Listen: App inventor knows his way around Fieldays

Bay of Plenty businessman and inventor, Matt Flowerday. Photo / Supplied

Matt Flowerday knows his way around Fieldays.

The Bay of Plenty businessman and inventor told The Country's Jamie Mackay that when he looks back and tallies it up, he has been to "30-odd Fieldays," as both a visitor and an exhibitor.

It makes sense then, that Flowerday's Tauranga-based mapping company, GPS-it, has come up with an ingenious app to help visitors navigate their way around the Fieldays site.

GPS-it started out in a shed in Te Puke, and it was the first company in the world to use GPS-mapping of kiwifruit orchards, according to Flowerday.

The company grew, "from doing a handful of orchards, to basically doing every kiwifruit orchard in the country now," says Flowerday whose technology was also instrumental in the battle against the kiwifruit Psa bacteria.

Flowerday says GPS-it has also helped Fonterra to monitor river ways as part of the Clean Streams Accord. GPS-it created a mapping programme which was used on farm to identify waterways and classify them if they were stock-excluded or not.

So what are the most requested features of the Fieldays app?

"Where's the nearest toilet? Where's my car? ... and also where the good food tents are," says Flowerday.

Also in today's interview: Matt Flowerday talks about the three projects he has entered into this year's Fieldays Innovation Awards.

Listen below: