2019 Airventure App

[Stratobladder]

Does anyone have any information about when the app will be released? The Airventure website has said “coming soon” for quite a while now. I like to build my forum itinerary in the weeks leading up to Oshkosh, and unfortunately saving bookmarks on the website does not (or at least not in years past) sync over to the app. Usually the app has been released by this time in June. Is anyone else waiting for this thing to come out?

[baboss]

Open the “2018” app and it should update with the 2019 info. Or look for an update option in the app. They really should update the app and take 2018 out of the name.

[GeorgeP]

It was released about 10 days ago.

[FlyinAdamBadger]

I usually delete the app after the event and reinstall it before the next convention. You may want to try doing that to get it work. It was updated about 10 days ago.

[Auburntsts]

Anyone know if the app syncs with the EAA website? For example if you build an itinerary online can you see it on the app?

[SteveCostello]

Man, I'd love to know the answer to this. I haven't found a way to sync the two. Which drives me bananas (especially since Customer and User Experience Design is what I do for a living...) because I *just* got done creating my schedule on the website only to find that there is no apparent way to transfer all that work to the app.

On top of that, it seems like the app is rather reliant on an Internet connection (as opposed to maintaining a lot of the data locally). We all know how good that is with a few hundred thousand people on the ground at KOSH.

[GeorgeP]

Anyone know if the app syncs with the EAA website? For example if you build an itinerary online can you see it on the app?Nope, it does not sync. Here's what's on the EAA website's Schedule of Events page:


Events and attractions will be regularly added leading up to the event so come back often. *Please be reminded that any schedule you create for your "My Itinerary" on your EAA.org account will not be synced to the 2019 EAA AirVenture Oshkosh App. You will need to recreate your "My Itinerary" within the app to have your schedule appear there.

[SteveCostello]

...any schedule you create for your "My Itinerary" on your EAA.org account will not be synced to the 2019 EAA AirVenture Oshkosh App. You will need to recreate your "My Itinerary" within the app to have your schedule appear there.

I would literally be fired from my job if I designed a critical function of an event website and app to be like this.

If I could convince my wife to live in Wisconsin (bwahahahaha...) I would petition to become EAA's User Experience Architect. Because there is SO much that could be SO much better, especially with regards to the EAA customer experience (ticketing, trams, camping, itinerary planning, yada yada yada).

I appreciate the hard work... don't get me wrong. But there are several pretty high profile misses.

[Jeff Point]

I would literally be fired from my job if I designed a critical function of an event website and app to be like this.
Some of us have been trying to convince them for years that their app is poor quality but it falls on deaf ears. I’m not a developer but I’ve used enough good event apps to know what is possible and where they fall short. Perhaps a knowledgeable opinion like yours can convince them. Join the chorus!

[Auburntsts]

Some of us have been trying to convince them for years that their app is poor quality but it falls on deaf ears. I’m not a developer but I’ve used enough good event apps to know what is possible and where they fall short. Perhaps a knowledgeable opinion like yours can convince them. Join the chorus!

Jeff, what can we do to help? For me as a OSH vet, the app is essentially useless as is as the only feature that I find particularly useful for me is the itinerary. However, as I have a smallish iPhone SE it's cumbersome to create a large, multi-day itinerary on the phone. Way easier to do that on my desktop computer.

[GeorgeP]

...However, as I have a smallish iPhone SE it's cumbersome to create a large, multi-day itinerary on the phone. Way easier to do that on my desktop computer.

I, too, have a small(ish) 'phone (a 4S and a 7), but I don't think it's the point of this discussion. The web page and the app should be synced because once an itinerary is produced on a desktop computer, the most convenient way to refer to it during the convention is to have it on your 'phone.

[Auburntsts]

I, too, have a small(ish) 'phone (a 4S and a 7), but I don't think it's the point of this discussion. The web page and the app should be synced because once an itinerary is produced on a desktop computer, the most convenient way to refer to it during the convention is to have it on your 'phone.

Actually it is, just another reason the app and our online accounts should sync. It’s just as valid as your point that referring to an itinerary on your phone during OSH is the most convenient way. For me the most convenient way to build the itinerary is on a computer with the phone size being one of the reasons why, among others.

[Jeff Point]

Jeff, what can we do to help?
About all we can do is what we’re doing- let them know about our concerns. Some of the HQ folks monitor this forum. Maybe one day we’ll finally get through.

[SteveCostello]

Some of the HQ folks monitor this forum.

Hey, EAA HQ! I'm a seasoned User Experience Architect that is DYING to work with a general aviation organization to make the world a better place when it comes to technology interactions. See all of the grumbling in the forums? I can fix that :)

[Auburntsts]

Found something else I don’t like— multiple copies don’t sync. So if I open the app on my phone and then on my tablet they open as unique instances since the app isn’t linked to a user or an account so there’s no data sharing. You guys really need add a way to link the app to our EAA accounts so the app and website all share our account data so we can access things like the itinerary no matter if we go through the app or website.

[Wrongway Feldman]

This might give some insight.

EAA Airventure App Training Video (https://www.eaa.org/Videos/Webinars/5808212375001) Duration 29:41

[Auburntsts]

This might give some insight.

EAA Airventure App Training Video (https://www.eaa.org/Videos/Webinars/5808212375001) Duration 29:41

A 30 min app training video --YGTBSM. No way I'm watching that.

[ssteve1]

A 30 min app training video --YGTBSM. No way I'm watching that.

What he said.

[SteveCostello]

A 30 min app training video --YGTBSM. No way I'm watching that.

As a User Experience Architect (with significant mobile experience) myself... if you need a freaking 30 minute (!!!!) tutorial video on how to use your app, you are doing something very, very wrong. Sheesh. (I know this is likely a 3rd party app, not something directly developed by EAA, but... oy.)

[dclaxon]

I just logged in with my laptop, and all the stuff I had put into My Itinerary with my desktop were there, so the PCs are syncing through the user account. Maybe they should just get the app to sign it to the user account?

Dave

[SteveCostello]

While that may sound like a simple solution, it's waaaay more complicated than that. The app doesn't appear to have any account authentication at all, so that would have to be implemented. Then, they would have to figure out a way to link the calendar data on the website with the calendar data on the app. THEN, they would have to figure out a secure way to link the account on the app with the account on the website. Only then would they be able to go through the process of figuring out how to sync the user account data between the two.

So, yes, ideally, that is the solution, and even more ideally, the entire calendar system would have been designed like that from the get-go. It's much easier to design a system like that from the ground up than it is to try to shoehorn two completely independent systems together. It would probably take a small development team several weeks to do all this, assuming the app was even capable of that level of customization in the first place.

[Wrongway Feldman]

I think one of the problems is not all people that have the AirVenture App on their smartphone are EAA members.
But I think you can create an account on the EAA website without being a EAA member.

Isn't there away to build an "My Itinerary" from using just the smartphone.
Why can't the smartphone pull event data from EAA website's AirVenture Master Schedule of Events Calendar, and just save it to the smartphone?
Is there not enough storage space on smartphones?

Couldn't you somehow save the "My Itinerary" from EAA's website and download it into the smartphone?

[dclaxon]

Couldn't you somehow save the "My Itinerary" from EAA's website and download it into the smartphone?

Wrongway, that is what we have been asking for. Yes, the smart phone app can access the AirVenture Master Schedule, and the "My Itinerary" could be built on the phone, it's just that it is so much easier to do on a PC (or Mac, I suppose) we would like to be able to do that, then transfer it to the phone to make it portable. My phone has a 5" screen, which my bifocals don't always play nice with, vs a 27" on my PC, Then throw in a little Fat Finger Syndrome since the phone doesn't have a mouse, and you could see the extra difficulties.
Dave

[Wrongway Feldman]

Sounds like a no-brainer
I was looking at the "My Itinerary" page on the EAA website and all they say is, if you want a copy of your itinerary you should print it out. There is no print link icon to print to a printer. How hard would it be to have a save link to save to a file so you could save it a smartphone.

I agree with you about that it would be so much easier to do on a PC. It is a lot easier to program my Bearcat scanner using a program on my PC. When I'm done I transfer the data via USB cable into the scanner. Video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RoJvZwbW8w)