Custom Web and Mobile Development for RocketRoute

An innovative, user-friendly flight planning and management solution

Duration 2010 – 2013
Team 12 team members
Type Flight planner and manager
Industry Web, Mobile (native Android, iOS)
Platforms Aviation

Project Idea

Four enthusiasts aimed to create “a new Tom-Tom” for aviation navigation—a low-price, fast, and easy service that generated a valid route within seconds and filed it to flight authorities, freeing the flight team for other important tasks.

Target Audience

RocketRoute addresses the needs of small aviation operators like business charters, air taxis, and airlines with few aircraft and no flight planning teams. Still, large airline operators can use it, too, both passenger airliners and cargo aircraft.

Results

65,000 documents

Available Resources
2020

Acquired by AGP

IT Craft team delivered the results in several steps. Initially, it launched a web service for route planning. After the concept proved successful, IT Craft created native iOS iPad, and Android apps. The team expanded the feature list and added new regions. The app originally targeted Europe and was extended to the entire world.

View website

Core Tech

LAMP
Sencha
Google maps
TcPDF

Project challenges

The whole project was initially built around auto-routing and plan validation as the most consuming flight preparation tasks. Custom algorithms were required to ensure fast and accurate route generation.

Multiple integrations of third-party APIs were required to provide necessary flight information and file the ready flight plan for approval to the authorities.
App calculations consume many server resources, creating a huge load on the server side. The team solved the challenge, optimizing the source code and balancing the server load.

Immediate display of information updates is critical. The team eliminated exchange issues when switching software parts, e.g., from iPad to web version.

Planning

Input

The client initially had:

Decades of expertise in aviation
Project vision
Set of requirements
Design sketches

Analysis

Our team:

Started working on an MVP from scratch
Focused on full-cycle software development
Kept up with the growing project scope after MVP validation

Result

Our work resulted in:

Delivery of the initial web solution used for idea validation
Launch of mobile apps to help pilots get all required data on their devices
Feature list extension to cover the entire flight management process
Expansion to other continents—the app was originally designed for Europe

Business benefits

Tech competencies

IT Craft provided top tech expertise on all project stages.

Project pace

Our engineers kept up with the skyrocketed scope, helping the client establish a presence on all platforms as fast as possible.

Regulations update

Seamless integration of different services ensures immediate updates on restrictions, regulations, and changes.

API development

The team has prepared an API for unique user needs. Users can create an app and integrate it with the main service.

Main project features

Route generation and planning

create and display the route (IFR / VFR)
enable advanced search for airports, airways, etc.
show the route on Google Map
file flight plans for validation
create mass and fuel consumption calculations
add and manage aircraft
generate NOTAM, METAR briefing
save plans as PDF files

Also, manual routing is enabled.

Flight management

manage active plans: delay, cancel, copy, check status
view briefing pack
display wind and weather briefings
add SLOT details
show flight log and summary
save logs as PFD files

Navigation

visualize routes
display speed, current position, and coordinates
show waypoints, airports, and terrain elevations

Airport plate and documents

RocketRoute offers a huge library, which is arranged into convenient folders. Among other information, the app contains 20,000+ airport plates from over 65,000 documents. The chart collection works for many cases, from approach charts to ground services location.