Students planning road trips often must ask the question, “What about weather?”
Thanks to Garafa, an app development company, there is an app for that. Garafa is confident its newest app could be useful for students when planning road trips. Road Trip Weather allows the user to map a road trip and then provides the weather forecast for various locations on the route.
Since BYU students often drive long distances to return to their hometowns, the app could help students to better arrange their driving schedules when poor weather is forecast.
“We were all BYU students and remember hearing to drive safely around the holidays,” said Joe Wilson, art director for Garafa, who helped to develop Road Trip Weather. “Road Trip Weather is good for students traveling during the holidays because they can make better decisions and avoid hazardous weather.”
Jonathan Lund, CEO and senior engineer of Garafa, said the development team had students in mind while developing Road Trip Weather.
“Inspiration came from students traveling,” he said. “You see people die almost every year, it seems. With this app you can make the decision to leave six hours or a day earlier. The app provides the opportunity to be a little safer. It’s especially good for students because they drive more often than fly.”
The app also has a time planning function, similar to a GPS. Individuals using the app can check the weather in the location they will be when they will be there. The weather information is downloaded from the US Weather Service when the route is planned. The app is available for the iPhone 3GS and newer, as well as the iPad and the third or fourth generation iPod touch. The app is available on iTunes for $.99.
Andrea Smith, a BYU graduate in nursing, has found the app to be useful. She used the app when she traveled from Utah to Arizona and then when her parents traveled from Portland to Utah.
“It helped plan our trips,” she said. “Any direction you go from here [Utah Valley], you’re going through mountain passes.”
She said the passes can create weather issues when traveling .
“The best part [of Road Trip Weather] is that you can see the best time to leave based on the weather,” she said, adding how impressed with she was with the app’s accuracy.
Previously, Garafa was known for its development of an app called GPS Kit. GPS Kit focuses on information for a specific location designed for people who are participating in outdoors activities such as backpacking, hiking and camping.
