SCOUT
What you know on the road, you have lost by the time you are home
The best cycling data exists at the moment you ride past something. Scout catches it there, with one tap, instead of three hours later behind a screen.
On the bike, not at home
One tap while riding. What you forget at home you know exactly on the road.
On the bars or in your pocket
Garmin Edge now, Android and Hammerhead Karoo in testing.
It goes to the commons
Your tags feed an open atlas, not some company's private archive.
Scout runs on your bike computer and on your phone. Spot a hazard, a closure, a change of surface or a water point, and you record it at the moment you pass it. No stopping, no typing, no form. Every tag is written into your own ride file, in an open format.
The problem: you know it on the road, not at home
You pass a torn-up road, a tap that works, a closure that was not there last month. At that moment you know it precisely. Three hours later, showered and holding a coffee, you still know there was something, but no longer where.
So it never gets recorded. Not through unwillingness, but because the moment has gone. Every piece of knowledge only someone who was there could have disappears exactly like that.
One tap, without breaking your ride
Scout is built for the ride, not the sofa. On your bike computer or your phone on the bars: you pick a category and tap. Done. No stopping, no gloves off, no form.
The tag is written to your ride there and then, with the location attached, in an open and documented format. You keep your own ride file, and you decide what happens to it.
What it runs on
Scout is available now for Garmin Edge. Android and Hammerhead Karoo are in testing.
The reason to go wide is simple: the knowledge is not held by one brand. Someone on an old Edge sees the same broken road as someone on a Karoo, and both need to be able to pass it on in a single tap.
Where it ends up
What you tag goes to Cycling Commons, the open atlas of cycling knowledge. Not into a company database that can be locked later.
There it is reviewed, confirmed or updated by other riders, and becomes available to everyone using the map or building on it. Durable facts also go back to the sources the Commons itself stands on.
And like the Commons, Scout is about the world, not about you: it records the place, not the rider.
What is coming
Two things are on the list. Neither is finished, so you will not find them in the app yet.
Tapping back along your ride line. On the phone Scout follows your ride, so when you do stop for coffee you can tap the spot you passed and pick what was there. Useful for everything you only think of a kilometre later.
Photos. Take one on the road and it syncs straight into the Commons when you get home - no extra step, no separate upload screen.
Behind the scenes
For anyone who wants to know what it runs on and how it is built.
How it works
- Native app on the bike computer - works with no phone in range
- Tags are written into your own ride file, in an open format
- Works offline - syncs when there is a connection again
- Designed to be used with gloves on, in a single tap
Devices
- Garmin Edge - available now
- Android - in testing
- Hammerhead Karoo - in testing
Build and quality gates
- Built and tested in the Cycling Commons repository - same pipeline, same gates
- The FIT reader carries its own Node test suite, separate from the rest
- Secret scan, SPDX headers and licence checks run on every change
You are the only one who knows that tap works. One press on the bars and the world knows it too.