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Students Develop Free iPhone Applications for Use on Campus

October 30, 2009 9:00 AM

ABC News on Campus reporter Brittny Krause blogs:
 
Can’t find your class buildings? There’s an app for that. Need the telephone number to the student affairs office? There’s an app for that too.
 
Over the past week University of Florida students began downloading UFmobile, a free application for Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch – it features a GPS-enabled campus map, a calendar of campus events, a news feed from the UF News Bureau and a directory of services around campus.

UF sophomore Bryan Dubno created and developed the app in 2008.
 
“I was going to get dinner with some friends and we ran into this girl who was a bit frantic because she couldn't find her exam room,” said Dubno. “I tried pulling up the campus map in the web browser, but it was so slow and didn't show us exactly where we were. Little scenarios like this made me think it would be nice if I could take advantage of the iPhone's GPS capabilities to locate buildings around campus.”
 
From there the idea took off and Dubno worked closely with a UF staff member to incorporate all of the data within the app.
 
Dubno says creating an iPhone app was a big commitment.
 
“It was very challenging at time.” Said Dubno. “You need three main things: a Mac, a testing device (iPhone or iPod Touch) and you need to join the iPhone Developer Program ($99/year).”
 
Dubno is not the only college student creating free iPhone applications like this one. Students at Georgia Institute of Technology have created a similar application to UFmobile called “GT Login”, an app that allows users to read their campus email, check the shuttle bus or campus map. GT Login has been available since September of 2008 and about 1,000 people are using the app every week.
 
And Stanford University, less than a month ago, two students launched “iStanford”, a free application that can be used to access a campus map and course catalog. This app is getting a little more attention than the others, with 11,000 downloads to date.
 
“This was to simply help students. It's great to be able to pull out my iPhone, see where I am and see where I have to go. If I need to call the computing help desk or any other service, the number is at the tips of my fingers. I wouldn't want, or expect, students to pay for those resources” said Dubno.
 
It’s been almost one week since the UFmobile app became available and there have already been over 159 downloads and so far customer reviews of the app have been positive.
 
“The app is very useful,” said UF Senior Kaila Tindle. “It’s helpful to be able to stay updated with the news in Gainesville without carrying around a newspaper.”
 
Dubno has since created a new series of free apps called “StudySets” which are reference material applications for introductory classes in either Spanish or psychology. 

“This is something I knew I wanted to do if the UFmobile app was a success,” said Dubno. “The translation app in Study Sets can translate sentences, words, or expressions into (or from) 30 different languages.”

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