Digital Destination Highways

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See the new DH iPhone / iPad app at the upcoming Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver Motorcycle Shows!

We ran into issues beyond our control with what we planned on releasing first in the DH digital realm based on surveys telling us our customers priority in the DH digital realm (Garmin compatible DH NorCal Companion GPS software).  The good news is the techs who had the Garmin "app" basically built to beta are building our iApp. Make sure you'll be notified for when you can get a hell of a discount on the purchase price and what's upcoming by giving us your email address at the bottom of this page (and adding email from destinationhighways.com to your safe/white list).

We're looking for a few good DH riders who want to beta test our DH NorCal iPhone/iPad app on the ground in Northern California.
Preference given to:
1) anyone who knew Steve Jobs
2) seasoned DH riders/iPeople who already own & use all three of our current books/Companion Maps and can correctly answer the skill-testing, two-part question in 3) below.
3) seasoned DH riders/iPeople who already own & use our DH NorCal book/Companion Map and can correctly answer this skill-testing, two-part question:
    DH74 has a TE written with a Scottish accent.
    a) What do we have the length of this TE at in mi / km?
    b) What alphanumeric Companion Map reference would locate it?
4) IT/smartphone tech execs/gurus/grunts who ride.

Apply to beta@destinationhighways.co​m with qualifications/bribes/flatteri​ng comments and the time when you can test drive the app in NorCal. And if you don't qualify (or even if you do) please help spread the word to anyone else you know who would qualify.

Damn, I wanted that Garmin DH software for my Zumo 650. What's next then?
All the iPeople riders who participated in our survey made it clear that the runner up choice to Garmin was a digital version of DH for iEverything. So while we put Garmin on the back burner for now at least, it makes sense that the next logical place to shift focus to is iApp(le). A DH NorCal iApp will be first.

Why is DH NorCal first, why do BC and WA get boned?
As you might imagine, especially if you live up here in the great northwest and are smart enough to already have DHBC and DHWA, many survey respondents told us they wanted to get the digital versions of DHBC and DHWA in one package at the same time,  for the same reason they had both DHBC and DHWA. That is, they want to ride both jurisdictions in the same trip, to access many of the total 532 DHs and TEs that are linked geographically along the border (many within 200 mi / 320 km either side of it). (see map at the bottom of this link)

Because we want to offer a joint DHBC/DHWA app at the same time as we offer the individual DHBC and DHWA apps (the latter two for the, –ah how do we put this–"less-engaged" riders). Obviously, this will take a little longer to put together than the DH NorCal app. Hence, our decision to start with NorCal and use it as the template (and before you ask, yes we will offer a DH SoCal upgrade to the DH NorCal app, so you won’t have to buy the joint NorCal/SoCal one from scratch when it becomes available). Rest assured, we will produce the DHBC, DHWA & joint BC/WA apps as soon as we can, after the NorCal one.

What about an app for other hand-held communication devices and tablets, i.e. Android / Crackedberry / Windows Phone?
We're platform agnostic and will release apps for all in-demand platforms. As soon as we get the DH NorCal iApp out, we'll be looking at following up with other versions of it. Let us know which one you want. 

What's the vision for the DH iApp
In some ways, it's a whole new, and constantly changing, ball game with different and intriguing possibilities doing an app rather than a software add on to traditional GPS units. Please feel free to let us know what you want in a DH iApp (or app for another platform), based on your own experience. (If you're a motorcyclist/DH rider and app developer hey, we'd love to hear from you too.)

Our goal is to make the app as useful as possible in terms of replicating the information that our books/maps give you, as well as whatever value-added information riders tell us they want. Apps have different limitations/advantages over traditional GPS units (for instance neither can give you the "big picture" context that our Companion Maps can, just as a book, limited by page size, can't give you the "big picture" that a map can). What the DH NorCal iApp will do is leverage the GPS navigation and information organization and display advantages of an app.  Both traditional GPS and apps may be great for telling you where you are, but are not so good at telling you where you should be. Our app will do that as well by giving you all the information you need to quickly and easily "ride like a local" .

Whether you're an big planner, or you just want to get to the nearest DH or TE, our app will make that easy-peasy too. If you have our books/Companion Maps, you already know that all the information therein is keyed to letting you "ride like a local" whether you've never ridden in an area before, or have ridden there for years and still miss tons of stuff because, like the three riders below who are smart enough to be aware that you don't know what you don't know:
"I'm a 66 year old native from the Seattle area and as such, thought I knew all the roads Washington has to offer. Hah! Yesterday I went about 25 minutes from from my home in Lynnwood and enjoyed the spring weather on roads I'd never been on before!"

"DH NorCal and its Companion Map gave my son and I the best trip ever last summer, and we thought we already knew the roads in Northern California!"

"Being from Alberta, I'd ridden in WA a few times before but being able to ride the whole state "like a local" with DHWA last year was a totally different and amazing experience. I've ridden in BC and NorCal before too but I'm going back to ride both again this year, so naturally I just ordered DHBC and DH NorCal, so I can ride everything I missed before." --James R
See more testimonials

The books/maps do this by giving you all the hard information on what the various DHs and TEs offer and showing you how they all fit together, so you can decide which ones you want to ride, depending on what and how you ride.  With the DH iApp having the DHs and TEs "pre loaded" and routable, it'll just be even easier to locate/route plan/just ride 'em than it is now using GPS with our books/maps:
"You guys publish the best motorcycle books. Period! Here's how I'm using my DH NorCal book and its Companion Map for my trip. After consulting the book, I am putting all the DH's and some of the TEs on my GPS. Each night, I will decide which roads to ride the next day during my two week trip. The Companion Map is perfect for this. Using this technique I can avoid having to create a route beforehand for the whole trip."

"Just rode down to Portland on all the Washington state back road DHs and TEs. Planned the trip with the DHWA book, created the routes on the GPS and travelled with the DHWA Companion Map, which makes everything come together. Great map, great detail..."

As for specifics, keep watching this page. We’ll be rolling out some screen shots and more specific information on how the DH iApp will work, as we move forward.  We don’t want you to be back in the dark ages:
”I am finding that as I investigate GPS, the stores, web and manufacturers ain't betraying no secrets till I actually buy one. Very frustrating, and very much like getting married in the days before premarital sex and living together.”

What about DH Companion GPS for other traditional GPS stand-alone platforms?
For Tom Tom, Magellan and other "traditional" GPS platform fans, it will depend on a couple of things:
1) insistent demand from enough riders to make us believe there is a big enough market there and
2) the ease with which our software can be built and produced for integration with these other platforms.
3) whether stand-alone GPS units survive.

If you haven’t already filled out our GPS survey, you can submit your email address below to be emailed app release news and maybe win a free iPhone / iPad app (don't bother entering more than once, duplicate entries will be discarded).

Stay tuned…..