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.

[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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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]

Originally Posted by Tanner

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.