Overland Navigator 3.0 - Development Environment

With the target hardware decided I picked up a new iPad w/ the Retina display and fine tuned my iOS development environment.  Ready to start design work in the morning.

Overland Navigator 3.0 - OS Selection

Overland Navigator 3.0 will be developed for iOS (iPhone/iPad).  There was some discussion about this on Facebook, ExpeditionPortal, and the Northwest Overland Society websites.  It is a decision based on a watershed of many ideas  including quality, demand, support costs, distribution costs, and  the Objective-C/Cocoa Touch/XCode development environment.  I can't wait to see Overland Navigator's maps on the latest iPads Retina display!

For me, this is a really cool direction to be going in.  The first computer I ever programmed on was an Apple ][e and my first *big* app featured a map of the fictitious Piers Anthony's "Xanth".  I should see if I can get a screenshot of that.  As the son of a University of Washington Professor my Dad always brought home the latest Apple hardware including the ][e, Lisa, the original Macintosh, Mac Plus, Mac SE, etc.  I used them through college where I learned ANSI C programming and the fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) on a Mac running "Map II - Map Processor".  As a professional I left the Mac/System 7 for Unix because GIS software required it.  Since then I've used FreeBSD (the core of OSX and iOS) extensively on my servers and started doing all my Windows/Linux programming in VMs on my Macbook Pro.  It's great to be back to my roots.  I'm looking forward to developing Overland Navigator exclusively for Apple hardware and using Apple technology, such as iCloud, to create a unified navigation system that works the Apple way.

My goal is to create an application that is elegant and simple. How many times have you heard that phrase only to find that the application is horribly difficult to use?  I mean it.  Even on Windows, Overland Navigator has always followed the design philosophy of "Everything you need, nothing you don't; and only require user input if you have to."  I guard the UI from clutter like my life depends on it.  If I can't figure out how to add a feature in a clean, easy to understand, way I'll leave it out until I can.  These design ideals are a natural fit for the Apple ecosystem; in fact they are so well matched that many people have asked me "What took you so long?".  :)  I'm glad to be developing Overland Navigator for a user community that appreciates design.  I can't wait to get started!

**Existing Windows users will all be offered a free upgrade to the new software and maps.  Overland Navigator 2.0 will continue to have technical support and map-packs sold through the webstore.  At this time there are no plans to update the Windows version of the software.

Overland Navigator 3.0 - Introduction

Overland Navigator 3.0 will be designed with input from the Overlanding community at every step.  An open discussion.

This blog will be used to share each design document including use-cases, features, usability, and connectivity.  I hope many of you will participate throughout the design, and that together we can create the premier Overland Navigation application.

The best way to stay up to date is to sign up for our RSS feed,  "Like" us on Facebook, or "Follow" us on Twitter.  Each time there's a new design document we'll share it on Facebook and Twitter so you can follow the link back here.  Please help us get the word out about the project.