than many people's, and isn't optimized for anticipated weather, because itt's put together to handle ALL weather.
i've repaired other people's hiking boots, stitched their clothes, fixed broken buckles on their backpacks, fixed glasses that without they're blind, it goes on & on what i have fixed for other people on the trail, and what can't be fixed i almost always have a substitute.
… and the universal comment i hear when pulling out the miracle repair item is "wow, i need to bring this backpacking from now on!" … then that person will NOT have that item the next time we go backpacking, because they are either lazy, they forgot about it, or chose again not to carry it (LOL because it isn't "necessary").
i will also pin my equipment list to the top of the community so you can see what i bring EVERY trip … i get clowned a lot about it for being "too much" or "excessive", but it totals up to 25 pounds so it's not excessively heavy and i have everything i need.
Slept in the backyard Sat night too. Switched to the lighter sleeping bag. Woke up cold in the middle of the night. A quick wiggle in place to warm up, and fell right back asleep for the night. Low of 57. So much for the 32 degrees listed on the bag, right?
Waking up once to do mummy-bag jumping jacks is acceptable to me.
So, I don't know how to do this… I want it to be mobile functional with no data connection, and publishable to the internet for sharing.
I don't want to host any data.
So that leaves me with publishing out of google docs or dropbox. Maybe a mix of both?
I am thinking towards the dropbox side. Create a flat-file database in XML with a xlst for publishing online.
Thoughts +Jeff Bond
+Mike Creuzer … i am focusing on #packagedapps
here's a link to get an idea of the programming model … assume you are ALWAYS offline, building a framework that encompasses your programming code PLUS a managed data space that houses/contains all the program data as well, that gets flushed/cleared as the program constantly polls for a connection, at which point it automatically re-connects, syncs all saved local data, then starts managing again for connectivity or lack of.
https://developer.chrome.com/apps/about_apps
lets talk some more +Mike Creuzer i think the first step is deciding what model you want to use … i'm not java savvy, so i prefer models that use the could, and that just temporarily store data locally until a connection is re-established … if you're java savvy, it might be best just to write a compiled java APK which can be sold on the play store.
+Jeff Bond that was exactly the direction I was thinking. I am intending on making it function as an app on a cell phone for in-field immediate notes.
My thoughts where to use a Google Doc as a 'master list' of all one's gear. It's just easiest to manage in a spreadsheet. Most of us probably have one already.
When you make a trip packing list, the items are cloned out of the spreadsheet and into a 'trip' .html page that will eventually get posted to dropbox. Each 'day' can get it's own .html page as well with captured weather info and field notes.
You can choose to share individual files out of the dropbox using the tools provided by dropbox if you choose.
My only mental challenge is flipping the 'trip' into a list of items, and getting all the reviews for a specific item across all the trips. This is what I really want, in the end, and it's not obvious how to do this easily.
ping +Allen Firstenberg … +Mike Creuzer would like to create an app for backpacking, a list management application for daily inventory management … isn't this basically a +Vodo application, using the spreadsheet functionality?
thanks for any quick ideas allen, regards jeff