A student has developed a phone application for festival goers which shows them the way – to their TENTS.
Creative Chris Blackmore, 22, came up with iFest to help revellers who pitch up and then can’t find their way back to their camping spot.
It works by logging the position of a tent and then uses GPS to provide directions through the user’s mobile phone.
The gadget, which has been endorsed by Apple, also provides festival line-ups, stage maps, band information, directions and weather updates.
Chris hit on the idea as part of his final year project at the University of Plymouth, where he studies Multimedia Production and Technology.
He launched the product at the Glastonbury Festival and it was downloaded for free thousands of times.
He said: ”I’ve always found it difficult to access information at festivals, and I had this idea of creating something that taps into the proliferation of smart phones.
”It all came together very quickly. I was at Glastonbury and I could see that we were starting to get hits.
”By the end we had nearly 3,500 downloads which was really impressive, and it has prompted me to take this forward and improve the service.”
The application harnesses readily available information from websites such as Glastonbury’s official news site and the Met Office, and combines it with a bespoke database created by Chris.
It is also fully integrated into Facebook, enabling users to easily distribute the information.
Chris, from London, submitted the application to Apple in May, and after a rigorous vetting process which involved him having to carry out some amendments, it was approved a week before Glastonbury.
He graduates this summer but will first work on an update which will add new features and support for other major festivals such as V, Leeds and Reading, and Bestival.
Gianni Corino, Programme Leader for Digital Arts and Technology added: ”This is a wonderfully creative idea, and one which has the rigour to withstand Apple’s exceptionally high design and commercial standards.”
