Late-stage user testing with my toddler led me to develop Aviator, a cool radar app that shows nearby flights. I wanted to create an app that remained oriented correctly, showed aircraft at different sizes depending on their altitude, and had a fun, retro feel. To achieve this, I used the iOS Core Location API, the OpenSky Network Flight Data API, and implemented Trigonometry calculations. I also used SwiftUI and Combine for reactive programming. The app proved to be a success during testing with my daughter. However, I encountered some issues with the OpenSky API, but implemented retry logic to improve robustness. I also made adjustments to the scaling logic for aircraft sizes. The next step is to make the actual map invisible to focus solely on the radar display.
https://jacobbartlett.substack.com/p/my-toddler-loves-planes-so-i-built