Bazi - your Q about being able get maps etc without needing wifi to download an “app”
Yes, but I’ll have to directly plug our mobile website to tell you about it!
We launched http://www.SNO.mobi last year and it’s grown really fast
It puts the whole ski resort in your pocket (live cams, piste maps, apres ski bars/restaurants, ski schools, mountain guides, resort and summit conditions - even taxis and baby sitters!)
What?
- Unlike an “app”, our mobile ski resort guide works on ALL phones (its a website).
- mobile website is designed with tiny data size, so you won’t come home to big roaming data bill
(average web page is around half a meg, ours is around 40kb!)
- we have the large maps and also cut-downs that are better for mobile screen size
(ie not merely the usual massive area map that identikit apps have, also individual ski areas)
- we promote the local resort businesses totally free of charge (ie we put them in literally everyone’s pocket) so tell anyone you know to email me and I’ll make sure we add their ski biz
We based it on “old fashioned cooperation” so we’ll never charge the local ski schools and bars etc to be on there - the idea is to make it easy for skiers/boarders to find and support the locals, who make mountain communities the fabulous places we all love to visit.
Plug over - this is a ski resort guide, so doesn’t do things like record your daily vertical or top speed - the idea is to create something as great as eg Chamonet, but in your pocket, and for all ski resorts!
We’ll keep funding it from the sale of ski holidays (our main business).
Last week we won the Digital Entrepreneur Award for category Travel Entrepreneur Dead Cert’ - v. chuffed
(NB: site has “device detection” so you need to view it on a phone, or you’ll be sent to the desktop site - you can try it out on your PC by clicking in the demo-phone at http://www.sno.co.uk/mobile/web/ )
hope thats a useful answer
cheers