Epic Georgia Hiking App

A simple app that helps a Georgia hiker find a hike

Project Date
December 2023

My Role
Designer/Coder

Project Overview
To create an app that would help hikers find and keep track of the best hikes in Georgia based on their preferences.

The Problem
I created a Georgia hiking app for the midterm project. My problem was to add some additional functionality to allow the user to create a profile, let them mark hikes as “hiked” on a specific date and give them the option of including notes about the hike.

Hiking preferences to filter hikes

The Solution

First, I needed to figure out a way to store data in the app. I learned that the way to do this was to use Core Data. A Core Data model allows you to create entities with attributes and relationships that you can then use in Swift files to manage and persist data across the application.

In the context of my Georgia hiking app, the I first used it to create and then display a user profile. Then, focusing on individual trail details, I added a “Mark as Hiked” button. This button serves a dual purpose: it toggles a “hasHiked” attribute in the user’s profile and, when activated, adds the hike to the “My Hikes” section of the user profile. Upon marking a hike as completed, users are prompted to select the date they hiked and input any personal notes. These details — the hike date and notes — are saved as attributes in Core Data and displayed under each hike in the “My Hikes” list.

User profile setup and the trail detail if you mark “Hiked”

Through these features, I made the app more user-centric, allowing hikers to track their adventures and thoughts in a personalized way. Core Data was instrumental in this process, facilitating data management and ensuring a smooth user experience.

User profile with hiked hikes and hike detail modal.

Results
Overall I feel good about the app. It was a fun process of discovery. I would get one thing to work and then get an idea to add just a little more and try to make that work.

There are still some challenges with the functionality.

1. I‘ve noticed an issue where the user’s trail notes don’t always display immediately. They only appear after closing the modal, clicking on another hike in the list and then returning. I suspect this might be related to timing or the need for the app to re-fetch the updated attributes from Core Data, but I haven’t been able to fully diagnose the issue yet.
2. Currently, the app’s hike options are sourced from a local JSON file. To truly enhance its utility, integrating an external API with a broader range of hikes and more detailed data would be the next step. Additionally, the hike images are linked to static URLs. I’ve already noticed that some of these links have become broken since I first developed that feature for the midterm project. Switching to an API could potentially resolve this issue as well, ensuring more reliable access to current hike images.