iPhone/iPod Touch Scouting

[Leon Machado IV]

I was wondering if anyone had thought about making a program for either the iPhone or iPod touch for scouting? I'm curious how you'd be able to distrubute with Apple's rules on distribution for these platforms, as I could see this as being an easy to update method of creating a scouting program that easily could be changed in the future. Can't wait to hear some input on this.

[Tanner]

I've thought about it, but I don't currently have the skills in Objective C to create such a application. Apple would probably accept it, as I see no reason why they wouldn't.

There would also need to be a good server backend for the app to be useful outside of just one phone/person.

Cheers
-Tanner

[NickE]

Last year, Kiet from 968 wrote an iPhone/ipod Touch web app for scouting. More information in this thread (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67485).

[willson.thomas]

They wouldn't need to accept it. They have provisions in place for up to 100 beta testers, which shouldn't limit any FIRST team. You would still have to pay the $200 to enter the program, but after that you simply create a profile that allows the app to run.

[Tanner]

They wouldn't need to accept it. They have provisions in place for up to 100 beta testers, which shouldn't limit any FIRST team. You would still have to pay the $200 to enter the program, but after that you simply create a profile that allows the app to run.

Would rather pay the $99, and just hope it gets approved. No real reason to get the enterprise package unless you are going to plan on just spending $200 and making apps for private use. Seems to be a better investment if you're going to continue to make apps.

-Tanner

[chris31]

If it is just a website you have the advantage of being able to scout from any mobile device or platform that has an internet connection. So that might turn out to be a better option unless you know your scouters have an iPhone or iPod Touch.

[DMetalKong]

In my opinion, trying to write specialized apps for various systems like iPhones, PDAs, etc. is overkill. Most likely what you write for one system will have to be re-written for another device. However, you could do a multi-platform solution would be by writing a web-based app, which only needs a browser to function. As long as the markup is simple, the functionality should remain the same across a wide number of platforms. Granted, there are probably some specialized functions of mobile devices that a web app doesn't cover (Does the iPhone allow file forms in the browser, for stuff like uploading pictures from the phone?), but the simplicity of a web-based app is nice. Just my $0.02.

[willson.thomas]

Would rather pay the $99, and just hope it gets approved. No real reason to get the enterprise package unless you are going to plan on just spending $200 and making apps for private use. Seems to be a better investment if you're going to continue to make apps.

-Tanner

Sorry, got my prices wrong. I thought the two packages were 199 and 299 but they are actually 99 and 299. The ad-hoc beta testing is allowed for either package.

[synth3tk]

I'd like to back up what Chris and Kong said. Unless you plan on making apps for that specific device down the road and need practice, a general webserver should more than take care of scouting needs.

[alectronic]

I have been part of the scouting team for 492 for 2 years now, and we tend to want to carry parts of data between years to see how teams update. Now, I have not done any work about how an iPhone/etc program would work, but it seems like it would be much easier to just make a website and find an internet connection. The data would be easier to work with (or at least it is for us...) and would clearly save the time to write a specialized program.