Idea for an App

cormie

Just thought I'd put this out there and see what the response was. I know there's a user here who was looking for ideas for apps before to make himself.

Anyway, this would be an "advanced" take on "the fuel app" using pumps.ie for fuel prices. Instead of just giving you a list of the closest fuel stations, based on your location, with this app you would put in your destination, your MPG, how many miles/km you reckon you have left before fuel runs out, how much you plan on topping up by (20eur, 50eur, full tank etc) and how much of a rush you're in/how far you're prepared to detour. It would then check all the stations along the route up until the point where you would be running low and calculate the most economical station to stop in considering the variables entered.

I'd find it quite useful myself and I reckon I'd use it pretty much every long journey

thirtythirty

I've thought about this before, and even looked into it!
The difficulty is the price updating on garages - firstly you need to provide the system that they update with their prices (issues there with pushing the work back to them and having them update it manually, also allows for incorrect info i.e. they claim 1.03, attract a bunch of cars, and it's actually 1.13), but there's also the issues of opt-in. Why would a premium rate garage (or perhaps entire chain) opt-in when they know they're gonna be more expensive? And it would have to be opt-in because you've no way of gathering the data otherwise.

However if you can get around those issues - there's additional functionality i'd like you to add to: For the petrol stations listed, an indication system as to whether they also have a hot deli for full food place inside them! Tbh that's what mainly attracts me to petrol stations when im driving!

cormie

Isn't pumps.ie updated by general users as opposed to garage owners? To keep the prices up to date, it could only choose from garages that have been updated in the past day or two aswell I guess?

Yeah, deli, ATM, 24hour would be good options too!

Patrickof

Hmm, the updating of prices is the big problem for this.

For example, there's a garage in Athy I passed a few times over the last few days:

Diesel:
Monday evening ~ 4pm 1.19
Tuesday morning ~ 9am 1.20
Tuesday evening ~ 6pm 1.21

johnp

Never heard of the Fuel App, just installed it and it's excellent!

cormie

Most places don't change their prices THAT much, anyway, the same problem is still present with "The Fuel App", it would just be better to have all the variables guiding you to the best station for your situation.

I find most of the cheaper stations remain cheap anyway, howleys in Gort has been 117.9 pretty consistently the last 2/3 weeks.

Atomic Pineapple

Basically you would like an efficiency calculator added to the functionality of the fuel app?

cormie

In a way yeah, one that you input your own cars MPG, amount of fuel remaining (so how far you can go to cheapest station), how much you're going to fill up by etc and then it calculates the most economical/efficient station for you to stop at as opposed to the fuel apps current method of just telling you the closest stations in a 10km or so radius.

Bluetonic

Problem being that the information you enter at the start would not be guaranteed to remain constant.

How do you factor in heavy traffic which leads to increased fuel consumption and long duration of travel time? This is unpredictable. You may be directing someone to a garage which they will never make it too as the variables have changed yet the app has not reissued new directions.

cormie

It depends on the driver how much of a risk they should take with the remaining distance allowed, this is the only important variable in such a case as the MPG shouldn't change enough to make a difference if a safe enough remaining distance is entered. Again, time won't make a difference unless the garage will be closed, the time variable was to not send the driver off on a 10 minute journey to save a few cent, but to limit it to whatever the driver wants (1km,1 min off the route etc)

friendface

cormie wrote: »

Most places don't change their prices THAT much, anyway, the same problem is still present with "The Fuel App", it would just be better to have all the variables guiding you to the best station for your situation.

I find most of the cheaper stations remain cheap anyway, howleys in Gort has been 117.9 pretty consistently the last 2/3 weeks.

Great spot for the diesel. :cool:

Haven't tried the fuel app. May give it a go in the next few days.

cormie

Still thinking this would be a useful app. Does anyone know of anyone who'd be able to make this? Wouldn't mind commissioning a developer, might save me money in the long run

witnessmenow

Lets say you can make an app that integrates/communicates with maps so you knew your current location/destination etc.. Would people be prepared to use their sat nav all the time? Like your going to the shops are you going to stick Aldi into the destination of your sat nav?

It would nearly need to know tomorrows journey too. Say you go from B->A and back, round trip takes 60% of your tank, but you pass the best petrol station in the world and on tomorrows trip that is from B->C and back you will at some stage need to fill up and you only pass terrible stations the app isnt going to know

I haven't given it too much thought but what i think would be a better idea would be leave the decision making up to the user. Come up with some form of algorithim that rates petrol stations out of 10 based on price and how far away they are from you (or will be from you if you have navigation on). You could include your cars mpg into the equation for better accuracy on the ratings.

cormie

I wouldn't think people would generally use the app, or GPS in general for going to aldi or filling up locally, of course, they could just choose the cheapest on route option too, so if they do pass the most fantastic beautiful station in the world then they could just go there, without providing the rest of the info for the algorithm, but the rest of the info would be where the best usage of the app (and the main reason people would use it) comes in.

It's a big interest to me, doing a lot of miles that are scheduled where time is important and you don't want to delay the journey too long and I can't help but twitch a little if I ever fill up and then see another station that's 2/3c cheaper per litre on the same journey which I would have made it to on the fuel I had.

The app itself wouldn't need to be used as your GPS (although I guess it could take you there and calculate the route etc via google maps), it just needs to calculate where you should stop and then it's up to the user to use this information by marking it on a stand alone GPS like a Garmin, or just remembering the village, town name etc.

Using pumps.ie and google maps all the app would need would the algorithm and input fields to be able to calculate the choice. This could save €5-€10 every filled tank which would add up over time, which would be quick enough for frequent drivers and transport companies.

Abelloid

There is a weak spot that could render the app useless; pump prices. These would need to be updated, reliably, almost on a daiily basis.

cormie

Again, this could be sorted out by putting on garages that have been updated in the last 1/2 days into the search, a choice again which would be the users