Jisc, the UK’s national research and education networking charity, has just released a completely rewritten version of the eduroam companion app for Android and iOS,
This new version offers the same functionality as its predecessor, documenting the global eduroam estate and helping end users discover more about and navigate to venues that offer eduroam connectivity. However, it is now much more efficient and future proof.
Jisc are able to offer this refresh to the eduroam apps and keep them free to use by reusing the work that’s gone into the companion app for the UK govroam service, which has just passed 3,000 locations (many of which also now carry eduroam alongside).
We’d love to hear what you think of the new app, so please review it, or send any comments to mark.o’leary@jisc.ac.uk
You can find the iOS version here:
The Android version is here:
Find out more about eduroam at Jisc
The Technical Bit
To make the app more efficient and user friendly We now collect a data feed from GÉANT in real time using JSON, rather than the previous daily updated KML file over FTP. This allows us to update individual users with only the data that has changed since the last time they ran the app.We are also consuming that data in the draft eduroam database 2.0 format, so planned changes to how the core eduroam systems will develop in future will not disrupt the applications. A common back end, running in the cloud, now supports the app on both platforms, reducing Jisc’s operational overheads and maintaining a consistent user experience. We hope that you will find the new GUI clear and easy to navigate, and it will work on all current resolutions and configurations of devices.
