A few years ago I built an iOS called Commuter Pal. I never actually launched the app, since I tried to do *way* too much in terms of route planning and intelligent alerting. Since I didn’t actually commute myself, it was not something I could field test.
Fast forward to 2017 and I’ve been commuting for about six months now. I’ve tried a few different apps to help keep me ahead of delays, but most of the apps are aimed at the entire network and have loads of bells and whistles, so I gave up using them as they just didn’t help. Most of the time I’m already on the platform before I learn of a signal failure or ill passenger.
To coincide with the fact I’ve started wearing my Apple Watch again, I’ve decided to try and bring Commuter Pal back to life with a more simple goal; a watch complication that tells me if my route is clear or blocked.
My choice of tech is predictable – iOS (Objective-C) and .Net. This time, instead of my usual WebAPI approach, I’m going to try and build the whole thing with CosmosDB and Azure Functions. I’m not really sure how it will work, but I think that all phone interactions can be powered by HTTP bound Functions and calls to TFL for updates can be done using Timer based Functions. Throw in a queue here or there and an Azure Notification hub and we should be in business.
I’ll try and document the process as I go along.
If you’re an iOS user and commute using the London Underground, I’ll be making this app available for beta testing, so if you’re interested in taking a look, let me know!
Tomas McGuinness 