In 2016, together with a group of students I developed an app that enabled users to geolocate roadside booths where home-grown and home-made groceries were sold. We found out we had overseen an important thing.
Early 2016, a few students I teamed up with, were finalizing a smartphone app for which I had developed the concept. The app would enable people in the northern part of the Netherlands to locate roadside vendors of home-made and home-grown groceries on a map and plot a cycling route between different roadside vendor booths. As an extra service, meal recipes could be uploaded to the app’s website, which in turn were translated into a cycling route using the ingredients and the corresponding vendor booths. This app would make the task of shopping for groceries a more engaging and fun experience than the daily drive to the mall. We christened the app ‘Food on Route’.
Road Side Vendor Booth
Splash Screen & Search Results | Food on Route
Profile Page | Food on Route
The app enabled cyclists to take pictures of road side vendor booths, and plot them onto a map using the GPS metadata. These cyclists then could fill out a form submitting information on the groceries that were available at that certain booth. Local vendors were able to ‘claim’ their booth on the website, in order to complete a detailed online profile of their booth. We had a working, good-looking prototype and where it was showcased, it was received well.
However, it appeared we had overlooked an important thing.