Map makers looking for host?

[dorpond]

Hello my good friends at RPTOOLS.

I am not sure where you stand with your dreams and direction but this conversation may appeal to you.

The user base at Dundjinni.com are looking for a place where they can host larger maps that are made by the user community. The problem with Dundjinni's boards is that they limit the size and the user base wants to break free from that limitation. (I think that is what they are wanting to do)

The conversation is here:
http://www.dundjinni.com/forums/forum_p ... =3083&PN=1

Trevor, I know you want users to upload stuff to the gallery. In the snap of a finger, you could very well have a large community using your gallery to host great maps.

Not only could it bring map makers here but it could also get them using your great tools! Plus we all get great maps to use!

[trevor]

Which would be really cool

Unfortunately bandwidth and space costs money. Let me communicate with our host and see what it would cost to increase our limits a bit.

[dorpond]

Just thought I'd throw it out there. Always try to help anyway I can. Not helping too much though if it costs you more money

Hey, what are your current limits now? Just curious.

[trevor]

20g transfer, 800m space

Over the last two months we've gone up from 2g to 3g transfer. We're at 300m space.

So, we have room to grow, but I'm not sure how it would hold up to hosting a community of large files

[Vry]

I don't think any sort of widescale map hosting will work with only 20Gig. There've been times when my little site has used over a gig a day for just 30-something maps.

Can't even imagine how much Steel Rat's site must be using.

[Steel Rat]

My site isn't using much at all, about 650 meg so far.

i pay for a dedicated server, two 80 gig drives, and 1.2 terabytes bandwidth each direction monthly. i have more than enough space and bandwidth to handle it, and the offer's been out there for a long time, but no one has uploaded a single map. I currently allow uploads up to 4mb, but can easily up that to 6 or even 10 if need be.

I do like the option in Gallery2 (the software being used here) that scales down the images, but gives you the option to view the full-sized image as well. I don't think 4Images has that, which means larger images tend to distort the web page greatly. Though this is what happens on DJ's site currently.

I could certainly start up another site just for maps...

[trevor]

Get more cross-site promotions going on, that would be pretty cool

[Steel Rat]

one option I am considering is setting up a Drupal site. Drupal has a lot of mods, is a free, wiki-like content management system, has forums built in (not terribly robust forums, but forums nonetheless.)

I could advertise this as THE map-collaboration site. The Acid-Free image gallery has some good features, unfortunately adding to a cart or tagging files to download isn't one of them. But we're talking about map images here anyway, I don't think people will be likely to just tag them all and download them, they're usually looking for a specific type for their setting(s).

If there is interest I can setup a sample site to be tried out.

[trevor]

one option I am considering is setting up a Drupal site. Drupal has a lot of mods, is a free, wiki-like content management system, has forums built in (not terribly robust forums, but forums nonetheless.)

I could advertise this as THE map-collaboration site. The Acid-Free image gallery has some good features, unfortunately adding to a cart or tagging files to download isn't one of them. But we're talking about map images here anyway, I don't think people will be likely to just tag them all and download them, they're usually looking for a specific type for their setting(s).

If there is interest I can setup a sample site to be tried out.

I'd certainly support it, and would direct people there.

That's a lot of bandwidth you have, who is your host ?

[Steel Rat]

I'd certainly support it, and would direct people there.

That's a lot of bandwidth you have, who is your host ?

Hostdime.com. They've been pretty good, as far as hosting goes. I pay a lot though, and having a dedicated server essentially makes me a reseller, which is why there is a lot of bandwidth.

[brisingre]

steel rat, you maybe should put up a permalink from your gallery on rptools to your site, although I am not sure exactly what a permalink is...

[Steel Rat]

steel rat, you maybe should put up a permalink from your gallery on rptools to your site, although I am not sure exactly what a permalink is...

It's already in the links section, and always in my signature.

[trevor]

Update:

Found out that my host had changed the amounts for my account type, but didn't update my account. So I got that updated, I now have 5g space and 50g transfers.

Steel Rat still has the best hosting option, and I'm all for that but if that doesn't work out we might be able to figure something else out

[Steel Rat]

I'll go ahead and setup the Drupal site this evening with the AcidFree image gallery and see how it's received.

i'll set it up with some pre-defined albums for maps only. Need to get a domain name so it's got it's own character instead of hanging it off something else. Any ideas for domain names? Mapquest is already take

[trevor]

I'll go ahead and setup the Drupal site this evening with the AcidFree image gallery and see how it's received.

i'll set it up with some pre-defined albums for maps only. Need to get a domain name so it's got it's own character instead of hanging it off something else. Any ideas for domain names? Mapquest is already take

heh

Some ideas for brainstorming (too lazy to look them up in whois):

rpgmaps (taken, but not in use)
rpmaps
rpgmapscentral
gamemapcentral
gamemapsource
ultimaterpgmaps
urpgmaps
ultimategamemaps
mapstop
mappershaven
rpmappershaven


I kinda like rpmaps and mapstop (short names are good)