Italian City Tour App for Windows Phone

Alviero Chiacchieroni

Let Your Phone Be Your Window to Italy

Alviero Chiacchieroni first heard about Syncfusion during Mokapp 2013, a code camp in Italy that focuses on mobile development. As a sponsor of this event, Syncfusion donated a license of Essential Studio for Windows Phone to each attendee. The enterprise-class toolkit includes more than 30 controls that enhance the look and feel of applications designed for Windows Phone devices. Chiacchieroni was thrilled to receive such a powerful toolkit to help him develop his first Windows Phone 8 application.

Chiacchieroni aimed to create an application that helps guide tourists through the small village of Collevalenza, Italy. The app, Collevalenza, provides the history of various landmarks in the city, as well as photographs and other information. With a map feature that includes step-bystep driving directions, users can easily navigate the city without having to switch back and forth to a secondary map application. The use of images within the app helps users identify their destinations easily.

In order for the app to provide a seamless, self-guided tour experience, Chiacchieroni chose the Carousel control offered in Essential Studio for Windows Phone. The Carousel control enables items to be arranged in an interface similar to album cover browsers in digital music players. This layout makes it easier for users to find what they are looking for as quickly as possible.

The Carousel control, along with others in the Windows Phone toolkit, are touch-optimized, allowing interaction with the app to feel natural to users. Using Syncfusion controls saved Chiacchieroni hours of development time, helping him get his app to market quickly. After a positive experience with Syncfusion, he doesn’t hesitate to recommend Syncfusion tools to other developers.

Collevalenza can be downloaded from the Windows Phone Store.

The Benefits