Because some things change when you cross the line…
Traveling around the USA, you likely have had some of the same experiences we have…
- You pull into a new state, decide it’s a good night for a beer, and assume you can stock up at a grocery store. You search and search, only to find none for sale… or that you can’t buy any alcohol on a Sunday… or that what is sold in stores is not ‘real’ beer… Frustrating!
- You’re sitting at a red light, waiting to make a left from one one-way street onto another. There’s no traffic… but is it legal to make a left on red? It is your home state, but what about here?
- You stop to handle some major shopping chores, and only later realize that you could have saved substantially by driving another 50 miles down the road into a state with substantially lower sales tax, or even no sales tax at all…
- You’re traveling through, and just need a place to stop over for the night to catch a snooze. Is it legal to overnight in this state’s rest areas? What about the next?
- You get a text message on your phone while you’re driving – is it legal to read and return it in this state?
- And so on…
As we’ve traveled, we’ve been struck by the sheer number of variations in state laws and regulations that affect us as travelers. We’ve noticed major state-to-state differences in everything from gun carry laws, public smoking bans, towing laws, alcohol laws, gas and diesel taxes, special time zone rules, helmet laws, leash laws and much more.
It’s amazing how much stuff can change right under your nose when you cross a state line.
So we decided to solve our own problem by compiling all this information into one easy-to-access place, in the process developing our first iPhone application.
State Lines is the result of several months of development effort and extensive research, and today we’re proud to announce it is available for purchase in Apple’s iTunes app store at an introductory price of just $2.99.
Currently State Lines tracks over 50 pieces of travel relevant information for each of the 50 states; including vehicle gun carry laws, state sales tax, time zones, towing & RV specific laws, gas/diesel taxes, rest area overnight parking rules, default speed limits, alcohol sales laws, smoking bans, open container laws, state park camping entrance fees, pet leash laws, bicycle and motorcycle helmet laws, cell phone & texting bans, left hand turn rules, and more.
State Lines is location aware, so it can automatically show you information about nearby states. The entire State Lines database is integrated into the application, so State Lines works even when you are out of cellular or WiFi coverage..
State Lines is a growing project, and we welcome feedback and ideas of other useful state specific information to include in future versions.
We are really proud of our first iPhone application. It is a unique and genuinely useful tool. Please check it out, and spread the word!
Are you going to have this app available for Android phones.
Yes.. it’s in the final stages of completion, and should be out next week.
Any update on Android version of this app?
Thanks
We have a developer working on it right now! Crossing our fingers that the third attempt is a charm 🙂 It’s been very difficult to find a reliable developer to get the port done.
We just traded our iPhones for a Droid and a Palm Pre Plus. Definitely going to miss this app….sigh…
Purchased! Awesome app 🙂
.-= Sonja´s last blog ..rubbing off, perhaps =-.
Totally kidding about whether or not you’d include state-by-state falconry laws (though that would be pretty gosh darn cool), but I’ve recommended you to several intrepid business traveler friends of mine! Keep up the good work!
Howdy,
Just downloaded the APP and looking forward to using on the iPod Touch. Looks to be very useful. We fish in every state and have a suggested addition (when you have time):-) There is free fishing in Texas state parks, even if you are not a resident. Also a nice help would be the resident and non-resident fishing license fees. Might help to decide which state to stop in to fish. Thanks for your work and look forward to the updates.
Thank you very much for purchasing State lines, and for the awesome suggestion. I actually started trying to research fishing & hunting licenses the other nights, and I’m glad to have it confirmed that it would be a useful addition.
However, I encountered difficulty finding a central public domain source of that information. Do you have any suggestions on where it might be found? If not, it will be a several day project to research each state individually (which, many of the datapoints were collected that way anyway.)
I wish a central database existed, but none I know of. We have been full-time RVing and fishing for 8 years now and we have to look it up for each state. Actually, that’s why I was hoping for an APP to help. If you would like help to research let me know.
Just downloaded it, just in time for my 6 week RV trip across the US & Canada. Maybe including Canada & the border states in Mexico would be a good addition, someday. I love what you’ve got – especially the leash law stuff. Congratulations on your app!
Love it! Such a great idea! I’ll be sharing on FB, for sure. I’m a Droid user or I’d purchase it right away.
A great idea, how about a European edition? 🙂
Things are very different across different countries, having something like this as an aide-memoire would be great…
Maybe I should license the IP and write it… :-))
Though its all Europe, lots of individualisms remain, the UK being the worst as even our currency is different!
Mmmm….
(sounds of gears grinding)
PhilN
We had seriously thought about doing a global version. But the US version alone took months of intense research to get all of the data elements gathered, and will be quite a commitment to keep on top of as regulations changed over the years. So we decided to start with what we’re most familiar with. If it’s a successful product and creating enough income to merit the research – we will have other editions 🙂
We will be taking our first RV trip this summer; can’t wait to put your app to good use. Congratulations.
.-= Marcia´s last blog ..Popcorn Mood =-.
Congrats! That’s so fantastic! I’ll be spreading the news…
Big love,
Cath
.-= Cath Duncan´s last blog ..Meet The Tooth-less, Naked Renaissance Hobo… =-.
Thank you 🙂 We’re super happy with it.
What an awesome accomplishment! It looks great! We’ll add it to the iTouch!! oxoxox
we’re not traveling *yet*, but I get lots of inspiration from your blog so I bought the app as my way of supporting you. 🙂
Thank you so much.. much appreciated 🙂
We Palm Pre users need a version…!
We’ll be considering what other platforms are worthwhile developing for in the future. Thanks 🙂
Are there any plans to make a similar app for the Android market?
We’ll be keeping an eye on how well the iPhone version does to determine what other platforms it’s worth developing for. As we’re both iPhone users, it was the easiest for us to develop for as our first app.
This is so great. Even when just doing “normal” travel, I’m always asking my passengers, “Is this legal?” What an amazing idea!
Thank you 🙂 Yes, the app was designed for travelers of all sorts, just not just full time RVing. Future updates will expand the info too.
Congrats! Yeah!!!!! Awesome….NESS! I’ll download it to my Itouch and see if it works on it as well!
Love is….TL
Thank you so much!
Purchased! Excellent idea!
.-= James Schipper´s last blog ..Apple’s iPad: Can it Work for Digital Nomads and Teleworkers? =-.
Thanks a bunch, James! 🙂
EXCELLENT idea! And I’m sure the implementation is awesome, as well. Congratulations!
.-= Louise´s last blog ..For the rail fans =-.
Thanks, Louise. We’re pretty proud of our little app.