Cairnwood Outfitters
An offline-capable trail app with GPS route tracking for an outdoor gear retailer's members.
Industry
Retail & E-commerce
Timeline
10 weeks
Team
2 engineers, 1 designer
Category
Mobile App
Where things stood
Cairnwood's members wanted a trail app that worked past the point where cell signal disappears, which ruled out anything relying on live map tiles or a constant connection.
How we got there
Offline map caching
Built downloadable trail packs so maps, routes, and waypoints are fully available with zero signal, not just degraded.
GPS route tracking
Implemented background location tracking that keeps logging a route even when the app isn't in the foreground.
Battery-conscious design
Tuned GPS polling intervals so a multi-hour hike doesn't drain a phone battery by the time members reach the trailhead again.
What changed
100%
Core features usable with zero signal
4.7★
App Store rating at 3 months post-launch
60+
Trail packs available at launch
Tech stack
React Native
Single codebase covering iOS and Android for the outdoor gear retailer's members.
Expo
Simplified builds and OTA updates for a small internal team maintaining the app.
MapLibre
Renders downloaded trail maps fully offline, without a per-tile network request.
SQLite
Stores trail packs and GPS tracks locally so a hike never depends on signal.
Node.js
Serves trail pack downloads and syncs completed routes once a member's back in range.
AWS S3
Stores the downloadable trail pack map tiles members cache for offline access.
