Trip Check-In and Overdue Alert App for Mountain Travellers
A final year project that builds a mobile safety app for trekkers, road trippers and solo travellers in mountain areas with weak signal: file a trip plan, check in at waypoints, and if you go overdue your contacts are alerted automatically with your last known position. Works over data, SMS and delayed sync, with no extra hardware.
Intermediate
A small team, or one strong student willing to learn something new.2 semesters · 2 to 3 students
7 to ship
3 optional extrasSuggested stack
What you should ship
- Trip plan screen: route, stops, expected times and a return deadline, shared with chosen contacts by link
- Check-in button that stores position and time locally and sends by data, or by a short coded SMS when only SMS works
- Server-side dead man switch: if a deadline passes with no check-in and no extension, contacts are alerted with the last known position
- Contact view on the web showing the plan, check-ins so far and last position, with no app install needed
- Breadcrumb log of positions recorded offline and uploaded when signal returns
- Test report covering alert timing, SMS fallback and clock edge cases
- Field test on at least 2 real trips in low-signal areas
If you have time left
- Group trips where each member checks in and the group leader sees who is missing
- Automatic ETA adjustment from progress along the planned route
- Tour operator dashboard for many groups at once
The problem for travellers in low-signal areas
Every summer people drive and trek into mountain valleys, deserts and national parks where the signal comes and goes. When something goes wrong, a breakdown, a landslide on the road or an injury on a trail, the first problem is that nobody knows the traveller is late until hours or days later, and nobody knows where to start looking. Families rely on "I will call when I reach", which fails silently when there is no network.
The fix is old: leave a trip plan with someone and agree a time by which you will check in. A phone can automate the waiting part.
What already exists and the gap
- Garmin inReach and other satellite messengers: two-way messaging and SOS anywhere; they need extra hardware and a subscription.
- Cairn: a hiking safety app with trip plans, overdue alerts and crowd-sourced cell coverage maps, focused on North American trails.
- SoloWise and HikeSafe: check-in apps that alert contacts when a check-in is missed.
- Location sharing in messaging apps: live only while there is data, and no overdue logic.
The gap is an app designed for places where data is rare but SMS sometimes works, with an overdue check that runs on the server, road trips as well as treks, and group trips run by local tour operators.
What you build
- Traveller: files a plan, checks in, extends the deadline, marks safe return.
- Contacts: receive a link to a web page with the plan and check-ins, and receive alerts by SMS and email.
- Server: stores plans, receives check-ins, and runs the overdue check.
The technically interesting part
The dead man switch must be correct. An alert that fires when the traveller is fine teaches contacts to ignore it. An alert that never fires is worse. You need to reason about:
- Check-ins created offline with the phone's clock, arriving hours later out of order.
- SMS check-ins encoded compactly (trip ID, time, coarse position) and verified so they cannot be spoofed easily.
- Deadline extensions that fail to send, and grace periods before the alert.
- Time zones and phones with the wrong time.
Write the rules as a state machine (planned, active, checked in, overdue, alerted, closed) and test every transition, including races between a late check-in and the alert job.
Battery. A breadcrumb log over a two-day trek must not drain the phone. Sample location sparingly and show the numbers.
How to evaluate it
- State machine test suite with every transition and race case you can find.
- Time from missed deadline to contact alert over 50 simulated trips.
- SMS fallback success rate in the field and payload size per check-in.
- Battery drain per day with breadcrumbs on, on a mid-range Android phone.
- Feedback from at least 5 travellers and their contacts after real trips.
Suggested plan
- Weeks 1 to 3: interview travellers and a tour operator, write the state machine.
- Weeks 4 to 8: trip plan, contacts, data check-ins, contact web page.
- Weeks 9 to 14: overdue job, alerts, tests for edge cases.
- Semester 2, weeks 1 to 5: SMS encoding and gateway, offline breadcrumbs.
- Weeks 6 to 10: field trips and fixes.
- Weeks 11 to 14: evaluation and report.
Path to a product
Free for individual travellers with a limited number of SMS alerts. Tour operators and trekking companies pay per trip or per season for group mode and a dashboard, which also helps them show safety practice to customers. Adventure insurers are a later partner.
Scope warning
Do not promise rescue or connect to emergency services. Do not build satellite communication. Do not build social trip sharing or reviews. Make the app's limits clear on the first screen.
Learn what you need on Sefism
- Mobile roadmap : location, background work and offline storage.
- Backend roadmap : scheduled jobs and reliable alerting on the server.
- Mobile cheat sheet : quick reference for permissions and background limits.
- Firebase documentation : Firestore, Cloud Functions and scheduled functions.
- Apple Human Interface Guidelines : clear alert and permission design if you ship on iOS.
Get help with this idea
The overdue state machine is the heart of the grade, so review it early. A mentor can help you cut the scope to what your team can finish, choose between the stack options above, and design an evaluation your examiners will respect. You still build it; the help is on decisions, not code.
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