Where to post ideas/feature requests?

[xelepart]

Hey Roadtrip America people!

I've started playing around with the RTA Map/RT tools (Map Center/Wizard) - it seems like a nice tool. However, before I put the tens/hundreds of hours into using it for my road trips, I had a number of questions and ideas for possible future enhancements. And I was wondering where the right place to ask general questions, or post feature requests is?

I'm guessing this is the right place for general questions, at least, so I'll list some here for now. :)

1. Where do I post feature requests?

2. How much effort is going into improving the tool? (Is it open source? How many full time developers are working on it? (I'm guessing like 10% of a web developer? :) How often are new features implemented? And on what timescale? Days, weeks, months? )

3. Is there any possibility of users donating time to help improve the code/add features? (I'm a software developer, and am on the verge of writing my own tools for this exact purpose at this point... :) )

4. How secure is the RTA database? Is it backed up? I am worried about putting 200 hours into my Custom Places, then to log in one day and have them all missing with a "we updated the site!" note... :)

5. Or worse, to visit the site one day only to see "RTA is shutting down, sorry!" and losing all my data - is there any way to back up/save my Custom Places and Maps to my local machine, just in case of such an emergency?

6. Is there currently, or are there plans to develop, an iphone or android app that accesses the RTA Map data? During a roadtrip, smart phones are much easier to use for this. It could even have the GPS integration!

Thanks,

-xelepart

[Mark Sedenquist]

And I was wondering where the right place to ask general questions, or post feature requests is?

This is the correct place to ask your questions. And post feature requests.

2. How much effort is going into improving the tool?

The RTA Custom Mapping Tools are not open source, however we've used the Google Maps API as the platform. New features and/or updates are done on a continuing basis. In the three months following the beta launch in December, new updates/features were being made every 3-4 days. The current pace is now about once a week.

3. Is there any possibility of users donating time to help improve the code/add features? (I'm a software developer, and am on the verge of writing my own tools for this exact purpose at this point... :) )

Anything is possible, I suggest you contact me here.

4. How secure is the RTA database? Is it backed up?

Very secure. Backed up every 24 hours. RTA has been online since February 15, 1996. Our security procedures are sound.

I am worried about putting 200 hours into my Custom Places, then to log in one day and have them all missing with a "we updated the site!" note... :)

Unless someone nukes the secure building where our servers are housed, the entire RTA site will be live. After 15+ years, we've weathered more Internet storms than most...RTA was publishing daily articles nearly two years before Google.com was conceived. We're not going anywhere.

5. Or worse, to visit the site one day only to see "RTA is shutting down, sorry!" and losing all my data - is there any way to back up/save my Custom Places and Maps to my local machine, just in case of such an emergency?

Not that I'm aware of.

6. Is there currently, or are there plans to develop, an iphone or android app that accesses the RTA Map data? During a roadtrip, smart phones are much easier to use for this. It could even have the GPS integration!

We're always looking at other deployment vehicles for our products and road trip planning services. Ideally, a successful smart phone developer will joint venture such a project with us.

Looking forward to your suggestions.

Mark
RTA Custom Map Support