Software I wanted to exist.
I'm in north-east Victoria. I build the tools I wanted and couldn't buy. Right now that's TerraADV: offline navigation for the back roads and bush tracks of Australia and New Zealand.
01 Why
Ideas that used to stay as notes.
I'm a nerd. I like technology, I'm usually an early adopter, and I think in systems. My brain won't leave a thing alone if I can see a better way to do it: fewer steps, less mucking about, a job that takes minutes instead of an evening. I've never been short of ideas, only the time and patience to build them, so most stayed in a notebook.
Building software with AI changed that. Ideas I could describe but never finish are things I can get made now. Analemma Labs is where they end up. TerraADV is the first one out the door.
02 Work
TerraADV
Offline adventure navigation for Australia and New Zealand.
Plan the trip, download your region, and navigate with no reception. Routing leans towards dirt when you want it to, official road closures are on the map, and the hazard map is built by the riders and drivers using it.
- Platforms
- iPhone, Android and a web route planner
- Coverage
- Offline maps for every Australian state and territory, and New Zealand
- Routing
- Three profiles: Road, ADV and Hard ADV
- Status
- In beta
Why it's built the way it is
Downloading the map isn't enough
Plenty of apps show you a map with no signal. Far fewer can work out a new route on the phone when you miss a turn 60 km from the nearest tower. That's the part I built first.
Dirt isn't a wrong turn
The routing reads what a road actually is, sealed or gravel or a track, and you tell it how rough you want it. Unsealed roads aren't a detour to be avoided.
Plan a day out and go
Building a route in one app, exporting it to a device and hoping is fine if you enjoy that. Most people don't. It should take a few minutes and end with you riding it.
One person shouldn't be able to close a road
Official closures come off the state feeds every day, so they're on the map before anyone reports anything. A rider's report shows up straight away, but it won't send anyone the long way round until someone else has been past and agreed.
Your trips aren't the product
Navigation runs on your phone. There's no live feed of where you are, and nothing about your travels is sold or handed to advertisers. The subscription pays for the map hosting and the closure feeds.
03 The mark
Where the name comes from
Photograph the sun from one spot at the same time every day for a year and it traces a lopsided figure eight: an analemma. The mark is that figure for noon at Violet Town, its 24 dots about 15 days apart, with the December solstice at the top.
Yours looks different. I built a small tool that draws it for any place and any time of day.
- Today
- —
- Solar noon, Violet Town
- —
04 Company
Analemma Labs Pty Ltd
- TerraADV
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