Myself and fellow computer scientist, Aaron Thompson, decided to build an app for the annual Equinox Challenge scouting orienteering event.

The app is designed to reduce the ammount of cheating that can take place during the game and to reduce the load on game marshalls by allowing another point of contact. The primary purpose of the app was to allow teams to log post finds in real time using a semi-automated system in the app (rather than the older paper or direct SMS systems). It also had a panic button to alert marshalls to an in-game problem (with team locations), and an "evacuate" feature which provides another method for the marshalls to alert teams in the event of a forest-wide evacuation.

The app also has several secondary purposes, firstly to allow teams to take photos during the game (in return for a points reward). These photos will be uploaded to an on-site server at the end of the same in order to serve as PR material for future years. Additionally the app will regularly record team's locations over the course of the game to allow the marshalls to plan better positions for the posts in future games.

The app must be able to cache data for later upload if a data connection is not available at any point (highly likely!).