Plan your next surf vacation with the most accurate wind & weather forecasting app.
Challenge
It was a windy day at the Black Sea Coast when our CEO Yavor decided to give a new hobby a try – windsurfing. The first time he hit the water and felt the freedom which this sport can give, his life changed forever. While driving back to Sofia, Yavor couldn’t stop thinking about the upcoming surfing weekend. He scheduled his next trip to the sea coast based on the information gathered from several weather forecasting mobile applications. However, he was disappointed by the lack of information about expected wind. As a software developer, he decided to help himself and others in the same situation to organize their windsurfing vacations better. And that's how the story started. Wind & weather forecasting app.
Solution
Every successful project starts with good research and an understanding of who your target group is. We did our homework which showed us that our target group was wider than we initially thought and included not only windsurfers but also kitesurfers and sailors. We also found that paragliders, fishermen, cyclists and drone lovers would find a use for our app. This required us to have weather support for every single place in the world. As soon as we started searching for good weather providers, we understood that weather couldn’t be fully predicted. All weather providers develop their own forecast models which are basically computer algorithms running on powerful servers stored in data centers. Depending on the region you're looking for, you may find one model is more accurate than another. The next challenge was user experience. Our few competitors had already shaped the user expectations - a row of boxes filled with forecasts per hour. Obviously, it's a good solution because you can see a forecast for several hours ahead with a single glance. But if you want to beat the competition you have to be innovative. With its innovative graphical representation of weather conditions, Wind Tracker differs from the competition. The "swipe to change days, drag to change hours" concept provides an easy-to-use interface which is beautiful and simple at the same time. Background color even changes depending on how strong or light the wind power is. Taking the idea from ride-sharing and taxi apps, we created a nice-looking map that provides the opportunity to select literally every spot on the globe. A big search toolbar will help you to pinpoint places by keywords or address, while a drag on the map allows you to fine-tune the position. That's very useful since the wind can be different in places only a few hundred meters apart. Last but not least we wanted to locate the most accurate weather providers. It took us a long time, comparing and testing different providers, but we found the one we thought provided the most accurate weather models. App users are very satisfied so far and it seems like we made the right decision. Currently, we're working on improvements and new features. We're using the MVP approach: build - measure - learn - restart. Thus, the app always meets the user's expectations.
Results
The app became a favorite for many users around the globe who needed reliable wind & weather forecasts.
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