The Fits Go! team: Carthur Pongpatimet and Hua Wang with Claire Taylor by Otago Polytechnic

Fitness with friends

A mobile app can help capture and share fitness activities.

A Year 12 student at Otago Girls High School, Claire Taylor, conceived the idea for a new mobile app that would not only monitor her own exercise but enable her to share with her friends too. Two of our Information Technology students, Hua Wang and Carthur Pongpatimet, worked with them to turn their dream into reality.

The Fits Go! mobile app they developed shows a map of Dunedin and enables users to choose a route or set up their own route by putting pins on the map. A Google map API calculates the distance over the route. The user identifies whether they are walking, biking or running, and enters when they are starting and when they finish. The app will then calculate the calories burned.

A prototype has been made available on the Google Android store for testing. The intention is to continue development by adding features that will enable app users to share with each other when and where they are exercising, with the option of exercising together. Peer encouragement and accountability can help them reach their fitness goals.