31
de Desembre
de
2016
Act.
04
de Gener
de
2016
Going on an excursion without knowing the terrain is to risk taking a difficult and complicated route that, depending on our physical condition, can end up being too hard. With Joan Casares's and Joan Ostos's idea, this risk is reduced: "We have come up with an index to measure the difficulty of cycling, running and walking routes. By measuring their difficulty we get a number that tells us if the route in question is more or less difficult depending on one's physical condition." The two entrepreneurs have a Big Data application that can help with planning a cycling trip or excursion with information taken from any GPS.
A hobby becomes a business
The company came about due to the needs of a group of Casares's and Ostos's friends, who would go cycling. "A few years ago we found that by using GPS we could do a route without getting lost but we didn't know if we would be home in time for lunch – things always got complicated at the end of the route."
With the data from the GPS the difficulty of the route could be calculated. "We began doing this as a hobby, but over time we got more involved and made ever more exact calculations," says Casares. The friends published the formula on the Internet for anyone to use until "we discovered that a lot of cycling clubs were using it." Without realising it, they had eventually done the calculations for 700,000 routes. "One day, the French hiking federation contacted us and asked us if this logarithm could be applied to walking" and according to the entrepreneur: "That was the day that it ceased being just a hobby."
After adjusting the formula, the contact became a contract: "The federation adopted the IBP index to apply a level of difficulty to the more than 180,000 km of walking routes in their guides." This was their first commercial contract but it was also the first step in turning the index into a world standard.
Yet, what does IBP mean? Casares explains the origin of the initials that have become the name of their company: "It officially meant Interactive Parameters By Signal, but our group was called Busca Peligru (Searching for danger). When we were looking for a name for the company, the most appropriate thing that occurred to us was the Índex Busca Peligru." When things became more "serious" they found initials that fit with IBP.
By bike or on foot
The formula is now used by runners, cyclists and mountain walkers. "We refined the algorithm and corrected a lot of small defects to match the properties of many appliances on the market," says Casares.
The result of all this work is an index that is "a measure of physical effort from zero to infinity. A new user, according to his or her physical condition, should easily be able to do routes with a level of between 0 and 25, from 25 to 50 is easy, from 50 to 100 more difficult, etc". To understand it more clearly, "it is like lifting a weight, the better shape you are in the easier it is," says the cyclist.
Becoming a standard
Recently, the IBP Index was part of Google Launchpad in Barcelona and four months ago it was incubated by Incubio. The company was formed at the beginning of August this year and in its first few months already has a turnover of 18,000 euros.
"We are in contact with an application to check how the whole thing works together, but Red Bull has already taken an interest in us," says Casares, who also explains that they hope the index will be taken up by makers of appliances or applications, such as "Gàrmin, GPS, Runtastic or Endomondo", as well as sports associations and guidebook publishers. Casares is optimistic about the future: "We have entered a market of more than 300 million people and it will be they who make it a standard."
A hobby becomes a business
The company came about due to the needs of a group of Casares's and Ostos's friends, who would go cycling. "A few years ago we found that by using GPS we could do a route without getting lost but we didn't know if we would be home in time for lunch – things always got complicated at the end of the route."
With the data from the GPS the difficulty of the route could be calculated. "We began doing this as a hobby, but over time we got more involved and made ever more exact calculations," says Casares. The friends published the formula on the Internet for anyone to use until "we discovered that a lot of cycling clubs were using it." Without realising it, they had eventually done the calculations for 700,000 routes. "One day, the French hiking federation contacted us and asked us if this logarithm could be applied to walking" and according to the entrepreneur: "That was the day that it ceased being just a hobby."
After adjusting the formula, the contact became a contract: "The federation adopted the IBP index to apply a level of difficulty to the more than 180,000 km of walking routes in their guides." This was their first commercial contract but it was also the first step in turning the index into a world standard.
Yet, what does IBP mean? Casares explains the origin of the initials that have become the name of their company: "It officially meant Interactive Parameters By Signal, but our group was called Busca Peligru (Searching for danger). When we were looking for a name for the company, the most appropriate thing that occurred to us was the Índex Busca Peligru." When things became more "serious" they found initials that fit with IBP.
By bike or on foot
The formula is now used by runners, cyclists and mountain walkers. "We refined the algorithm and corrected a lot of small defects to match the properties of many appliances on the market," says Casares.
The result of all this work is an index that is "a measure of physical effort from zero to infinity. A new user, according to his or her physical condition, should easily be able to do routes with a level of between 0 and 25, from 25 to 50 is easy, from 50 to 100 more difficult, etc". To understand it more clearly, "it is like lifting a weight, the better shape you are in the easier it is," says the cyclist.
Becoming a standard
Recently, the IBP Index was part of Google Launchpad in Barcelona and four months ago it was incubated by Incubio. The company was formed at the beginning of August this year and in its first few months already has a turnover of 18,000 euros.
"We are in contact with an application to check how the whole thing works together, but Red Bull has already taken an interest in us," says Casares, who also explains that they hope the index will be taken up by makers of appliances or applications, such as "Gàrmin, GPS, Runtastic or Endomondo", as well as sports associations and guidebook publishers. Casares is optimistic about the future: "We have entered a market of more than 300 million people and it will be they who make it a standard."