New App for Android Tablet?

Are you interested in an Android Aviation Navigation App?

  • Not interested

    Votes: 16 36.4%

  • Interested, but would not want to pay for one

    Votes: 1 2.3%

  • Interested, but would not contribute to a kickstarter project

    Votes: 12 27.3%

  • Interested and would likely contribute to a kickstarter fund

    Votes: 15 34.1%
  • Total voters
    44
  • Poll closed .
A

Apache123

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Hey, Steve!
I'm just soliciting some feedback. I'm a long time software engineer, and my best friend develops navigation software for maritime applications in Europe.

We are throwing around the idea of building our own Android app.

Rather, we've already built our own that we use, but it has a programmer-interface. Nothing but numbers and text fields to input the desired data.

Is there much interest in a new commercial-quality android app?

If I get enough positive feedback, we'll probably toss out a kickstarter page and go with the following marketing plan:

Kickstarter contributors get the app plus free updates for the life of the product. Post-release purchasers will have a small fee for chart updates and software updates depending on the cost to us to make the changes (time == money). There'd be no annual subscription, just cost for udpates which I would scale to the number of outstanding users.

Anyways, please vote or leave thoughts/comments below. =)
 
as David said ^^^

Are you thinking of something with weather, flight planning, etc?
 
Apache123 said:
Indeed. All of the data (weather, VORs, airports, etc. etc.) is publicly available in digital form from faa.gov and weather.gov. =)
Click to expand...
Who will likely commence charging for that data in the near future... The question becomes on how they will charge an aviation app provider when they make that data available to their subscribers.


Android does appear to have been neglected to some degree by the aviation app makers. The last year or so has brought some great hardware choices for Android so I believe the platform is ripe for an aviation app provider to enter the market.

Just what is the going rate of a kickstarter fund these days?
 
There are currently no android apps that work without searching -- one needs to switch between checklists, maybe the POH, taxi diagrams, TACs, sectionals and so on, without a lot of fiddling. I might be interested in an app that does that well. Garmin Pilot tries, and it's better than it used to be, but it still requires a lot more fiddling than I'm comfy with in the air.

Most of these apps have elementary errors in user interface, as though no one went through the use cases systematically. Garmin, especially. Avare even aliased the TACs at one point, something that thoroughly flabbergasted me, and caused me to reject it outright (that's such a basic error that it really shouldn't have made it out of the box).

Precisely what do you guys have in mind? I may be interested in helping out if it's sufficiently differentiated to have a chance. I have a special purpose flight planner in my past, though a number of variables have changed (like, DAFIF has been gone for years -- that one was niiiiiice for vector maps).
 
Apache123 said:
I'm just soliciting some feedback. I'm a long time software engineer, and my best friend develops navigation software for maritime applications in Europe.

We are throwing around the idea of building our own Android app.

Rather, we've already built our own that we use, but it has a programmer-interface. Nothing but numbers and text fields to input the desired data.

Is there much interest in a new commercial-quality android app?

If I get enough positive feedback, we'll probably toss out a kickstarter page and go with the following marketing plan:

Kickstarter contributors get the app plus free updates for the life of the product. Post-release purchasers will have a small fee for chart updates and software updates depending on the cost to us to make the changes (time == money). There'd be no annual subscription, just cost for udpates which I would scale to the number of outstanding users.

Anyways, please vote or leave thoughts/comments below. =)
Click to expand...
I might be missing something but why not just contribute to the existing Avare open source project ?

http://avgps.wordpress.com/avare-overview/
 
Include labeled extended centerlines like Foreflight has, and I will buy it for my Nexus 7.
 
I'd have to figure out what we'd want to charge for creating it. Probably not much compared to the other big ones.


I have worked on so many open source projects in the past. I'm hard to get along with if we can't communicate in person or if someone changes my code for no reason other than they didn't like my capitalization, etc., which happens a lot in open source. I still contribute to a lot of projects for free (including commercial software), but in this case I'd want to write it and work on it with my own team.

Based on the votes versus views there doesn't seem to be much interest, though.
 
Personally, I think the market is saturated and you have missed the boat. No app is perfect but FF is darn close IMHO and although Android's are cheaper, I am sure that over time Apple will address the issue....q
 
Don't waste your time with a broken mobile OS. Put your hard earned talents where they will be appreciated with the right OS, iOS on the best hardware, Apple.
 
Have you tried Avare? If you can't equal that, don't even try. Avare is free.

Have you tried Avilution? Beat that and I might be your customer.

I use Android, I prefer Android; I don't want an iPhone, I don't want an iPad, I don't want anything in the iUniverse.
 
P.s., this was my vote: Interested and would likely contribute to a kickstarter fund



The only Kickstarter thing I've ever funded was Peak Design's Capture Clip. It was a success both as a product and as a crowdsourcing thing.
 
Apache123 said:
I'd have to figure out what we'd want to charge for creating it. Probably not much compared to the other big ones.


I have worked on so many open source projects in the past. I'm hard to get along with if we can't communicate in person or if someone changes my code for no reason other than they didn't like my capitalization, etc., which happens a lot in open source. I still contribute to a lot of projects for free (including commercial software), but in this case I'd want to write it and work on it with my own team.

Based on the votes versus views there doesn't seem to be much interest, though.
Click to expand...
So back to my original question what does Avare not have that you would like to see? I couldn't really get a feel for what you think is lacking or you would want changed from today's apps that are available. Seems like maybe hot keys for certain things or better search? Either way those are easy to implement and wouldn't take more than a days work on any app at most a week.

In any event I understand you may want to own the project but it seems more feasible to simply add in the few things you want or request them to an existing product that has 95% of what you want.
 
Apache123 said:
I'd have to figure out what we'd want to charge for creating it. Probably not much compared to the other big ones.


I have worked on so many open source projects in the past. I'm hard to get along with if we can't communicate in person or if someone changes my code for no reason other than they didn't like my capitalization, etc., which happens a lot in open source. I still contribute to a lot of projects for free (including commercial software), but in this case I'd want to write it and work on it with my own team.

Based on the votes versus views there doesn't seem to be much interest, though.
Click to expand...

It might help if you explain how many contributors you're looking for and how much you're asking us to contribute. There are a bunch of android users here, and we all use different things. I use Naviator. It works fine for me, but if there were better, I'd buy it. If I knew what I was getting, I'd be willing to contribute as well.
 
MSPAviator said:
I don't want an iPhone, I don't want an iPad, I don't want anything in the iUniverse.
Click to expand...

I live happily in an ifree household. Now, if I could make it microsoft and garmin free, I will have reached utopia.

But by then I'd have to make it android free too. My beloved nexus 7 now needs a 30 buck dongle to use hdmi, and they're pushing the damm cloud storage....sigh. next thing you know they'll be introducing androidtunes.:hairraise:
 
Interested in your app, however even more interested in your experiences with Kickstart.
 
For me (135/91k flying) I'd kill for ForeFlight on an android device. Nexus 7 would be my choice.

Maybe you could partner with them, develop an android interface and take over that division of ForeFlight? Despite former posters, iOS is yesterday's OS and any company looking to the future had better make peace with having an android presence. How FF can ignore the largest growing OS is beyond me...but I do love their software.
 
Apache123 said:
Based on the votes versus views there doesn't seem to be much interest, though.
Click to expand...

A little more then 7 hours and the OP abandons the thread. Yeah.... I'd say move onto something else. :rolleyes:
 
I am one those that voted not interested.

I already have Jeppesen Flight planning on my computer. I also can do flight planning on my Aera 560 and GNS 530. None of these apps provide vertical guidance and only limited horizontal guidance. The navigation guidance cues are poor and I don't read upside down maps in track mode. The map clutter is terrible on the apps and you cannot declutter them for easier reading.

For planes with no moving map at all is better than nothing but you can get an Aera for the same money and have accurate guidance, declutter ability the text is always up right and the database and terrain covers North/South America or Europe.

One problem I frequently see is where to locate the tablet. A tablet on the copilot side is useless unless you have a copilot. A tablet on the yoke is only good for those with no belly, I hate the tablet belly rubbing. With my Aera behind the yoke I have no belly rubbing and is within my instrument scan. Perfect for instrument approaches.

José
 

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I like the engine out - go to - direct automatic glide path > panic-button guidance to nearest airport, that is coming out on some WAAS avionics.

Did that make any sense? There are a few recent articles about it.

Put that in your software pipe and smoke it for your future project if you would please. ;):)
 
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Jeff K said:
A little more then 7 hours and the OP abandons the thread. Yeah.... I'd say move onto something else. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I go by the numbers. When it was at 270 views and 7 votes that shows no interest. Go back to 4chan if you want to toss out irrelevant insults.

For the others who said they were interested, I'll PM if there's any progress; I looked into the avair open source project since its suggestion. I'm currently looking into adding a cheap homebrew ADS-B receiver plus its integration into avair if I can.

Cheers,
Steven
 
Apache123 said:
I go by the numbers. When it was at 270 views and 7 votes that shows no interest. Go back to 4chan if you want to toss out irrelevant insults.

For the others who said they were interested, I'll PM if there's any progress; I looked into the avair open source project since its suggestion. I'm currently looking into adding a cheap homebrew ADS-B receiver plus its integration into avair if I can.

Cheers,
Steven
Click to expand...

I disagree with your assessment. You are including folks with an iPad, who would have no interest. I'm one of those 270 that read, and then thought about it for a while and posted later after you made a decision that I was interested. I didn't vote the first time, and still haven't voted. I posted in the thread instead.

What I'm not hearing here is a passion for what you're doing. If you don't think you can do it "better" then don't do it. If you do, then do it and the money will come.
 
Apache123 said:
I go by the numbers. When it was at 270 views and 7 votes that shows no interest. Go back to 4chan if you want to toss out irrelevant insults.
Click to expand...

I just didn't think your metric for lack of interest was very well reasoned for judging interest after 7 hours.. on a Wednesday... with ~4 of those hours during the work day.

For the others, who said they were interested I'll PM if there's any progress;
Click to expand...

Actually I was one of the ones who expressed interest although it was after your cutoff of 7 hours so maybe you didn't see it.

Still interested in hearing your experiences with Kickstarter... someone else also asked about it.

I wish you well on the project.
 
Yup - foreflight clone on a droid and would buy in a heartbeat/
 
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I voted interested. I'm planning on moving from the iPad to Nexus after my FF subscription runs out in December.
 
FYI, ADS-B development on Avare is nearing completion for a beta release. It is now working on a prototype, and release will follow in-flight testing.

Since it's an all-volunteer open source project and the app has no ads I find it remarkable that development has been so rapid and ongoing. From a basic VFR sectional moving map to an overwhelming array of features and options including IFR in just one year.

I'd like to invite anyone seeking to support an aviation GPS project to consider investigating Avare.
 
John just downloaded the app today and plan to go back and donate...seems to work great on my nexus and seems so simple to navigate for a new guy with no experience. Flying it today.
 
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