Did outside just kill pinkbike?
- Thread starter Sandwich
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- sandwich is a whiner
So when does RM get fucked then?
was chatting about this the other day with my buddies who went on the road trip I had to bail on caus' of Covid. One of them did most of the next day's ride planning every night using trailforks. I asked if they were paying and they do. I've pretty much given up on it, I guess because I haven't travelled since they made it pay per use.
What really bugs me is that it's crowd-sourced, yet they charge for that information. Basically, people populate it for free and they turn around and make a profit on it. My buddies both are in IT and they feel that the amount of work it takes "on the back end" to make it work is worth the money. I guess I see their point, but I don't know, it still seems wrong. If there was a way to compensate me for uploading my data, then maybe I'd consider it. But as it stands, no thanks.
I get your point on crowd sourcing. But having access to this wealth of information while visiting other parts of the continent is priceless IMHO. I would gladly pay for it if I had to.
It costs a huge amount of money and time to build and host a product like this, even if the content is user generated. I'm not entirely disagreeing with your point, but you need:
- Developers to build/update/bugfix the product, which includes constant revisions that are out of your control (e.g. if Google updates Android, you need to publish new versions of your app)
- Infrastructure team to create, patch & support the actual stuff that hosts the product
- IT support for your employees - buying laptops, Office licensing, picking and deploying chat tools or whatever
- Hosting costs - how many servers? How much bandwidth?
This doesn't invalidate your point - there is no product without the user content. But what you're paying for is someone building and supporting a platform that lets all of those users share their content. I think I read that Reddit spends $150 million/year just on hosting.
I agree with you guys, and will probably pay for the service when the need arises. Though I can't help but pine for the days when you'd rock up to a bike shop and buy a map, and ask the shop employees which trail was running well. Or, as I did in the past, hire a guide and he'd put together an itinerary that blew your mind! I did that in BC in 2007, and in Ecuador in 2018. Those were the best bike trips of my life...
If pinkbike disappears; we're the spot.
Early TF; hardly had trails for riding areas I accessed. I found MTB Project to be more useful for pre made routes. TF improved and in my area has good pre made rides to use. TF offline is a nice. I mostly use it offline as a piggyback for my Ride with GPS. I pay TF and RWGPS. Small dues to make and I don't contribute to them with feedback. Recently noticed MTB project has some changes, at this point TF is seems on par with them.
Avenza I haven't used in a few years, I liked getting their nat geo maps or NYNJ TC maps for offline guidance, and ability to drop pins.
Patiently waiting for the day we digress with another version of old school texting. 100 texts per month, remember that? Soon google and microsoft will charge per search to fund their nuclear reactors. Folks will boycott; rather than paying to search how to remove a stain they'll go to the library and borrow a book.
Paper maps and compasses are gonna make a comeback.
Early TF; hardly had trails for riding areas I accessed. I found MTB Project to be more useful for pre made routes. TF improved and in my area has good pre made rides to use. TF offline is a nice. I mostly use it offline as a piggyback for my Ride with GPS. I pay TF and RWGPS. Small dues to make and I don't contribute to them with feedback. Recently noticed MTB project has some changes, at this point TF is seems on par with them.
Avenza I haven't used in a few years, I liked getting their nat geo maps or NYNJ TC maps for offline guidance, and ability to drop pins.
Patiently waiting for the day we digress with another version of old school texting. 100 texts per month, remember that? Soon google and microsoft will charge per search to fund their nuclear reactors. Folks will boycott; rather than paying to search how to remove a stain they'll go to the library and borrow a book.
Paper maps and compasses are gonna make a comeback.
And vinyl!
That's already staged a comeback.
Better have a sat phone to count on that out here!
Ain't quiet, has never been quiet, why I'd kill Strava in an instant.
DVDs are the next Vinyl
You know what they say about secrets.
the people responsible for Gaia are working on another app called goat maps.
story is in latest issue of trails magazine.
Awesome.
I don't want trail reviews, or social sharing, or turn-by-turn navigation, or news feeds. I want extremely detailed and searchable maps with great route planning capabilities which are equally capable offline.
Just subscribed for updates. Though it's probably not helpful for discoverability that there is also a company called "green goat maps."