I am VERY excited to tell you all about the project I’ve been working on since September. It’s called routebook and it’s a mobile application that helps users become the commuters they want to be (I’ll elaborate in a second).
The project started in Bill Hart-Davidson’s WRA 482 (Information and Interaction Design) class over in the WRAC department. The goal of the class was to pick a social justice issue and attempt to solve it with technology. Our application addresses issues of health, the environment and ultimately, we hope, will make its user’s lives just a little bit easier.
THE FEATURES
I’ll be more specific.
Routebook, version 1.0 is an iOS mobile application that shows users their current, fastest transportation options, allows users to link planned routes to an alarm clock, see data from past commutes in a visually empowering way, and identify commuting goals (like losing weight or saving money on gas).
My hope is that this product will not only transform how users commute, but how they decide to commute. The ultimate goal for Routebook is to become an application that people find useful and like to use.
THE FUNDS
I am excited about the future of this app because I, along with my team, have completed countless hours of research to determine that people would use it. In December, we were endorsed through Start Garden, a company in Grand Rapids that funds startups with venture capital grants, by popular vote.
We are presenting our research and prototype in front of Start Garden on February 28th (ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh).
Since December, we’ve also been working with The Hatch and Spartan Innovations for entrepreneurial advice and filling out numerous grant applications.
I’m not exactly sure what’s next, but you can follow all of routebook’s happenings on Twitter and stay tuned for our website.