Small Development Project Case Study

HeedSpeed - Constant Driving Speed Monitor

The Background

A constant speed rally is a motor-sport event where drivers aim complete a course in a set time or at a set average speed. Drivers are encouraged to use any means they can to achieve this. Graticule were asked by one of the drivers to develop a software application that would help him to win one of these events.

The Requirements

• The software needed to run on a standard Pocket PC and connect to the on-board GPS with flexibility so that it could be used on more than one device if one failed.
• It needed to be very simple to read since the driver would have to consult it while in motion.
• It needed to be easy to set-up inbetween courses as the drivers would not have much time to spare.
• It needed to be able to cope with loss of GPS signal as certain courses included rough terrain and tunnels.
• It needed to log results to a text file for analysis.

The Design and Development

The Graticule engineers used this framework to create the HeedSpeed application. Extensive testing was carried out using emulators in the office and beta versions were provided to the driver who was able to test them in the field and provide detailed feedback. The software was sent to the driver via the Graticule download server so that updates and fixes could be made almost immediately.

Summary

Graticule had to develop a software application for a private individual instead of a company and therefore had to be continually aware of budgetary limitations as well as time constraints - the driver was working normal hours and could often not reply to queries for several days. Ultimately the software was a sucess and the Graticule development team proved that they could handle even the very smallest of projects.

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