App case study · Private build, Android and web
Backroads
Offline-capable back-roads ride navigation for side-by-sides and RZRs across Middle Tennessee. Pick a ride, get turn-by-turn directions with spoken cues, and keep going when the signal drops.
Designed by Porch Light Desk · Created by Erik Repp
The problem
Car apps don’t ride back roads.
Phone map apps steer you to the fastest paved road, lose the plot with no signal, and use buttons too small to hit in gloves on a bumpy dirt road. Backroads is built the other way around: back roads first, offline first, big buttons first.
Features
What’s in the build.
- Ride Now, Free Ride and Random Ride
- Turn-by-turn directions with spoken cues
- Google Maps-style compass with North-up and Heading-up
- An “Up ahead” stack of upcoming stops
- Change Ride: head back, shorten, gas stop, skip a stop
- Rural stops layer for gas, food and stores
- Search with autocomplete
- Offline map tiles and a no-signal banner
- Large glove-friendly controls for a car head unit
- Day, Night and Auto screen themes
Platforms
Android and web, one code base.
An Android app plus a web version from the same code. It runs on phones and on tablets and car head units, in portrait or landscape, using the unit’s own GPS without Google Play Services. The screen stays on during a ride. Version 1.14 is current, with 1.15 in progress.
Private build. Not on the app stores, and there is no public download.
Want an app like this for your idea?
Text or email Erik. Apps are quoted per project. See app design & development.