Help create a new market...

[Nugget]

Like much of the rest of America, I've spent a non-trivial amount of time during the past 10 days looking at fancy graphics on TV showing flight paths and aircraft locations and all variety of neat "what's up in the air right now" type data. The detail and quality of the grapics shown by the major news outlets sparked my interest so I did a little web research to figure out what software was available to tap into this data and if it was within reach of the general aviation and aviation enthusiast communities.

What I found was that there are two popular applications which allow the user to see aircraft tracking information and weather data. These applications are FlightExplorer and FlyteTrax . Both are targeted for sales to large companies in the travel industry and media. There appears to have been no thought given to making a version of either package available with a license and price which is within reach of the hobbyist market.

Optimistically, I sent off an email to FlyteComm, the makers of FlyteTrax, to ask if they'd considered an enthusiast tier in their pricing model. I got a very rapid response back from them indicating that they had recently begun to consider this very idea and that they were most eager to learn more about this potential market for their software.

Unfortunately, we have pricing that is designed for the aviation industry. However, we are thinking about developing a product more for the hobbyist as yourself. I am not sure when this pricing will be in place, but I will certainly let you know. What would you pay for this? Your suggestions will considerably help our Marketing team design a product and pricing structure that would work for the enthusiast.

While I have plenty of my own opinions on what software like this would be worth to me, I thought it would be a good idea to solicit the community for input and comments. I intend to send a pointer to this thread to both FlyteComm as well as Flight Dimensions and encourage them to contribute to the discussion as well.

Surely I'm not alone in wishing I could buy a copy of this sort of software for my own personal use. What do you think?

Would you pay a monthly or annual fee to access flight tracking data? Would you only be willing to pay one time and expect unlimited use of the software? Are there features you would expect to be unavailable in a noncommercial version of the software?

[Nugget]

Like much of the rest of America, I've spent a non-trivial amount of time during the past 10 days looking at fancy graphics on TV showing flight paths and aircraft locations and all variety of neat "what's up in the air right now" type data. The detail and quality of the grapics shown by the major news outlets sparked my interest so I did a little web research to figure out what software was available to tap into this data and if it was within reach of the general aviation and aviation enthusiast communities.

What I found was that there are two popular applications which allow the user to see aircraft tracking information and weather data. These applications are FlightExplorer and FlyteTrax . Both are targeted for sales to large companies in the travel industry and media. There appears to have been no thought given to making a version of either package available with a license and price which is within reach of the hobbyist market.

Optimistically, I sent off an email to FlyteComm, the makers of FlyteTrax, to ask if they'd considered an enthusiast tier in their pricing model. I got a very rapid response back from them indicating that they had recently begun to consider this very idea and that they were most eager to learn more about this potential market for their software.

Unfortunately, we have pricing that is designed for the aviation industry. However, we are thinking about developing a product more for the hobbyist as yourself. I am not sure when this pricing will be in place, but I will certainly let you know. What would you pay for this? Your suggestions will considerably help our Marketing team design a product and pricing structure that would work for the enthusiast.

While I have plenty of my own opinions on what software like this would be worth to me, I thought it would be a good idea to solicit the community for input and comments. I intend to send a pointer to this thread to both FlyteComm as well as Flight Dimensions and encourage them to contribute to the discussion as well.

Surely I'm not alone in wishing I could buy a copy of this sort of software for my own personal use. What do you think?

Would you pay a monthly or annual fee to access flight tracking data? Would you only be willing to pay one time and expect unlimited use of the software? Are there features you would expect to be unavailable in a noncommercial version of the software?

[RyJones]

I would perhaps pay on a per-lookup basis, say, $20 a year for 5 lookups then $4 each after that

[RyJones]

I would perhaps pay on a per-lookup basis, say, $20 a year for 5 lookups then $4 each after that

[dbaker]

On 2001-09-23 05:16, RyJones wrote:
I would perhaps pay on a per-lookup basis, say, $20 a year for 5 lookups then $4 each after that

Check out the software that he references. The nature of it is that it is generally not available on a per-lookup basis.

[dbaker]

On 2001-09-23 05:16, RyJones wrote:
I would perhaps pay on a per-lookup basis, say, $20 a year for 5 lookups then $4 each after that

Check out the software that he references. The nature of it is that it is generally not available on a per-lookup basis.

[chodson]

What kind of price range are we talking about for the comercial version of webtrax?

By the way, there seem to be a number of sites using webtrax that can be used, but I assume you want control of the program.

Personally, I would pay ~$50/yr

[chodson]

What kind of price range are we talking about for the comercial version of webtrax?

By the way, there seem to be a number of sites using webtrax that can be used, but I assume you want control of the program.

Personally, I would pay ~$50/yr

[chodson]

Of course, this assumes that it covers international flights

[chodson]

Of course, this assumes that it covers international flights

[RyJones]

Ah I was confusing it with the flight status applet I've seen, you're right, I didn't click on the links first.

I would probably pay $10 a month for something like this.

On 2001-09-23 05:48, dbaker wrote:
Check out the software that he references. The nature of it is that it is generally not available on a per-lookup basis.

[RyJones]

Ah I was confusing it with the flight status applet I've seen, you're right, I didn't click on the links first.

I would probably pay $10 a month for something like this.

On 2001-09-23 05:48, dbaker wrote:
Check out the software that he references. The nature of it is that it is generally not available on a per-lookup basis.

[RyJones]

Here is how a per-lookup model could work. For the monthly fee of $10, you get Class A airspace and 1 Class B (or one Center... IE Seattle Center). Say your home B is SEA, and you're flying to SFO, LAX, DFW, SEA. You pay $2 a day to get SFO, LAX, and DFW class B. Then, as you lookup those B's, your clock starts ticking on the day you bought. How about that?

[RyJones]

Here is how a per-lookup model could work. For the monthly fee of $10, you get Class A airspace and 1 Class B (or one Center... IE Seattle Center). Say your home B is SEA, and you're flying to SFO, LAX, DFW, SEA. You pay $2 a day to get SFO, LAX, and DFW class B. Then, as you lookup those B's, your clock starts ticking on the day you bought. How about that?

[Nugget]

"normal" pricing for FlyteTrax runs $600/year for a single workstation license for FlyteTrax Express and $2028/year or $169/month for the full FlyteTrax 2001 package.

I hadn't considered a model which only gave me a single region or zone. Not sure if I'd be interested in that, my use of the software has thus far been more exploratory and wandering than more focused or goal-oriented usage than I'd expect a geographically-limited license to appeal to.

Paul Followell mentioned to me that FlightExplorer does have a hobbyist rate, perhaps he'll post the details on that.

[Nugget]

"normal" pricing for FlyteTrax runs $600/year for a single workstation license for FlyteTrax Express and $2028/year or $169/month for the full FlyteTrax 2001 package.

I hadn't considered a model which only gave me a single region or zone. Not sure if I'd be interested in that, my use of the software has thus far been more exploratory and wandering than more focused or goal-oriented usage than I'd expect a geographically-limited license to appeal to.

Paul Followell mentioned to me that FlightExplorer does have a hobbyist rate, perhaps he'll post the details on that.

[paul]

http://www.avweb.com/sponsors/fe/index.html

I pay $9.95 a month for 10 hours. The only things I don't get are weather and flight plan overlays. You can download the latest version and play with it using static data that is included with it. If you decide you want real data, just register on their site, and put your username and password into FlightExplorer next time you run it.

Paul

[paul]

http://www.avweb.com/sponsors/fe/index.html

I pay $9.95 a month for 10 hours. The only things I don't get are weather and flight plan overlays. You can download the latest version and play with it using static data that is included with it. If you decide you want real data, just register on their site, and put your username and password into FlightExplorer next time you run it.

Paul

[Nugget]

For what it's worth, I sent an email off to the flytecomm folks and they indicated that they're watching this thread for feedback as they pursue this subject.

Perhaps we can even entice them to participate here in the forums. [img]/forums/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[Nugget]

For what it's worth, I sent an email off to the flytecomm folks and they indicated that they're watching this thread for feedback as they pursue this subject.

Perhaps we can even entice them to participate here in the forums. [img]/forums/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]