Who is behind Kurviger? As an enthusiastic Kurviger user, I had long been curious to get to know the people behind it. And indeed, Robin Boldt was persuaded to go for a ride together on his home track and I had the opportunity to ask him a few questions over a leisurely beer (non-alcoholic!) in the middle of the Swabian Alb.
Michael Timler: Robin, how did you come to tackle Kurviger?
Robin Boldt: I couldn’t find an app or other planning tool that I was really happy with. In the beginning, I was still using Motoplaner. However, Motoplaner’s route planning was based on the fastest route. This meant that planning usually took several hours. But I wanted something that would create a winding route with just two or three inputs. So I did it myself. I taught a computer how to plan my tours, so to speak.
Michael Timler: At what point in your professional career were you at that time?
Robin Boldt: I was just about to finish my degree in software engineering. There was a project on navigation systems and route planning based on OpenStreetMap. That was the impetus and starting point, so to speak. Initially, there was only the Kurviger website as a pure online planning tool.
Michael Timler: How did the development towards a smartphone app come about?
Robin Boldt: Initially, you had to transfer the tours you had planned on Kurviger to a navigation device or another app. The transfer involved a lot of effort. The route on the satnav was often slightly different from the planned one, and if you deviated from the route, the system couldn’t easily adjust the route.
Michael Timler: If I understand correctly, Kurviger is now your main job?
Robin Boldt: Yes.
Michael Timler: That sounds like easy money.
Robin Boldt[laughs]: Yes, that’s the typical imagination. But there’s much more to an app like this than meets the eye. Collaboration with the community is an important part of our work. We try to keep our development as close to the community as possible. This allows us to discuss possible improvements and new functions for Kurviger and to continuously develop the app. Without the users, we are virtually blind and communication has to be correspondingly fast. That alone is almost a 24-hour job. In addition, there are technical enhancements to the app, route calculation and much more.
Michael Timler[laughs]: All right! Speaking of further development: What can we look forward to in the coming months?
Robin Boldt: One of the next functions will be a route recording extension. This means that in future Kurviger will save the route traveled so that the driver can see exactly where he really was after the tour. Whether you had to follow a detour due to a road closure or whether you simply set off without a route and only use Kurviger in follow mode, you will end up with a record of the route you took.
Michael Timler: The internet and communities such as Facebook and Instagram are often accused of helping so-called hidden places to become popular overnight, which can have a destructive effect. Overnight, there are suddenly whole armies of people there, which in the worst case leads to the destruction of nature and the closure of places or streets.
Don’t applications like Kurviger encourage such developments by sending more and more motor traffic to remote areas that were previously considered natural oases?
Robin Boldt: Quite the opposite. If you ride over certain motorcycle hotspots, such as the Galibier in the south of France, at certain times of the day, there is such a crowd of motorcycles that you can no longer ride over the pass. Our app helps to take the focus off these classic overcrowded destinations and offer motorcyclists other beautiful roads. This spreads out the traffic and relieves hotspots. So you could argue that Kurviger leads to a decentralization of motorcycle routes, because the user knows that he will always get to his chosen destination and does not have to stick to the well-trodden paths of classic motorcycle routes.
Michael Timler: So you don’t think that Kurviger is contributing to the fact that route closures for motorcycles are becoming more and more frequent?
Robin Boldt: Absolutely not. Navigation systems do not increase the number of motorcycles on the road. But our algorithm avoids cities and other traffic hotspots, such as highways or major roads. In this respect, we are helping to reduce traffic density. By avoiding built-up areas, Kurviger also helps to reduce noise pollution from motorcycles in cities and towns.
Michael Timler: Robin, thank you very much for taking the time to ride your home route with me and, of course, for this interview