Would you use an app that routes you safely to cheap CLs and farm stays?
Quick question — would you use this app?
I'm looking at building a caravan site discovery app and want to sense-check it before spending any time or money on it.
The concept:
- Finds CLs, CSs, independent farm stays, municipal sites and cheap alternatives to CAMC main sites — all on one map
- Filters for your outfit length, barrier heights, hardstanding, EHU availability
- Routes you there with caravan-aware navigation — avoids narrow lanes, low bridges, weight-restricted roads, tight turns — the stuff Google Maps sends you into
- Free basic tier, £9.99/year for full routing and offline maps
Would you use it? What would make you pay the £9.99?
Not trying to sell anything — just want to know if it's solving a real problem before building it. Be honest if it's not.
Best Answers
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As you say, CL owners have a booking app and forum rules do not permit the app owner to discuss it here. Similarly, you would be classed as advertising in breach of those rules if you tried discussing your finalised app here.
Frankly, I can see no use for such an app as all the info, including routing, is easily obtainable elsewhere. It’s not scepticism but realism that makes me decide you’re on a loser. Sorry!
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I can do that already as long as there are POIs available. I just load the POIs onto my sat nav or alternatively once I find a site on an App like SearchforSites, running on the same device as the sat nav, (in my case a tablet) I can ask the site App to route me there and it interfaces with my sat nav and defines a route.
I would not be interested in yet another App which sounds like it could be of limited use if it only has CL and CS on it.
There are also other Apps that search for sites e.g. ParkforNight many include CLs and CSs
peedee
P.S. my sat nav is Co-Pilot and I am quite happy with the routing algorithm.
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@RobMac - I have to say, it doesn't excite me and the cost isn't an issue - it's neither here nor there. Trying to be helpful - I'll answer your bullet points, one by one:
- I don't see how another App is going to provide any more information than what is already out there via both Club's websites, and websites like Pitchup.com. OK - there is a slight advantage in having all sites on one map, I suppose - but it could also be very crowded and confusing in some areas.
- I just wonder how you're going to keep it up to date with this level of information - given that even the likes of CAMC struggle to keep CL details up to date?
- This is the bit that really worries me "routes you there with caravan aware navigation". I have tried a couple of the so-called caravan / moho satnavs and sent them both back because they didn't deliver what they promised. Whilst low bridges and weight-restricted roads are well documented on existing maps, since there is no database of road widths, how can anyone guarantee that the software will avoid them? Additionally, what constitutes a 'tight turn? At the risk of boring everyone else on here who have seen me banging on about it for ages - since this is your first post - the method I use is to plan a route in the Tomtom "My Drive" app. Research any potentially dodgy bits in Google Maps Street View and amend the route in My Drive if necessary. Once satisfied with the route, I save it to "My Routes" in the App which automatically sends it to the Tomtom device by Wifi. The TT will then follow exactly, the route I have chosen without any detours or nasty surprises. If it all goes wrong, it's no one's fault but mine!
- If I'm totally honest £9.99 per year sounds too cheap and doesn't fill me with confidence that I'm actually getting anything reliable.
Tried to be helpful - but I wouldn't be interested and will stick with my tried and tested method - even if it is a bit time consuming!
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Rob Mac, First of all I admire your skill and expertise in attempting such a task.
Second I think of how you might help me in three journeys I might make this Spring - from here in Cornwall to visit a grandson at University in Cambridge, to tne Sheffield area to visit my sister, and to Harwich to catch the morning ferry to Holland. In each case there is enough on the internet already to tell me of every possible campsite in each of those three areas. So I can find an overnight site of any type without any difficulty - and I can get to each destination just by driving up a motorway - no low bridges, narrow lanes or weight restricted routes.So I really don’t think I need your help, but I wish you well.
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Let’s be clear here. Robmac is hoping to sell us info he gathers free of charge from CAMC for which members already pay. His market research is being done by surveying said members in an effort to establish if he can profit from them. Hmm🤔.
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Worth clarifying — the app wouldn't use CAMC data at all. CLs would only appear if the site owner themselves opts in, via booking systems like Anytime Booking that CL owners already use independently of the club. No scraping, no accessing member areas, no free-riding on CAMC's database. The routing question is the core of what I'm researching — which CAMC doesn't offer at all. Completely understand the skepticism on home turf though.
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This is the most useful response I've had anywhere — thank you. You're right to push back on road width data, it's the hardest part of the routing problem. The honest answer is Mapbox handles height and weight restrictions well but lane width is patchy. Your TomTom My Drive workflow is genuinely impressive but also exactly the kind of manual overhead I'm trying to reduce for people who haven't got your expertise.
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I think the question pre-supposes that every decision is made on cost? Whilst that is important to some I imagine the majority look fot sites near to a destinations they wish to visit. Are the not already a few free Apps out there that point you to campsites or stop overs which are free to download? I also imagine that creating something like this is going to take a great deal of work and probably time, which would be ongoing? Before embarking on this project I think I would research what is already out there and then decide if you are able to offer something very different. Sorry if that sounds slightly negative but you might be under estimating what is involved in terms of payback. By that I don't mean financial gain because I suspect that would be fairly limited but in terms of the project being worthwhile to you satisfaction considering the amount of work involved.
David
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Really appreciate the kind words. You're right that for motorway-based trips to known destinations you've probably got it covered — the app would be most useful when you're going somewhere rural and unfamiliar, where the last few miles off the motorway are the problem. Cornwall to Cambridge via motorway is fine. Cornwall to a CL down a farm track in the Dales is a different day out. Enjoy the spring trips — Holland sounds excellent.
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Thanks peedee. You've clearly got a well-optimised setup — POIs on CoPilot with SearchForSites alongside is a solid workflow. The difference I'm after is having the routing caravan-aware from the start rather than handing off between apps, and a database that goes beyond CLs and CSs to include independent farms and cheap alternatives that aren't on SearchForSites or Park4Night. But if your current setup is working well, it's working well — no argument with that.
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Not negative at all David — exactly the kind of honest steer I asked for. You're right that cost isn't the only driver — destination comes first for most people, which is why the filtering needs to work around location as the primary search, with cost as a filter rather than the headline. On the "what's already out there" question — I've spent several weeks researching exactly that before posting. The gap I think exists is specifically routing: no current app combines site discovery with navigation that's actually aware of caravan dimensions. SearchForSites is the closest but hands off to Google Maps at the end, and people are getting into trouble on the approach roads as a result. On the effort involved — genuinely appreciated, and you're probably right that I'm not fully accounting for it. That's partly why I'm asking before building rather than after.
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eurotraveller, a bit off track here on the original post but I could not send you a Private Message.
Regarding Harwich for a morning ferry from Cornwall. I'm guessing you have gone through all of the possible options, but we settled on a leisurely overnight drive from Devon/Cornwall borders and then £25 for cabin on the crossing.
Colin
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.Thanks Colin . At my age a cabin has more attraction than an app. But I am astonished at the modern reliance on technology to make quite simple journeys. We drove around New Zealand in a borrowed car without a satnav, a smart phone or an app. - without getting lost.
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We use Search For Sites to find stop overs. I know some CLs have their own site for booking etc but a very limited number and whilst not exclusively so it is mainly CLs with more facilities, more expensive that are on the site. Using S 4 S means we see CLs, CSs and more besides, such as aires, all in one place. I appreciate you say your USP would be routes for caravans. And their in I think is a problem. We have a 6.4m PVC so not such huge issues. We would also use the site's own directions. We would NEVER use a Sat Nav for the last few miles. I think the info is already out there elsewhere. Also we rarely go straight to a site. As a motorhomer, we tour and so visit attractions on the way. We dont always go the direct route. We use paper maps because it is easier to see a route and with OS maps to judge ease or difficulty of relevant roads. I cant see such as you are describing would be of value to us. Sorry.
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Sorry, but yet another app just isn’t required. Searchforsites finds them, Google and the OS get you there. Sometimes you simply cannot beat the old fashioned methods of reading an OS map, and asking the site owner about any potential arrival hazards. After 40 years of simplicity, it’s stood us in good stead. It starts with a bit of knowledge (the ability to read and understand a map) and finishes with some common sense. All free. A piece of paper giving your outfit dimensions as a reminder is also useful, and means you won’t take the roof off under a bridge!
If you could bottle and sell common sense, you could make a fortune, but developing yet another App that leads the unwise into thinking it’s all been done for them is just another tool for those that don’t like to problem solve for themselves.
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If you could bottle and sell common sense, you could make a fortune, but developing yet another App that leads the unwise into thinking it’s all been done for them is just another tool for those that don’t like to problem solve for themselves.
Agree completely @Takethedogalong well said 👏👏
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