Rotas helps people navigate cities using public transport. It combines route planning, alerts and tickets into a single app.

The folks at Stratio had already developed a prototype of the Android application. They’ve reached us to join their team and together build a new version ready for release.

The goal was to give users as much information as possible offline, while keeping the application quick and reliable for a daily use. This initial version would integrate with Coimbra’s bus provider.

We analysed the initial prototype and discussed the best architecture for the new version. We reviewed the development process, introducing some best practices like testing and code review. We also provided feedback on Android UI/UX specificities, trying to keep the app as simple as possible for the end-user.

The main challenges where:

• Implementing a solid strategy for keeping the full database offline and allowing updates;
• Making complex time and location queries instantaneous for the initial app screen;
• Avoid using too much memory from all the maps displayed throughout the app.