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Un-offical Alton towers & the iphone app......

pitchnoir

Mega Poster
Hey all.
If your a fanboy of The towers or taking a trip to the park, or generally just interested have a read below and download (for free mind you).

p.s i havent tried the app yet, seeing as i havent got an iphone (yet roll on the 27th) but have a look and type up what you think etc.

Introducing Towers Guide
Tuesday 12th May 2009 - Towers Guide was an idea originally thought up back in June 2008, right after the launch of the iPhone 3G. The fact that the device had the capabilities of communicating with the Internet and knowing your exact location was very exciting and we knew that these technologies could be put together to provide a really nice app for theme park goers.

We started work on the app in August 2008, and today, 9 months on, it's available in the iTunes App Store.

So, what does Towers Guide do? It allows you to:

- Browse through all rides, attractions and facilities at Alton Towers.
- Display the rides, attractions and facilities which are nearest to you.
- Get intelligent directions to any ride, attraction or facility.
- View detailed statistics on all of Alton Towers' rides.
- View the height restrictions for all rides and attractions.
- View what services a ride or attraction offers (e.g. on-ride photos).
- Be kept up to date, with park data automatically updated wirelessly.

To find out more and to download it for free, visit the Towers Guide website.

http://www.towersnerd.com/news/item.php?id=165
 
Just downloaded it, haven't had chance to fully browse but from a first glance it certainly looks like an enthusiast's dream! Facts on all of the coasters and the like. Obviously would work better if you were actually at the park but it still looks very impressive :D
 
It's a nice app. Very user friendly. Shame it doesn't have any photos though.
 
Thanks for your feedback guys, it's much appreciated :)

It's a nice app. Very user friendly. Shame it doesn't have any photos though.
That's certainly one of the features which will be added to it in the future. You can keep checking the Towers Guide Bog for a preview of things we're working on. I've actually just added an entry.

If anyone else has any comments (or indeed questions), we'd love to hear them :)
 
Am not getting the height restriction bar. Understand the measurements for the ride...but the point of the red/green bar? It doesn't mean anything. Maybe people could enter their height and have that displayed on the bar in the correct coloured portion? Also...I live in London. So obviously the nearby function will be screwed. But I can't find it to even play! Where should this be?
 
Am not getting the height restriction bar. Understand the measurements for the ride...but the point of the red/green bar? It doesn't mean anything. Maybe people could enter their height and have that displayed on the bar in the correct coloured portion?
At the moment the "height bar" is there for decorative reasons mainly, although it is proportionally correct. We'll be looking to add labels to it to make it a little more useful and I like your idea about displaying the users height on the bar - we'll take note of that one!

I live in London. So obviously the nearby function will be screwed. But I can't find it to even play! Where should this be?
Unfortunately the location based features are only activated when you're on park. As you quite rightly say, they would be screwed and it makes no sense to have "walk 250km to Nemesis..." :lol:

Having said that, this isn't the only app we've been working hard on for 9 months and all being well they'll be somewhere a little closer to you where you can have a play this summer :)
 
It would be great if it could have the queue times on it, but that would require Alton to update it probably.
 
southend_marc said:
It would be great if it could have the queue times on it, but that would require Alton to update it probably.

That's just what I thought.

I think Cedar Point has their own App which lets you check out queue times, something like that would be really useful.
 
^ I-touch. :p
Got the Nokia 5800 as my phone...they are quite similar, but I like my phone to be a phone. ;-)

Locker...I can play at Thorpe soon then? :-D
 
Paranoid said:
^ I-touch. :p
Got the Nokia 5800 as my phone...they are quite similar, but I like my phone to be a phone. ;-)

Locker...I can play at Thorpe soon then? :-D
So you have an iPod touch? Unfortunately the 'Nearby' & 'Directions' features won't ever work for you due to the lack of a GPS chip in the device.

As for Thorpe, no comment :D

I can't download it, as I refuse to install AyeTunes :(
So you don't have an iPhone or iPod touch? Well, if you did you could download it directly to the device.

Thanks again for all of your feedback guys :)
 
Locker said:
So you have an iPod touch? Unfortunately the 'Nearby' & 'Directions' features won't ever work for you due to the lack of a GPS chip in the device.

As for Thorpe, no comment :D

Well, then surely the next step is to make the 'Nearby' feature Wifi enabled...and Symbian compatible to run off that GPS for the non iphoners out there :p
 
Paranoid said:
Locker said:
So you have an iPod touch? Unfortunately the 'Nearby' & 'Directions' features won't ever work for you due to the lack of a GPS chip in the device.

As for Thorpe, no comment :D

Well, then surely the next step is to make the 'Nearby' feature Wifi enabled...and Symbian compatible to run off that GPS for the non iphoners out there :p
I'm not sure what you mean there, do you mean use wi-fi triangulation to try and get a position? If so, there aren't enough wireless points around the resort for that to work and you'd need a database of them too.

As for Symbian, I think one platform is enough for now :p

Again thanks for all of your feedback :)
 
Just to keep you all up to date, here's the latest blog entry from the Towers Guide Blog:

Last Wednesday Towers Guide received it's 1,000th download from the App Store. We're really pleased with this, and are working hard to finish off version 1.1 which we hope to make available by the end of July.

There's been quite a lot to report since the last blog entry. First of all, we're incorporating more features into our next version. As well as multiple entrance support and integrated search, we're really excited to announce 'nearby' and 'directions' support for the original iPhone and iPod touch!

So, how exactly will that work? Well, when you're on park you're always going to be able to identify something near to you. Ride and shop signs are always visible, so you simply tell Towers Guide where you are. Once you've done that the location based features are instantly made available - and you can easily change your current location at any time with the tap of an 'Edit' button!

To enable this feature, all you will need to do is turn on 'Manual Locations' in your application's settings:



Once you've done that the Nearby screen will look something like this:



You'll be able to select the item you're close to from a searchable list. We wanted something which wouldn't get in the way of people with a GPS capable device but could be easily enabled for those who need it. We think this is the best solution, and can't wait for our many iPod touch users to try it out!

We've also been making sure that version 1.1 is compatible with the new iPhone OS 3.0. In fact, it's still compatible with every version of iPhone OS that supports third party apps (2.0+)!

Finally, we've been working on another App alongside Towers Guide and require some beta testers to help us iron out any remaining issues. The only catch is that you must be able to visit either Thorpe Park, Chessington world of Adventures or Drayton Manor. So, if you have an iPhone or iPod touch and can visit one of these parks soon, please get in touch!

With regards to the final paragraph, if anyone here feels like they may be able to help feel free to drop me a PM.
 
I have a touch...and an annual Thorpe pass. ;-)

Don't know my next visit. Maybe Tuedsay...or the next week etc.
 
Towers Guide version 1.1 has been released today! Here's the news item from Towers Nerd which covers the new features:

We announced the launch of Towers Guide back in May and since then we've been working on a number of improvements. Version 1.1 of the app boasts two new features - search and manual locations.

Search allows you to perform a text based search through all of the rides, attractions & facilities at Alton Towers. This makes it even easier to quickly locate the information you want.

Manual Locations allows location based features to be used when a GPS signal is not available. This makes it ideal for iPod touch and first generation iPhone users, who can now take full advantage of the app.

You can download Towers Guide from the iTunes app store. To keep up to date with what exciting things we're working on next keep visiting the Towers Guide Blog.
Please feel free to leave your thoughts and suggestions, feedback is always appreciated :)
 
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