Maple Android app

[DaveB]

Guys - I work in IT and I've been tinkering around with creating an Android app (for those that have one) that contains various calculations that we as producers use. I've created calculations for syrup/sap buying and other calculations around the sugar house and before I package this thing up, I'm wondering what you guys would like to see in an app for our business. I just find myself pulling out my calculator too often to figure something out and I know it would be handy to have something that has my fields as inputs and tells me what I need to know.

Any thoughts?

[mellondome]

How about one that calculates the price to tell the wife what the new shiny costs...

[littleTapper]

Crowdsourced data showing when sap gets buddy (by maple type) and rough prediction of #days left based on where you are.

[BreezyHill]

I searched for a few evenings for a guy to find him an app that would allow you to plot the trees in your bush and then layer that over a map to better design the lay out of a tubing system.

I found several apps that would work well to lay out waypoints but they all would connect these points and put a trail on the map and not just the points. I want to be able to pin point a cluster of trees to lay a line thru and go to the next set. Using a pattern of mains layed at 55 or 60' on centers is not always the best way to reduce the amount of 5/16 used...closer to or thru the center of a cluster will better reduce usage.

In three season we plan to expand to several off farm bushes and this will aid tremendously in keeping costs as low as possible and increase the profit margin. I enjoy maple farming but it has to make a profit for us to expand off the farm.

I have several spread sheets covered with calculations that I use when washing lines to building ladders; but the are in excel and would need to be emailed.

Ben

[DaveB]

Ben, if you feel that those calculations could be helpful to other producers, I can include them. So far I have the following included:

Bulk syrup selling and buying
Sap selling/buying
Evaporator calculation (sap needed to fill and to sweeten the pans)
Sap to Syrup ratio
Sap sugar content when mixing two quantities with different sugar content

I'll look at seeing if I can incorporate some mapping functions to make use of the devices GPS.

[Super Sapper]

Brix to temp. correlation for finished syrup.

[DaveB]

Brix to temp. correlation for finished syrup.

Thanks for the suggestion. Are you looking for a conversion of the current temperature of the syrup to Brix or something else? I'll admit that I'm not familiar with that but anything is possible. I saw a hydrometer temperature correction formula online and I'm not sure if that's what you're looking for.

[lpakiz]

DaveB,
This might be the same idea, but I'll try to explain it in more detail. There are charts for this, but a formula would really work great.
Say you have 5 1/2 gallons (or liters or ounces) of syrup and it measures 70.2 brix. How much water or sap (ounces or cups or liters) must I add to bring it to, say, 66.9 brix. Or I have 2 gallons at 67.3, how much water to bring it to 66.3 brix.

It would be GREAT to pick the unit of measure, fill in the numbers and read the result in the unit of choice. It would be nice if it could recognize and calculate in gallons, liters, cups, ounces, pounds, milli-liters or any other unit someone might have.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

DaveB,
This might be the same idea, but I'll try to explain it in more detail. There are charts for this, but a formula would really work great.
Say you have 5 1/2 gallons (or liters or ounces) of syrup and it measures 70.2 brix. How much water or sap (ounces or cups or liters) must I add to bring it to, say, 66.9 brix. Or I have 2 gallons at 67.3, how much water to bring it to 66.3 brix.

It would be GREAT to pick the unit of measure, fill in the numbers and read the result in the unit of choice. It would be nice if it could recognize and calculate in gallons, liters, cups, ounces, pounds, milli-liters or any other unit someone might have.
Isnt there a chart for this I thought I saw one a year or two ago? an app would be awesome

[Super Sapper]

http://www.sugarbush.info/forums/boiling-testing-filtering-bottling/1313-hydrometer-chart.html

Here is the chart, it also has the amount of water to add if you are heavy.

[DaveB]

http://www.sugarbush.info/forums/boiling-testing-filtering-bottling/1313-hydrometer-chart.html

Here is the chart, it also has the amount of water to add if you are heavy.

Thanks for sending that and I see what you mean. This can definitely be added. I just need to get the formula correct. The chart doesn't match up with formula's that I'm finding online so I'm wondering if there is one in the Maple Syrup Producers Manual. I don't have mine handy so I'm wondering if someone could look for me.

The other thing I don't understand about the chart is that it appears to be linear for a few of the changes like 0.5 to 1 and then 1.5 to 2 but it's not consistent so I can't derive a formula based on that.

[DaveB]

I have a stupid follow-up question. In looking at that chart, if I take the difference in the brix X 2.58, I wound up with a few hundredths and right on at 4 Brix. Since I'm coming up with different numbers based on different charts, does .08 fluid oz. per gallon make that much of a difference? Isn't the range between 66 and 67 Brix and wouldn't it fall in that range?

I'd like a more precise formula that drives the chart but barring that, could I go with that?

[Super Sapper]

I would think that would be close enough as you still have to check after you add the water and volume of syrup is usually a close estimate.

[lpakiz]

I would think .08 ounce is just a few drops. In practical terms, that's nothing when added to a gallon. Go with it.

PS. Just looked up a conversion. 1 ounce is 6 teaspoons. So .08 times 6 is .48. That's less then 1/2 teaspoon per gallon. Check out that amount in your wife's baking utensils.

[DaveB]

Hey guys - I just wanted to give an update as I'm wrapping up the coding and putting some finishing touches on everything. I have to package it and figure out how to get it on the Google Play Store. I hope everyone's not expecting anything fancy but it should do what you need it to.

The only thing that I was not able to get in there was the mapping function but I do feel that it's possible but I need to play around with that more and hone my skills.

[lpakiz]

I'm looking forward to it. Thanks, good work!

[DaveB]

OK - The app is published! Take a look and let me know what you guys think. If something is off, I want to know so I can fix it. I think I have a little time before next season!

Here's a link to the Webpage but if you do a search for "maple producer calculator" in the Play store, it should come up that way as well.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=appinventor.ai_dbroer68.MapleCalc

Like I said, it's fairly basic but gets the job done.

[TheMapleMoose]

Just downloaded it. Seems like it will be a handy little tool

[DaveB]

Just downloaded it. Seems like it will be a handy little tool

Thanks...I hope it's helpful. I can always add to it.

It's funny because I just released it yesterday and already someone has another, albeit limited, one out:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.cordova.MapleSyrupApp

Is this somebody here?

[sapman]

Are all those permissions necessary? I may just not understand what makes an app work, but don't see why access to video and external storage are necessary.

Thanks and good work!

[unc23win]

Is going to be available for apple devices?

[DaveB]

Are all those permissions necessary? I may just not understand what makes an app work, but don't see why access to video and external storage are necessary.

Thanks and good work!

They are not necessary and I need to figure out how to change that. The only thing it has are fields to enter numbers and do a calculation based on those numbers. It doesn't save or send anything. It might be some generic setting in the tool that I used to build the app.

[DaveB]

Is going to be available for apple devices?

That's on the agenda at some point...I need to look into what is needed for that.