Angry driving directions that curse at you while you drive
By: Ceci Alvarez
I’m building an angry driving directions app that makes fun of you when you miss turns and it’s just about ready. It uses the same technology that the Uber app uses. Does anyone want to be a beta tester?
Billy King is at it again. The developer behind What the Forecast?!!, the #3 daily weather report with varying levels of profanity, is launching an all new app called Back Seat Navigator. Think of it as a very custom version of our Navigation SDK — the app curses you out while you drive and insults you when you make wrong turn. Being stuck in traffic will no longer be boring.
Tell us about your newest release, Back Seat Navigator.
In my new app, Back Seat Navigator, I needed both accurate geocoding and intuitive navigation instructions. Outside of Waze, there is no third-party navigation app, I’m looking to disrupt that space. To do so, I wanted to make driving in traffic more entertaining. I decided to play around with Mapbox’s Navigation SDKs — specifically the voice-guided directions and really enjoyed what I found.
How was it getting started building?
The tutorials for the Map SDKs for iOS and Android are fantastic. In both apps, I was able to get accurate turn-by-turn directions with very little actual code. It allowed me to test out my ideas without having to create entire apps. On iOS, I was up and running with a sample app in less than a day. I just finished working on the Android version and I found development to be just as easy.
Why did you pick Mapbox?
When I started working on What the Forecast?!!, I was part-time and on a budget. I was using Apple Maps on iOS and the Google Locations API on Android. Both were free but had subpar performance. Apple Maps was more suited to finding business locations and is less suited for finding towns and cities. The Google Locations API worked, but my app was hitting the daily free search limits, and the Locations feature would shut off immediately when that happened.
As a single developer, I needed a one-stop solution to continue to scale my app. Since switching, Mapbox spared me the anguish of watching my What The Forecast?!! app fail miserably when Google’s API limits are exceeded; and it’s also decreased the number of furious emails I receive from users. It was only natural I turned to Mapbox again when building Back Seat Navigator.
What’s next for the app?
With What The Forecast?!!, I was keenly aware of how much users like the ability to customize their experience. In Back Seat Navigator, I’m currently only planning to offer the standard Street Maps, initially. In a future version of the app, I’m looking forward to giving users the chance to customize the way the maps look with new and updated map styles.
Ready to spice up your drive? Back Seat Navigator is available now in the iOS and Android App Stores. To learn more about our Navigation SDK, including our updated incident layer, talk to our team or explore online.
Back Seat Navigator was originally published in Points of interest on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.