4 ms·

Tell HN: The Free Version of My GPS iPhone App Came Out Today (Gaia GPS Lite)

14 points by andrewljohnson 17y ago

JMiao 17y ago
i was foolish enough to expect this would take me to a product page on apple.com
- Timothee 17y ago
  The thing is that there is no such thing as a product page on apple.com for anything that is sold on the iTMS. The itunes.apple.com/... should be a give-away by now.
- gojomo 17y ago
  No affilaition, but I just came across this app-store web gateway and thought I'd pass it along: http://app-store.appspot.com/?url=viewSoftware%3Fid%3D333273242%26mt%3D8%26ign-impt%3DclickRef%253Dcom.apple.jingle.app.store.xml.MXAutoSourcedGenrePage-US-Lockup_r1c1 http://app-store.appspot.com/?url=viewSoftware%3Fid%3D333273...
andrewljohnson 17y ago
I posted the paid version a month or so ago, and a lot of HN folks downloaded it, so I thought I'd post the Lite version too. A download would be much appreciated, and a rating or review would be doubly appreciated: https://userpub.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZUserPublishing.woa/wa/addUserReview?id=333273242&type=Purple+Software https://userpub.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZUserPublishing... Thanks for all your support everyone! For those of you with Gaia GPS, 2.0 is coming out soon, and includes GPX imports among other stuff. Here's a link to our website too: http://www.gaiagps.com http://www.gaiagps.com
rwrice2r 17y ago
This app is awesome! We are using it all the time. Thanks for the good work and keep it coming!
- andrewljohnson 17y ago
  Thanks Russell :)
maura777 17y ago
This is the best app I have used in a LONG time! Keep up the good work!
- huhtenberg 17y ago
  user: maura777 created: 241 days ago karma: 1 comments: 1 Sockpuppet ?
  - andrewljohnson 17y ago
    Just a friend on IM. A bit overzealous :)
    - cscotta 17y ago
      I saw that you also posted this review of your own app (Gaia GPS, $2.99), claiming that you hadn't tried one of the features: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewContentsUserReviews?id=329127297&onlyLatestVersion=true&pageNumber=0&type=Purple+Software http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewConten... andrewljohnson: * * * * * (five stars) "The new version of the app is a nice improvement on the original. I particularly like the map bookmarking button, though I haven't used the driving directions yet. The maps from CloudMade are also an improvement on the OSM maps." What's up with that?
      - andrewljohnson 17y ago
        Of course I review my own app. In addition, my co-founders review the app, my dad rates the app, my investors rate or review the app, and anyone else in the world I can get to rate or review it as well. I don't consider that unethical in the slightest, considering my competitors literally hire PR firms to write reviews for them, and have armies of employees to do the same. I have written on this topic occasionally: http://www.andrewljohnson.com/article/Fixing%20the%20App%20Store%20with%20Measure%20of%20Credibility http://www.andrewljohnson.com/article/Fixing%20the%20App%20S... It's not just that "everyone else is doing it" that makes it OK to do. If you want your star ratings to be in the same league as the rest of the apps on the store, then you have to generate more reviews than your regular users will provide to keep up with everyone else. It's not a matter of OK - it's a matter of survival. I do wish there was more credibility to the reviews on the App Store, but that's just not the way it is. Maybe someday Apple's system won't demand all developers get all their buddies to buy and review their app. It's just absolutely pervasive - go check out some popular apps and see if you can pick out all the fake reviews. The clear giveaways are: 1) has only written one review, or only reviewed the app and competitors 2) references new features in the app 3) badmouths competitors 4) long and rambling. The fake reviews usually have some combination of these. As long as the big guys are paying for reviews, I don't consider it even a little bit unethical to review my own app. Even in my little navigation market, the top app has a company and at least a dozen iPhones - that's a dozen automatic five star reviews. I can't compete on this front, but I can try.
there 17y ago
why does a gps recorder have "frequent/intense mature/suggestive themes" and require that i "must be at least 17 years old to download this application"?
- andrewljohnson 17y ago
  As it turns out, if you have a webview in your app that gives access to like wikipedia or google, you have to have this rating. We found this out the hard way when version 4 of our first app got rejected, after being accepted with the same stuff for several versions.
headShrinker 17y ago
This looks like a nice GPS app. I am currently using instaMapper to record and display my GPS loc on my website http://www.instamapper.com/ext?key=8445164355070808348 http://www.instamapper.com/ext?key=8445164355070808348. I would like a really lightweight app to measure and upload my location to somewhere where I can plug the waypoints in to the google map API. Just a feature idea.
- uuilly 17y ago
  Give accuterra a shot.
hernan7 17y ago
Hi, the link tries to install some app on my (non-existent) iPhone. Is this the app? http://appshopper.com/navigation/gaia-gps-lite http://appshopper.com/navigation/gaia-gps-lite Based on the screenshot, my only nitpick would be that the colors on the compass are a bit too toned down. I would prefer a more colorful "N" at least. Also, did any of the (hopefully) good ideas from http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=880814 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=880814 help in any way?

JMiao 17y ago

i was foolish enough to expect this would take me to a product page on apple.com

Timothee 17y ago
The thing is that there is no such thing as a product page on apple.com for anything that is sold on the iTMS. The itunes.apple.com/... should be a give-away by now.
gojomo 17y ago
No affilaition, but I just came across this app-store web gateway and thought I'd pass it along: http://app-store.appspot.com/?url=viewSoftware%3Fid%3D333273242%26mt%3D8%26ign-impt%3DclickRef%253Dcom.apple.jingle.app.store.xml.MXAutoSourcedGenrePage-US-Lockup_r1c1 http://app-store.appspot.com/?url=viewSoftware%3Fid%3D333273...

I posted the paid version a month or so ago, and a lot of HN folks downloaded it, so I thought I'd post the Lite version too. A download would be much appreciated, and a rating or review would be doubly appreciated: https://userpub.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZUserPublishing.woa/wa/addUserReview?id=333273242&type=Purple+Software https://userpub.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZUserPublishing... Thanks for all your support everyone! For those of you with Gaia GPS, 2.0 is coming out soon, and includes GPX imports among other stuff. Here's a link to our website too: http://www.gaiagps.com http://www.gaiagps.com

rwrice2r 17y ago

This app is awesome! We are using it all the time. Thanks for the good work and keep it coming!

andrewljohnson 17y ago
Thanks Russell :)

maura777 17y ago

This is the best app I have used in a LONG time! Keep up the good work!

huhtenberg 17y ago
user: maura777 created: 241 days ago karma: 1 comments: 1 Sockpuppet ?
- andrewljohnson 17y ago
  Just a friend on IM. A bit overzealous :)
  - cscotta 17y ago
    I saw that you also posted this review of your own app (Gaia GPS, $2.99), claiming that you hadn't tried one of the features: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewContentsUserReviews?id=329127297&onlyLatestVersion=true&pageNumber=0&type=Purple+Software http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewConten... andrewljohnson: * * * * * (five stars) "The new version of the app is a nice improvement on the original. I particularly like the map bookmarking button, though I haven't used the driving directions yet. The maps from CloudMade are also an improvement on the OSM maps." What's up with that?
    - andrewljohnson 17y ago
      Of course I review my own app. In addition, my co-founders review the app, my dad rates the app, my investors rate or review the app, and anyone else in the world I can get to rate or review it as well. I don't consider that unethical in the slightest, considering my competitors literally hire PR firms to write reviews for them, and have armies of employees to do the same. I have written on this topic occasionally: http://www.andrewljohnson.com/article/Fixing%20the%20App%20Store%20with%20Measure%20of%20Credibility http://www.andrewljohnson.com/article/Fixing%20the%20App%20S... It's not just that "everyone else is doing it" that makes it OK to do. If you want your star ratings to be in the same league as the rest of the apps on the store, then you have to generate more reviews than your regular users will provide to keep up with everyone else. It's not a matter of OK - it's a matter of survival. I do wish there was more credibility to the reviews on the App Store, but that's just not the way it is. Maybe someday Apple's system won't demand all developers get all their buddies to buy and review their app. It's just absolutely pervasive - go check out some popular apps and see if you can pick out all the fake reviews. The clear giveaways are: 1) has only written one review, or only reviewed the app and competitors 2) references new features in the app 3) badmouths competitors 4) long and rambling. The fake reviews usually have some combination of these. As long as the big guys are paying for reviews, I don't consider it even a little bit unethical to review my own app. Even in my little navigation market, the top app has a company and at least a dozen iPhones - that's a dozen automatic five star reviews. I can't compete on this front, but I can try.

there 17y ago

why does a gps recorder have "frequent/intense mature/suggestive themes" and require that i "must be at least 17 years old to download this application"?

andrewljohnson 17y ago
As it turns out, if you have a webview in your app that gives access to like wikipedia or google, you have to have this rating. We found this out the hard way when version 4 of our first app got rejected, after being accepted with the same stuff for several versions.

headShrinker 17y ago

This looks like a nice GPS app. I am currently using instaMapper to record and display my GPS loc on my website http://www.instamapper.com/ext?key=8445164355070808348 http://www.instamapper.com/ext?key=8445164355070808348. I would like a really lightweight app to measure and upload my location to somewhere where I can plug the waypoints in to the google map API. Just a feature idea.

uuilly 17y ago
Give accuterra a shot.

hernan7 17y ago

Hi, the link tries to install some app on my (non-existent) iPhone. Is this the app? http://appshopper.com/navigation/gaia-gps-lite http://appshopper.com/navigation/gaia-gps-lite Based on the screenshot, my only nitpick would be that the colors on the compass are a bit too toned down. I would prefer a more colorful "N" at least. Also, did any of the (hopefully) good ideas from http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=880814 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=880814 help in any way?