Swiftcover iPhone app reunites hikers 'Stuck' in Sweden
Motor insurer swiftcover.com has helped reunite two friends who became separated whilst hiking in snow bound mountains in Sweden.
The pair used Swiftcover's new iPhone app, Stuck, to locate each other and navigate their way to a meeting point.
Stuck uses geo-location technology to allow people to post a Twitter-style message about the locations or situations in which they are Stuck, which is then uploaded to a map of the world with a time stamp. Other iPhone users can then click on the Stuck and, using Google maps, zoom in to locate the person who posted the Stuck.
Nico Vittorio and Paul Alonso were hiking in the Sarek National Park region of Sweden when they became separated. Although they were in contact and knew they were close-by, because of the heavy snow there were no landmarks, making it impossible to identify a meeting point. So the pair used Stuck's ‘Near-Me' function - which flags up other users nearby - to locate each other, tracking their progress until their paths met.
Swiftcover's Stuck app can be used for less adventurous situations, allowing people to upload a Stuck if they are trapped in a traffic jam, caught in the rain, stuck in a meeting, or even have a song stuck in their head. The app has a range of pre-set emotions that are quick to choose and upload, providing the perfect Stuck for every situation. Users can even communicate their Stucks to friends and followers by sending them by e-mail or posting them on Twitter directly from the iPhone.
The app was developed by swiftcover.com's innovation lab and has already been downloaded by 10,000 iphone users in 50 countries since it was launched in January. Swiftcover's head of innovation, Ambarish Mitra, explains: "swiftcover.com is an innovator - we threw out the rule book and started from scratch when we created the UK's first fully online insurer - so we wanted our first mobile phone app to embrace that same spirit of innovation and something that would be of use to everyone, not just swiftcover.com insurance customers.
"Stuck is quirky and fun and takes social networking to another level with a truly global dimension - for the first time you can locate anyone around the world just from the comments they make. But it also has a serious application, as Nico and Paul's experience shows. People can post Stucks to show when they are delayed in a traffic jam or on a late-running train, for example, which then builds up a map of problem areas that other Stuck users can avoid."
Future developments for the app include one-to-one communication, linking individual Stucks to events, so people posting would be alerted to activities such as concerts or sales taking place nearby, as well as providing users with information on local amenities, like hotels or garages, perfect for motorists who find themselves Stuck on the road.
Stuck is another example of swiftcover.com's desire to use innovation to make life more hassle-free. In addition to online insurance, swiftcover.com also developed the UK's first insurance mobi site, designed for mobile phone users, the first mobile phone insurance quote system, as well as the ‘My Swift Space' feature which gives policy holders complete control over their insurance, enabling them to update or change their policy using the internet, whether via computer or a suitable phone.