andnav.org - Android Navigation System

Like it? Share it!

Main Menu

AndNav2

Login Form

Home

AndNav2 - Public Alpha

Written by Nicolas Gramlich

Monday, 15 December 2008 00:00

Hello Community,

today we proudly announce the first public AndNav2-Alpha for the following Countries:

Germany, France, Denmark, United Kingdom, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Austria & Ireland
Why no US-coverage? Because we need a server! We are fundraising for it!

Please keep in mind that this version is still Alpha and therefore might crash. Also the servers might take a short break from time to time.

You can download the *.apk directly from your Android Device, from this link:

Dowload AndNav2 Alpha!

Please consider donating if you like it!

Other Updates:

Avoid-Areas (Video)
200 new UK-Postcodes (add more)

Best Regards,
Nicolas & Pascal

Last Updated on Friday, 19 December 2008 20:54

Comments

123

0 #30 Wesley Smekens 2009-07-10 15:06 If you are still looking for a server. I will soon have a server up and running in Amsterdam running Centos 5.3 and willing to donate to the EU users of this project :) Quote

0 #29 Nicolas Gramlich 2009-02-17 06:08 Hi Jason,

we are checking the lower-cost hardware now, to get something up with the half-filled donation-meter.

Best Regards,
Nicolas Quote

0 #28 jason shuman 2009-02-17 05:37 i live in the us when will nav2 be availible? Quote

0 #27 Nicolas Gramlich 2009-01-04 04:11 The Background-Services were unfortunately not designed to run on a distrubuted system (i.e. the whole Routing-Service has to run on the same machine)

We detailed explained to the donators why we chose this way (also the reasons are somewhere in the comments). We will make a statement public.

Best Regards,
Nicolas

Quoting Rich0:

I have all the sympathy in the world for how hard it is to get something like this started up - especially when the competition has been charging tens of thousands of users $10 per month for the last few years.

Have you looked into cloud-based hosting providers? These kinds of services charge by the CPU cycle and GB xfer. This means that until the service grows popular the cost will be low.

Also - as popularity grows so will your ad revenue - that could make the financials a wash if you plan it right.

As far as personal risk goes - you might do well to create a corporation to own the risk. This isn't expensive but you might need help to do it. This way you aren't personally on the hook for anything that goes wrong (but there are tax implications if it turns a profit - which doesn't seem to be your primary goal). As long as you are above-board a corporation will likely limit your personal liability.

Quote

0 #26 Rich0 2009-01-03 18:59 I have all the sympathy in the world for how hard it is to get something like this started up - especially when the competition has been charging tens of thousands of users $10 per month for the last few years.

Have you looked into cloud-based hosting providers? These kinds of services charge by the CPU cycle and GB xfer. This means that until the service grows popular the cost will be low.

Also - as popularity grows so will your ad revenue - that could make the financials a wash if you plan it right.

As far as personal risk goes - you might do well to create a corporation to own the risk. This isn't expensive but you might need help to do it. This way you aren't personally on the hook for anything that goes wrong (but there are tax implications if it turns a profit - which doesn't seem to be your primary goal). As long as you are above-board a corporation will likely limit your personal liability. Quote

0 #25 Jeremy Gillick 2009-01-03 09:53 Quoting Jeremy Gillick:

On the server, perhaps you could post the details about what exactly you need and the current loads you're seeing. If you can give explanation and reasons you might find people excited to help; even some who would donate hosting.

I just had an idea. I've known some sites to receive hosting for free if they just post a small image on their site that says "Hosted by …". Try contacting some of the hosting providers you're interested in and they might be able to work out a deal. I'm sure you're starting to see some serious traffic and interest in your site, and anybody looking to advertise likes that. Quote

+1 #24 Jeremy Gillick 2009-01-03 09:50 Quoting Nicolas Gramlich:

I (we) am a student and I surely do not have the funds to spend 4000$ on some hardware on a project that still has a risk to fail

First let me apologize for many of the people on here who seem to be using the comments to attack you and your product for not having the features/regions they want(demand?).

I personally am disappointed that the US is not supported, purely because that's where I live. However, I also understand that this world is quite a lot bigger than the lump of dirt I inhabit and a new product can't be developed to support everything all at once. Especially if there is only one, or a handful, of people building it.

I commend you for what you have done so far. It is really great work.

On the server, perhaps you could post the details about what exactly you need and the current loads you're seeing. If you can give explanation and reasons you might find people excited to help; even some who would donate hosting. Quote

-1 #23 Nicolas Gramlich 2009-01-03 07:14 I (we) am a student and I surely do not have the funds to spend 4000$ on some hardware on a project that still has a risk to fail

In every case I have seen up to now the contract for the servers is about 6-24 months long. Which would cost me personally A LOT if the project fails…!

Quoting Rich0:

You might get more in the way of donations AFTER your software actually works in the US. That's just how the world works - people pay to reward software projects that have had an impact on them - not ones that might possibly one day have an impact on them.

I'd also recommend going with a commercial hosting service - unless you really want to fiddle with hardware and OS upgrades. If you just need a server running apache/tomcat/whatever you can find people that will supply them and keep them running 24×7x365. And you don't need two years of funding on day 1 - $10k is what it takes to provision a server for several years - not several months. Why pay all that up front?

Just buy a few months of hosting and offer service in the US. You'll see your donations more than cover operational costs. Put a donate button on the GUI if you want. Compared to commercial services people will consider you a bargain.

And if you don't get the money - just disable and remove the US server.

Quote

-1 #22 Nicolas Gramlich 2009-01-03 07:11 Multiply the RAM amount with 32 and lets talk again ;)

We are not dumb…

We could have raised the target without any reason but we decided to respect the trust you all gave us, by making the reasons public.

Quoting Sb:

Quoting Nicolas Gramlich:
Do you have any idea on how expensive a server is?

Apparently you guys didn't!

Right now I'm renting a 2GB server from
corenetworks.net. The thousand dollars you guys raised would rent this server for a year. That should be enough to get started. If not, no problem! Just ask for more donations.

But, you quickly met your original target and then raised the target 10X… that doesn't seem shady to you?

Quote

+1 #21 Rich0 2009-01-02 18:53 You might get more in the way of donations AFTER your software actually works in the US. That's just how the world works - people pay to reward software projects that have had an impact on them - not ones that might possibly one day have an impact on them.

I'd also recommend going with a commercial hosting service - unless you really want to fiddle with hardware and OS upgrades. If you just need a server running apache/tomcat/whatever you can find people that will supply them and keep them running 24×7x365. And you don't need two years of funding on day 1 - $10k is what it takes to provision a server for several years - not several months. Why pay all that up front?

Just buy a few months of hosting and offer service in the US. You'll see your donations more than cover operational costs. Put a donate button on the GUI if you want. Compared to commercial services people will consider you a bargain.

And if you don't get the money - just disable and remove the US server. Quote

123

Refresh comments list
RSS feed for comments to this post.

Add comment

JComments