Coretechs has worked with this client on other applications for a number of years however this project started out as a new idea and was something we could build from the ground up. There was no existing structure in place and the client was excited to start building and see their ideas come to life.
We were asked to create a native, social media app that would allow users to categorize their real life experiences and share those experiences in an organized way
Suzie visits Chicago and goes to The Bean, the coffee shop around the corner and the ferris wheel. She saves these places in the Pike “Guide” and shares it inside the app and to external apps. When Laura is planning her Chicago visit she visits Pike first. She sees where Suzie went and what Suzie liked about the places she visited. Laura can pull these places to her own Guide so she remembers the places to visit on her upcoming Chicago trip. Welcome to the Windy City!
The fun part about working on a brand new project is making decisions on what technology stack will be used and what resources we can play with. At Coretechs we ask ourselves and our clients several key questions to help determine what technologies we might use in their project.
Our team is very comfortable with Django and highly recommends it for a project with significant ongoing development. It has continuous security updates and built in libraries for a lot of features such as sophisticated user management.
Uses SwiftUI and Combine for reactive programming. Enables declarative UI updates tied to user interaction — such as saving a place, liking a guide, or browsing the map. The map feature was emphasized as an important feature and therefore this was a strong motivation for this.
This was a new technology choice for our team at the time. So we understood there would be a bit of a learning curve. However we liked that Kotlin uses Jetpack Compose and Android architecture components like LiveData and ViewModel for managing UI state, local caching, and user interactions. These were all needed features and therefore we were ready to learn.
Renders the core interactive map experience. Pike uses custom-styled vector maps with offline tile support, dynamic pin clustering, and smooth transitions for zooming and panning. Mapbox GL JS (for internal tools) and Mapbox SDK (mobile) allow high-performance map rendering and animations.
We are familiar with several Google products and wanted to utilize the metadata that comes with this API.
Now that we had an idea of the technology stack we had to shift gears and decide where all of this awesome code would be served from. Having the right home for your stack is important because not all homes work for everyone.
We frequently suggest Amazon Web services (AWS) hosting out of the box. We have found that it allows the most flexibility for growth no matter where you are running your business from. In this setup we used three main components
Now we have our requirements, we have our stack, we have our environment, now it is time to build!
One of the things that is often overlooked and undervalued by some development teams but it is a huge part of the project’s success is understanding the client’s business. We find that understanding their processes, their customers and their market is key for success.
In this case, the Pike clients are well versed in several industries including banking, travel and sales. We also understand that since this product is starting out as a new social media app, the product could very quickly go viral or change direction based on public response. This again supports the decision to host in AWS.
The Pike team worked with an independent designer to wireframe how they wanted this app to work, function and look. Once they provided the wireframes, we would then find out when the next investor meeting would be and what features were the most important for them to see at that meeting. We would focus on just the pages and features that were going to be next discussed. During the waiting period of feedback for those signature features, we would tackle the secondary pages that were not as pressing but going to be needed. A good example of secondary pages are the onboarding login pages. They are important pages but not typically a selling feature for investor discussions. This process is repeated thoughout development until the product is in a place that it can be published for the general public to use.
During the development period we use Testflight to manage, test and review the app making it available to limited stakeholders prior entering the app marketplace. This product allows us to control distribution while testing key features in a controlled environment. It provides reporting and crash reports so we can have some insight into issues to address.
The Pike app is live and in both the Apple and Google Play stores. It is fully functional and can be used by anyone who chooses to install it. We continue to maintain the app versions of the code and server environment as well as continue to build additional new features that Pike requests.
The forward looking features look to expand into the commercial space to capitalize on advertisement opportunities from new markets. We are so excited to continue this journey with this Pike and support them on their continuing adventure.
Coretechs delivers secure, tailored solutions for government, agencies, and private companies—adapting to each client's unique needs with flexible, U.S.-based development support.
Gil has over 39 years of experience in software development, project management, and business development. He’ll provide an on-the-spot assessment, critical feedback, and determine the level of effort required for your project.
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