Note: currently the application is in closed beta phase. To participate, you can contact Ivar Rekve en CaminoDeSantiago.me CaminoDeSantiago.me is a forum related to the Camino de Santiago, with many questions and answers mainly from foreign pilgrims. For mobile application Camino de Santiago we did not choose a native client for the forum, since this possibility is offered by Tapatalk, so the application was proposed as a hand guide, where the users can share their experiences about the Camino in a friendly and adapted to their phones interface.
A custom API was designed and developed to serve the content, implemented in PHP with Codeigniter, offering several REST interfaces with which consume application information. The information is stored in a database that can be accessed through the corresponding service. Mobile applications development framework Appcelerator was used to implement the client. This library enables multiplatform mobile application development (Android, iOS – iPhone and iPad, BlackBerry), writing application code once, in JavaScript language. The result, after compiling the code, are fully native applications, allowing to use the advanced features of the phone such as geolocation, vibration, notifications, etc., all through a graphical interface based on native components (with the advantage in performance and user experience which is compared to the option of developing a mobile web application).
The application has a database with the different Caminos and stages, with its distances, and the remaining kilometers to Compostela. Users can query this information, plus the weather at the destination of your stage. As a main feature, the application allows users to rate and comment the stage to share their experience with other forum users, valuing different aspects (difficulty, internet, restoration, …), and leave a comment about the shelter or accommodation they have been in. The application interface allows you to view a summary of the last user activity on the site, and access to stages information, separated in different tabs. Besides, it has a section of settings in which the user can enter his registration details in the forum (it is not possible to use the advanced features to share and get feedback without it).