Description

Location-oriented activities are useful not only as fun games to play, but can also acquaint newcomers to an area. ScavengerHunt Deluxe enables users to both participate in and create these activities from within the iPhone or iPod touch. Instead of physical objects which the players must acquire, this virtual game enables the user to find stationary objects as well as portable ones.

ScavengerHunt’s unique interface enables the user to create hunts locally, using the GPS capabilities of the iPhone, or remotely, obtaining the latitude/longitude of an object through a service such as Google Maps. With this versatility, a user can create scavenger hunts thousands of miles away. The user base is truly global.
Social networking can also be incorporated into the gameplay. After finding an item, users can automatically post to Twitter or update their Facebook walls. Hunts can be emailed to friends, or uploaded to a centralized server and subsequently downloaded by other users. In addition, hunts can be accessed from third party servers. Maps are also built into the interface. As items are found, their location is added to a map (indicated by a pin), and as items are being added to a hunt in the creation stage, their location is also displayed on a map. The range of locations is shown by a blue rectangle, clearly marking the boundaries of a hunt.

When an item is found, the user has the option to take a picture of the item. This picture can be retaken at any time, and is saved in the user’s photo album.
Each hunt consists of ten items. Each item has a name, a location, a size, and three clues. The size of the object determines the level of accuracy required; a small object, such as a statue, requires the user to be within 55 feet of the object, while a large object, such as a park, requires the user to be within 200 feet. The range of distances takes into consideration the many factors that affect GPS accuracy.

This app will come in three versions; the Lite, the Deluxe, and the Professional. The Professional version will include encryption and other features to make competitive, contest-oriented hunts. The Lite version will allow the user to download hunts and search for items, but not create hunts. Hunts created using either the Deluxe and Professional version will be compatible with all versions of our ScavengerHunt apps.

This app can be used for a variety of purposes. All content is user-created, and the hunts can be used by businesses, organizations, or just friends having fun. The possibilities are endless!

Note: This app requires the ability to obtain lat/long coordinates. If your device does not have a GPS receiver (i.e. iPhone 2G or iPod Touch), you will need to obtain this information either through a service like Google Maps or by using an external GPS receiver. This app allows coordinates to be entered manually or through the device, so it will work on devices with or without GPS receivers. If you have any questions, please e-mail us.

What's New in Version 1.01

This new version conforms to changes in authorizing access to a user's twitter account to post updates. Also, minor changes in the interface used to create scavenger hunts (the latitude and longitude text fields appear above the keyboard when text is entered) were made. Finally, the naming structure when scavenger hunts are uploaded to our server has been adjusted, and if the reverse geocoding method fails when uploading a hunt, the user now has the option to enter the geographic information manually and successfully upload the hunt to our server.