Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2011 > November > 18 > Entry
Trey Ratcliff’s ‘Stuck on Earth’ iPad travel app goes live
From the “Stuck on Earth” iPad app. Photo by Jim Nix.
A few months ago, I interviewed world-famous HDR photographer Trey Ratcliff for a story about how artists manage their fan bases online. During our chat, he showed me an in-development version of an iPad app he was working on that would combine crowdsourced photograhy with a location-aware travel app. Even at that stage, the app, called “Stuck on Earth,” looked gorgeous and unique, something that combines Ratcliff’s style of hyper-real visuals with the utility of a device as an iPad as your travel buddy.
The extremely user-friendly app starts out asking your name and whether you’re a “Dreamer,” “Explorer,” “Photographer” or all three. You are then presented with a world map you can zoom into to find photos shot around the world. Given Ratcliff lives in Austin, it should be no surprise that there’s a lot of local content.
We spoke to Ratcliff over email about the app, which includes among its features a list of 50 secret Austin spots.
American-Statesman: You’re a frequent world traveler, but for people who perhaps aren’t as worldly or who don’t have a large community of friends around the world, what does this app offer?
Trey Ratcliff: “Stuck on Earth” is a great resource, whether you travel to distant lands or not. Chances are there are tons of great places just within a short drive of your home — and those would be fun to discover with the app. And just maybe, you might like to plan that “someday” trip to Italy or even to the northeast to see the leaves turn in Autumn. This app will help you figure out the best places to go.
Also, you don’t need to have a large network of friends around the world — the app pulls from millions of photographers around the world and shows you the best of the best for each location.
How long did it take to develop and what were the biggest challenges getting it up and running?
This took about four months after we re-started development. We made a mistake with another local development company here that did a lousy job. Since this app was so important to me, we took it in house and started over again to make it perfect. So, this is one of the biggest challenges — finding a good team to get the thing built!
Are there emerging tablet features you hope to incorporate in future versions of “Stuck on Earth?” Will there be a smartphone version as well as the Android one you have planned?
Since tablets and smartphones all have built-in GPS, we can add all sorts of clever ways for people to interact with their devices and their environment at the same time. Our plans are to take this technology to all devices — Android, iPhone, and the web.
You can find more info on the app at stuckonearthapp.com.
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