Page 6
www.arjeplogtimes.com Page 3
New Mobile App for Proving Grounds A new app for a smartphone will open gates and tell you how many people are already on the test tracks. It will show exactly where you are and if you drive too fast it will report this to Maria in the reception. It will also help customers know if they are booked on a track, as well as many other things. A small company in Piteå called Rajd has developed an app for the smartphone (only android at the moment) that is specially developed for proving grounds. Now it is being tested at Colmis Proving Grounds and if everything works well, the system will be used in full force next season. “Safety is the most important thing for us”, says vice manager Peter Gyllenberg at Colmis. At the moment ten phones with the app installed are being tested at Colmis. If they and their customers are satisfied with Nelson, as it is called, there could be hundreds of phones installed with the app next season. The app cannot be installed in private phones at present. Maria Berlin can follow the customers on the tracks via the app that is connected to her computer in the reception at Colmis.
Peter Wedin, Rajd and Peter Gyllenberg, Colmis with a Nelsonequipped smartphone.
The app can do a lot of things, such as preventing unauthorised people from entering certain tracks. It will open barriers in an emergency so that rescue services can get inside, for example if there has been an accident. It will even be able, later on, to give information relevant to testing and check that drivers behave correctly and follow the rules. On a computer in the reception, Maria Berlin, can see where all the people with the app are and she can even see how fast they are driving. Peter Wedin, Rajd said that they started developing this system ten years ago and it is soon ready for full scale operation.
Christian did it! Christian Bock cycled from Arvidsjaur to Mo i Rana in Norway and back via the Blue Road, a trip of nearly 700 kilometres. The amazing thing was that he did it in February battling temperatures below minus 30°C and sleeping in a tent. See The Arjeplog Times nr 7. Christian is now back home in Austria and happy that the trip was successful. He had many adventures and some problems. In his report he explains that he chose February because he wanted new experiences and to promote personal growth. He wanted to know how and if he could cope with such extreme temperatures. How did he cope? “Very well in general, but bad mistakes made some nights in the tent miserable. I tried to dry my boots in the sleeping bag and woke up freezing cold. It was Christian Bock minus 30!” he wrote.
Camping on a frozen lake provided sound of cracking ice that kept him awake and a little scared. Good moments included handling extreme situations by being very smart. Coming into a warm room, a hot shower and a warm meal were greatly appreciated. His final words in the report are: “My fears and anxiety beforehand, of what could happen and how to deal with it again confirmed one of my credos: “Risks are not so scary once you take them.”
Read Christian Bock’s full report and pictures on our Facebook page via www.arjeplogtimes.com