Hi all, it has been a long time since I have posted on here so many, if not all may not know me. I have a question for everybody. What kinds of smart phone apps would you like to see created for model railroading?
I am in my second year of my Computer Science degree and am currently taking a software engineering class in which we need to create an app. The teacher has a generic idea of an app we can use, or we can come up with an idea of our own. I thought this would be the best place to get ideas or polish up the one idea I have been able to come up with so far. The idea I had was an app in which you can create a switch list to work from and use while in an operating session.
I am open to any ideas for an app and any suggestions for what you might like to see in the app idea I came up with.
No reply will be too silly or too big of an idea. If nothing else it may be something to work towards with possible future revisions.
As I work on the app I am sure I will be using this forum as a sounding board for it's functionality and visual appeal.
Thanks,
Gary
No reply will be too silly or too big of an idea.
Are you sure?
I want a app that tells me how many I drink for my A line that is 91 feet long to go around 25 times at 30 scale MPH!
Cuda Ken
One stupid idea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hate Rust
I'd like to see an app for train inventory purposes. Right now I an the excel spreadsheet I have on my laptop (imported to my smart phone) and works good but it's lacking and it's in read-only format. If I want to update my inventory I have to do it on the laptop and then import the new version of my list to my phone. A dedicated train inventory app would be awesome.
TONY
"If we never take the time, how can we ever have the time." - Merovingian (Matrix Reloaded)
I like the idea of an inventory app - you could use the phone's built-in camera to take photos of the rollingstock and add it in.
By the way, which platform are you developing for - iOS, Android or Windows Phone (don't laugh, the firm I do IT support for runs it)?
The Location: Forests of the Pacific Northwest, OregonThe Year: 1948The Scale: On30The Blog: http://bvlcorr.tumblr.com
I sort of use this now but in a make-shift sort of way; I like to run my trains in real-time according to real timetables. I've been going to the respective railroad organization's websites and downloading their schedules directly to my iphone and referencing my iphone for the appropriate station stops. A more streamlined and dedicated app for that would be awesome.
Another idea would be a built-in speedometer.
~Kyle
The Mary Lindsay Railroad - Featuring Amtrak Model Trains Your HO Rail Journey Starts Here.........
www.marylindsayrr.vze.com (Last Update: 5/31/12)
Pretty simple, yet adds play value: random event generator - bad order/hotbox detector. Initially enter how many cars your train have. Before departure from yard (or upon arrival in yard), you click something to do a car check - and may get a car bad ordered - so you need to set it out before departing.Every time you pass a hotbox detector you press a button or click something, and sometimes you get a hotbox alert, and need to set out a specific car.
Scale speed calculator - enter how many cars and what length cars you want to use for checking, press or click something when first car arrive at some point, second press or click when last of the given number of cars pass the point, calculate scale speed.
Smile, Stein
Something I've been meaning to do for a long time, but it just never hits my priority list of projects: I use Dave Husman's CarCard program as my rolling stock and loco inventory (eventually I'll print cards for ops) and I've been meaning to make a show inventory companion app for either my iPhoen or Touchpad so that instead of hauling around a stack of paper reports listing my current inventory, so as to not purchase duplicates, I could have and electronic list. Which I could then update right at purchase and later sync back to the master database.Or do inventory updates, or add photos away from my main computer where the master copy lives.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Cuda Ken-
What is the total length of your loop, this is one detail which will be very important to know as well as are we talking about 12 oz'ers or 40's? Or would this be inputable data to allow for customizable op sessions?
For the record your idea may be the most desirable to create.
I had also thought about an inventory app, but I am worried about the size of the data becoming too large for the available storage on the device. As I haven't done any data/app development for mobile devices I am not sure how the data scales in regards to space requirements, but I will certainly look into this as a viable option. I think it may be important to be able to transfer the data to a computer especially if photos are included in the inventory. Would this be something in which you would also like to have your current inventory as well as a supplemental inventory which would like a wanted list for future additions?
I also like that scale speed calculator. Would you like to have something in which you could keep a list of loco/consists speed tables in relation to train size? This could be available for future use. This could be handy for unit trains or passenger dailies.
Stein-
Great idea! This is something I think would add a lot of realism to op sessions. I have been thinking of a less technical application of this by creating cards which are shuffled before each op session and placed at appropriate locations. This would be even better as the random generator would do all of the work. You could input the number of cars in the train and then run the car check. If there is an issue it could tell you which car has the problem, other wise you would get an all clear.
Kyle-
Would you like the app to go pull the schedule automatically from the desired railroad, or are you thinking more along the lines of something which would just pull to data from the downloaded schedule and put it in a screen which would be better formatted to your use?
tbdanny-
Sorry forgot to mention, this would be an Android app, as that is what we are doing in the class and that is the type of phone I have, but once it is out there it wouldn't be too hard for it to be rewrote for the other platforms as well.
I think it is also important to let everybody know, I plan to put this out so that it can be downloaded by all my Model Railroading Brethren.
Favrefan04 Stein- Great idea! This is something I think would add a lot of realism to op sessions. I have been thinking of a less technical application of this by creating cards which are shuffled before each op session and placed at appropriate locations. This would be even better as the random generator would do all of the work. You could input the number of cars in the train and then run the car check. If there is an issue it could tell you which car has the problem, other wise you would get an all clear.
It is easy enough to extend the concept to generate other kinds of random events, that could be done on a per-time basis instead of an on-test basis.
You could e.g. click on something to show your train is pulling out (and something else to show that you have stopped). At any time between the two (but only rarely), the phone may start beeping - signalling that your train has gone into emergency as you lost brake pipe pressure.
If that happens, you stop the train and "walk back along the train looking for the cause" - i.e. you wait for a timer (based on the number of cars in your train) to count down, representing the time it takes to fix the problem. Once the problem has been fixed, you do a brake test and get going again.
It probably wouldn't be smart to make these kinds of events be too common. Just knowing that they _can_ happen will be enough to add a little extra play value. And the user interface would be fairly simple - "Enter number of cars", "Moving/stopped" for this type, "car check" for the BO test, "hotbox detector" for the hotbox detector.
I was thinking that it would pull from the dowloaded schedule and viewable in a more smartphone-friendly window.
If one wanted to get fancy, you could interactively check off each station once the train has made its departure. That row on the timetable would "go-away" moving your next stop to the top of the list.
METRA's mobile web app is the closest thing I've seen thus far but it is just easy to view on my iPhone. Amtrak's app allows you to look up stations of departure and arrival but I haven't been able to find the actual timetable itself.
How about an app into which one can program all the industries and team tracks on the layout, and input the frequency with which each demands and supplies specific car types. Then with a push of the button, the app uses that data to generate a random industry switch list for an operating session that can be output to a network-connected printer. The random algorithm should include a function that keeps track of how long it's been since an industry has requested a certain car so that if it doesn't come up in the random for a long time, it pushes it to the top priority.
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com
How about an app that ties into the GPS and detects when I've walked into the trainroom and turns the phone off! That way I won't be bothered when playing with my trains.
There is nothing worse than trying to glue two tiny bits together and have your pants start to vibrate.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Steven Otte How about an app into which one can program all the industries and team tracks on the layout, and input the frequency with which each demands and supplies specific car types. Then with a push of the button, the app uses that data to generate a random industry switch list for an operating session that can be output to a network-connected printer. The random algorithm should include a function that keeps track of how long it's been since an industry has requested a certain car so that if it doesn't come up in the random for a long time, it pushes it to the top priority.
I was going to say something similar! I'm currently using a home-grown Excel spreadsheet to generate random switch lists for my layout. Mine is also a car inventory, and generates a random train with the required car types from the inventory. I thought it would be nice to be able to do this on an iPhone/iPad, but to my knowledge, neither of those can run Excel, so they'd have to have an app that does the same thing. If such an app existed, I'd definitely use it!... now I just have to get an iPhone
Dan Stokes
My other car is a tunnel motor
Also, maybe something similar to Decoder Pro that you could run from a smartphone to program DCC decoders. Of course, the hardware interface with the DCC system might pose a challenge. Or maybe you could just have the app spit out a list of CVs you'd need to change based on different options you select.
Thanks for the reply Steven. This would be an extension of the idea I had and I like the idea of the switch list basically auto populating. Part of my idea originally was to input the layout roster and then to be able to build the switch list from the available empty cars. The random generator I think increases the realism as not all industries would need the same number of cars on the same schedule all of the time.
tbdanny I like the idea of an inventory app - you could use the phone's built-in camera to take photos of the rollingstock and add it in.
Along this line let it do the barcode reading of new boxes so all you do is snap the photo the barcode and it is added to your inventory...or wish list
One may already exist, but an app that converts back and forth between common mrr scales would be really useful. That way when MR Mag posts a cool HO drawing I want to replicate in N scale, I can just print it, and have the app do the appropriate photocopying reduction as I walk to the copier.
Eric97123 Along this line let it do the barcode reading of new boxes so all you do is snap the photo the barcode and it is added to your inventory...or wish list
Now that's a good idea.
Havign the handheld device complemnt a desktop-based operating system was actually brought up in the JMRI group recently. The idea beign that if you operate with a 2-man crew, the engineer can use an existing app like WiThrottle or Engine Driver to run the train, and the conductor can have a switchlist in his mobile device, instead of carrying around a stack of waybills. Or they can be waybills on thehandheld, instead of a switchlist, if waybills are preferred. About the only feature needed on the mobile device would be the ability to sort them (probbaly better for a tablet size-device, displaying multiple READABLE waybills on a small phoen screen is probably not practical) - and it has to be a manual sort, such as when rearranging cars at an available siding before proceeding to the next series of setouts. The hard part of creating waybills or switchlists, and making up the trains is already in the base app, in this case JMRI with the Operations module. The idea is to use the handheld to replace the paper.
As for my inventory idea - this is just to store basic inventory information for pieces of rolling stock and locos. Only a subset of the fields is carried through, the main database resides on a desktop computer. This might be easier if I ever finished my OTHER project, which was to convert the Access database to something else - SQL Express (free) or MySQL. As for size - not a huge issue, I have some 2 dozen locos and somewhere around 250 cars, can;t get an accurate count because there's all sorts of OTHER stuff in this database besides the inventory information, but it's only a few MB in size. Cut dow to justthe essentials, it would be far smaller. A few devices still come with only 8GB, but most of the low end models are now 16GB, so even allowing for music and so forth, you know, all that stuff that is unimportant next to the trains, I don't think space will be a problem. And it sure beats pages of double-sided printouts, both in convenience AND in the trees that get wasted every time I go to a show.
jasperofzeal I'd like to see an app for train inventory purposes. Right now I an the excel spreadsheet I have on my laptop (imported to my smart phone) and works good but it's lacking and it's in read-only format. If I want to update my inventory I have to do it on the laptop and then import the new version of my list to my phone. A dedicated train inventory app would be awesome.
If you're after a simple inventory keeper (for when you go to train shows and want to have a..."don't buy this list"), just import your Excel workbook into Google Docs. I'm assuming you have a Droid and not an iphone though.
NittanyLion If you're after a simple inventory keeper (for when you go to train shows and want to have a..."don't buy this list"), just import your Excel workbook into Google Docs. I'm assuming you have a Droid and not an iphone though.
Yeah, my phone is running the Droid OS. I can see my excel workbook with the bundled app that came with the phone, OfficeSuite. It opens most MS Word items and even PDF's but only in read-only mode. For a fee it can be fully enabled but I don't use my phone to create docs so I don't see the justification to pay for the full version if I won't use it a lot. I'll look into Google Docs, thanks for that tip.
Philip H. One may already exist, but an app that converts back and forth between common mrr scales would be really useful. That way when MR Mag posts a cool HO drawing I want to replicate in N scale, I can just print it, and have the app do the appropriate photocopying reduction as I walk to the copier.
Or you can use the calculator on your phone to calculate 87.1/160 and get 0.54 - i.e. 54% when going from H0 to N, or 160/87.1 = 1.83 (183%) when going from N to H0.
Actually there is a scale converter app, as well as some other calculators. It's been advertised in that 'other' magazine that's online and free.
steinjr Philip H.: One may already exist, but an app that converts back and forth between common mrr scales would be really useful. That way when MR Mag posts a cool HO drawing I want to replicate in N scale, I can just print it, and have the app do the appropriate photocopying reduction as I walk to the copier. Or you can use the calculator on your phone to calculate 87.1/160 and get 0.54 - i.e. 54% when going from H0 to N, or 160/87.1 = 1.83 (183%) when going from N to H0. Smile, Stein
Philip H.: One may already exist, but an app that converts back and forth between common mrr scales would be really useful. That way when MR Mag posts a cool HO drawing I want to replicate in N scale, I can just print it, and have the app do the appropriate photocopying reduction as I walk to the copier.
Woodland Scenics has a scale app.. I have used it a few times for some scratch building I did. real easy to use and it covers G,O,HO,N, S, TT, 1:18, 1:32, 1:72, 1:285 and an option to do custom
rrinker Havign the handheld device complemnt a desktop-based operating system was actually brought up in the JMRI group recently. The idea beign that if you operate with a 2-man crew, the engineer can use an existing app like WiThrottle or Engine Driver to run the train, and the conductor can have a switchlist in his mobile device, instead of carrying around a stack of waybills. Or they can be waybills on thehandheld, instead of a switchlist, if waybills are preferred. About the only feature needed on the mobile device would be the ability to sort them (probbaly better for a tablet size-device, displaying multiple READABLE waybills on a small phoen screen is probably not practical) - and it has to be a manual sort, such as when rearranging cars at an available siding before proceeding to the next series of setouts. The hard part of creating waybills or switchlists, and making up the trains is already in the base app, in this case JMRI with the Operations module. The idea is to use the handheld to replace the paper.
Yup. A Waybill system (or switch list). Instead of a stack of paper, just give your train crews/operators a tablet. Tablet's are so cheap these days (Android ones, anyways) that it makes sense to do away with paper and hand your operators a tablet with the waybills/switchlist on it.
How about an app that uses the phone's sensors to calculate scale grade? Or one that is like a modelers version of Google goggles that adds to a wishlist or inventory.
RJ
"Something hidden, Go and find it. Go and look behind the ranges, Something lost behind the ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go." The Explorers - Rudyard Kipling
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