Ask HN: Where to take it next? Flight tracking side project
flightlite.com
Flightlite is a visual flight tracker combining 3D and overhead views and flight information.
It is my first launch since I started reading Hacker News and was developed as a side project for the past 6 months or so. I made the final push on it this morning to get it to a semi-launchable state.
- The best coverage is US and UK - Sometimes the data I get is a bit crazy, I've spent a lot of time working on ways to automatically correct it/sanitise but it's not perfect - Doesn't work in IE 64bit due to Google Earth not being available on that platform
As a commercial aviation enthusiast I found other flight trackers to be a bit lacking. Their route visualisations weren't very exciting and the maps tended to be boxed into a small portion of the total page area.
I'm now trying to work out how to take this further, if there is anywhere to take it that is!
The data feeds are paid for per transaction and I can't subsidise that out of my own pocket for any serious level of traffic. I'm also concerned that classic CPC advertising won't cover the costs of the data, hosting, and bandwidth to run the site.
So i'm wondering about the possibility of either co-branding with a sponsor or selling unit space for specific routes (think of Air New Zealand branding on the pages when people are tracking any of their flights for example).
Does anyone have any ideas or ties into the relevant industries that thinks this could be a goer in some way?
My ideal situation is that it produces enough money to cover its costs and justify me continuing to developing it by adding more/better data feeds and extending the feature set.