Bus Watch Chicago submitted to WP7 Marketplace

So it’s finally version 1 complete. This app has consumed a chunk of my free time over the past couple months while I got familiarized with the WP7 tools, but it’s been a great learning experience. This was pretty much my first time doing any real Silverlight or XAML-based development. Using Blend was an absolute treat so I hope to use this tool much more in my future. Lots of features will be added in the next few months, including some city expansion. I look forward to really exercising my abstractions to see if I can really plug in new Transit Services as easily as I think I’ll be able to.

So it’s finally version 1 complete. This app has consumed a chunk of my free time over the past couple months while I got familiarized with the WP7 tools, but it’s been a great learning experience. This was pretty much my first time doing any real Silverlight or XAML-based development. Using Blend was an absolute treat so I hope to use this tool much more in my future. Lots of features will be added in the next few months, including some city expansion. I look forward to really exercising my abstractions to see if I can really plug in new Transit Services as easily as I think I’ll be able to.

If you’re familiar with the earlier video from YouTube back in June, you’ll notice it looks entirely different, hopefully for the better! After getting to test the app briefly on a prototype device I was able to learn quite a bit about the platform and the native applications, obviously drawing a ton of inspiration from them – hopefully my app will look and feel right at home with the rest of Windows Phone 7.

If you’re in the Chicago area and plan on checking out the app, you can get a completely free and fully-functional Trial version right from the marketplace. The only thing missing from the Trial version is Favorites. Be sure to follow @BusWatchApp ** for updates!

…without further ado, here’s the marketing pitch!

Never miss a bus again. Never find yourself waiting and freezing at a bus stop in the harsh Chicago winters. With Bus Watch you will always know the perfect time to leave your home or office. By tapping into real-time transit information for all of the CTA’s buses, Bus Watch can locate nearby stops and quickly give you the next arrivals with minimal effort. We fully embrace the glance-and-go philosophy of Window Phone, allowing you to mark your most frequently traveled routes and stops as Favorites. Now every time you launch Bus Watch it will automatically display the Next Arrivals right on your home screen, so you can get in, get out, and back to life.

Get it now!

If you’ve got the Zune client installed on your PC then click the link below to get the app now!