African SafariGuide — a mobile application
for lovers of African savanna tours
Task
To develop the mobile application that includes full information about animals and birds of Africa.
The program should have functionality to classify the animals by species, color, footmarks and height and also have functions of the journal of observed animal with date and time. The interface of the application should be available in 4 languages: English, German, French and Italian to provide access for wider audience so that more tourists could use it easily.
Solution
Taking into account frequent lack of Internet connection in savannas of Africa, we have proposed to integrate the full database of animals into the application for a comfortable access of the user to the catalogue in the offline mode.
- We have developed prototypes of mobile application with regard of the client’s wishes and some features for client’s comfort on safari.
- We have developed 2 variants of application design on the basis of agreed prototypes. We offered variants for the client to choose.
- We developed the protocol of animals’ descriptions, discussed it with the customer.
- We made the databases of animals and birds. This data was provided by Pierre Tharin.
- We developed the program code of the application. The interim demo sessions were held every 1-2 weeks.
- We executed final tests.
- We prepared description of the application and screenshots for publishing in the App Store and Google Play. The application became available for download.
- iOS and Android
- Objective-C
- Android Java
Results
- The application is available in AppStore and GooglePlay.
- The application includes descriptions of 66 animals and 100 birds that inhabit the African continent.
- The application works without Internet connection because all database of animals is loaded with the application.
- The application is translated into 4 languages: English, German, French and Italian.
- The app is designed for platforms iOS and Android 4+.
Customer review
Organization
For me it was important, to have a single point of contact. In Roman Kislitsin I had that person. He was always accessible for me, in all questions concerning the app and also the distribution platforms.
Technology
It was a challenge realize a user friendly app and to construct efficient filters. In the app we implemented some technical highlights:
- The complex filter to find out the name of a bird: Length? /beak? /where observed? /colours of plumage (9 possible colors)?
- A journal of all observed birds and mammals with date and time.
- Information system: individual information for each animal by scrolling down of every image or to press a button.
And all that in iOS/Android and in 4 languages. Actual version is 2.1
I can highly recommend cooperation with Astarus Ltd.»
Pierre Tharin,
Editor of www.safariguide.ch
