possible/probable

My father, Tom Hillegass, is famous for his swimming holes web site. In recent years, however, he has also been gathering data on every public campground in America: National Forests, State Parks, Army Corps of Engineers, etc. The crucial information (latitude, longitude, number of sites, availability of toilets) on over 7,000 campgrounds altogether. In Excel spreadsheets.

So, a few months ago, I started playing with the MapKit that shipped with iPhone OS 3.0. And I thought to myself, “Myself, this would be a great way for people to look at Dad’s campground data.” Using his data, I created Campwhere (and On iTunes), which appeared on the iPhone App Store last night. It is only $3.99; if you own an iPhone and you ever go camping, you would be a fool not to buy it.

This app lets you ask questions like, “What is the closest public campground to me? What is the weather there going to be like for the next five days? What is the phone number? Does it have a website?”

Dad and Big Nerd Ranch are splitting the revenues from this, and my mother tells me that she has already started spending their cut. Buy a copy today. (Oh, and a good review on the store would certainly help the cause.)

Otto and Walden camping with their grandmother. Just one part of our R+D team.