SURVEY COMMENTS-FUTURE

One person that I consulted felt this might be a sensitive issue for some, despite the privacy question at the beginning, so I have removed all identifying information and scrambled the response order.  There is such a wide variety of responses on this question that I have not tried to provide individual comments, but hope to put out a "future plan" report sometime in, er... , the future. 

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I'd give 10 to 20 times the "small sum" listed, especially if it were tax-deductible, but I don't consider myself "elite." I think of "elite as being in at least 5 figures.

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Per-use fee. e.g. $1 per access.

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BILP Maps are such a great help to soaring piolts across the entire US that I believe the SSA should fund the ETA improvenment. However, I am willing to make a small contribution to this improvement if the SSA will not.

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I would like to see pilots support this, especially ETA versions. However I think raising the money would be tough.

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I don't see "seeking small sums" and "seeking large sums" as mutually exclusive. Also, it was hard to know whether I am a potential "large contributor" since an amount wasn't specified. (I'm good for $500 the first year and at least $100 a year on a continuing basis.) If possible, I'd like to see PASCO or SSA have a place on our annual renewal where we could add a contribution for BLIPMAP since that would make it tax deductible and likely get more donations, but I'd contribute any way. Your work is highly deserving of support.

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RE: last question: If people continue to support the ETA map financially then it can be available to everyone. If people need to be forced to pay to get the feature then restrict the feature to those that value it.

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I wonder if soaring site operators would benefit from posted printouts of either type of blipmap. If an operator could, with some accuracy, look out 48 hours and encourage customers by email or word of mouth of good soaring ahead, the operator might be willing to pay a periodic subscription.

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With notation that availability is depending on voluntary contributions. Provision for ease in making the contribution via credit card should be explored.

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I'm sure you have considered selling ad space. The market would of course be small, but I believe pilots have a lot of affinity for Blipmaps and the service they provide. Thus, I know in my case anyway and unlike most web ads, they would give the advertisers their consideration.

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Fee based web services concept has widely been a failure. This concept almost never works. Unisys is a great example of trying to do this with weather info. Users just will not pay for almost any internet service, especially with so much other wx info available.

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Email ETA BLIPMAPS to contributors, others seekout on web.

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Dr. Jack, I will support your efforts any way I can. I would rank using BLIPMAPS more important than my SSA membership for example. I'd be glad to pay for what you provide. Any reasonable price.

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Another possible method is pay-per-use - more difficult to set up, but potentially more beneficial and easier to solicit funding. This would also create more of a risk to you since the cash would flow only after your effort was invested.

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If you made the ETA-BLIPMAPS to everyone I believe the percentage of those contributing would be reduced significantly.

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I think the above decisions is purely a judgment call on your part. Many are interested but few will pay. I know in our club there are more and more using the blipmaps and most, if not all, become impressed with the accuracy.

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The best of all worlds would be if entities like SSA and USHGA provided funds to support this project. IMO, this would be a much better use of our dues than other "pet" projects (pardon my slipping politics into this discussion!). This should be especially interesting to USHGA as so much of our flying takes place over small scale terrain. As a back-up plan making it a subscription service would be the next logical step and that service should only be available to those paying for it.

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SSA should help fund BlipMaps.... Your work has made soaring meteorology a click of the mouse.....

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I would gladly pay a subscription fee to access premium information. For example, I am happy to pay a $5/month fee to Aeroplanner.com, for Wx info and flight planning related to power flying. I would certainly pay $5/month for BLIPMAP info. Also you might consider advertising sponsors as a revenue source.

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Possibly a registration scheme on the website so non-subrcribers get some kind of 'guilt message' about becoming a xubscriber.

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If the contribution scheme doesn't work, then you may want to consider a premium service for paying registered users which will provide access to addtional information which is not currently evailable.

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National soaring organizations

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I think that small solicitations from many would be best, but would be willing to be a member of the "elite group" if the idea of smaller donations didn't work. Also, it would be best if everyone had access, but realistically this runs into the "free rider" problem, so to get people to pay you might have to limit access to those who pay.

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Depends on what you mean by an "elite" donation -- $50 or so would be comfortable.

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Federal government,endowments for furthering scientific weather research, colleges and universities.

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Unless I'm educated otherwise, simplify the final product as I use just a portion of the items now provided to flight plan. I assume this would save time and money.

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No opinion either way. It's hard to assess the marginal utility of this improvement.

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I would contribute up to $50

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SSA, Sanderson get a pay cut.

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I think the RAOB method of selling it commercially ($100) would work well, or even better. I certainly would prefer BLIPMAP, and would not mind paying for it.

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I think if you are a contributor you get a password and now you can get into the blipmaps, It a GREAT service and you should be paid to keep it runing (Thank you Jack )

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Maybe have the FBO's pay a bit more but then they have a service that may get more customers across the door to stimulate periphial business.

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I don't know how to fund something like this. As soon as you collect money the nature of the beast changes. Its no longer a volunteer's effort. It becomes the purchaser's "right" and he'll be angry when it's down.

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I think you would find that large contrib. would either be pressured/felt it socially approp/or find their own ways to disperse costs. I think best an annual cost for subscription access to additional services. We need to make sure to keep you in business.

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Grant from SSA...? They could cut some other stuff, BLIPMAP is useful for flying gliders...

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Raise money from both small and elite sources. Utalize the huge diferences in income among pilots. I will give some money(don't have a lot). If making it available to supporters only results in raising more money then do it that way. I have no problem sharing something I pay for with others who don't pay as long as it is the best business model for raising funds. A lot of us at Crazy Creek feel that lack of topo sensitivity is a problem for us.

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Whilst forecasts are important in task planning I do not think that the resolution given in an enhanced forecast would change my flight planning. The current crop of forecasts give a good idea how and where to plan a task.

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I'd prefer that larger contributions from an elite group be the primary financial support. Say, eighty to ninety percent of the functionality would be available at no cost to everyone. However, for additional functionality such as historical data, exporting into other programs, or creating user enhanced capability, the user would pay a yearly subscription.

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I would raise the bar to $30 a head. Cheapskates wont spend the money even if its only $10 so you're better off asking slightly more from the people who will actually use it. Once it is developed, non-contributors should pay a small fee for access and to help fund further work.

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It may also be worth seeking a government grant. Obviously that would require that the data be available to everyone.

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Hard question. I well recognize the work that you have put into development and the result, in my opinion, has been the biggest contribution to soaring of this decade. I would definitely like to see ETA-BLIPMAPS and would be willing to contribute a "medium" amount of funds to help. I would also be willing to subscribe and pay a fee (monthly or annual) to use them should you go that direction. The real driver for the decision is how much you need to proceed with the development. If its a few thousand contributions will work if its more and continuing perhaps there is justification for setting up a business to produce and sell the product. Personally, I would be willing to pay up to $100-$150/year for the service.

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Unless you somehow raise TOO MUCH money (!), I think you need to restrict the ETA availability to those who fund it, otherwise you may not get the funds you need to even get the project off the ground. Certainly, if most people can get a free ride, I'm afraid that's what will happen, as much as I hate to say it.

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It is important to allow the dissemination of any new technology because it will provide for external input and potentially broader support. This especially the case now that people are just becoming aware of the models incredible usefulness. With the adoption of small scale Doppler Radar units in ever increasing locations will provide better input data. Speaking of which, there is a company called Sonoma Technology, Inc. that does atmospheric modeling and is involved in setting Doppler units up. They might be a larger contributor to this, since they do bounday layer studies. This is especially the case if they see a value in your "flow model" that would have broader application.

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Figure total costs of service, post amount at website, post note requesting donations to off set costs of service. post link to page with donor list and amounts and keep a running current balance at the main page. people like to donate and they like to see their names on the internet. they also like the fact that their peers can see that they give more than lip service and wouldnt want to be seen as "not on the the list" so to speak.

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I find BLIPMAPs useful and am duly impressed by the effort you have put into its development and in making them widely available, but b/c I can make soaring forecasts without them, I can take them or leave them.

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Have login area for "paid" subscribers. Allow non contributors to sign on as a guest but continually "nag" them about becoming a subscriber.

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I would like to see if I would find it of value before I would be willing to make repeated contributions.

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I would suggest current info for free with fee for access to increased accuracy. Unless you give some info free you lose viewer base and will probably collect less overall. I am not sure how well large donations would work out. Larry

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A contribution in the $50 range would seem reasonable to me.

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I'm not sure if the ETA model would be any better for me (flatlands). I would consider a small contribution.

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a voluntary contribution from all users with with free availabilty to all for a limited period tied in with a password or code. After a X amount of log-ins would only be available to contributors???? Clubs organisations soaring schools etc....

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I think the SAA should support this program and fund it. That may not happen. If not, I am certainly willing to pay and feel the enhanced verson should be only available to those who support it.

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I'm not sure how much a 'small' vs. 'elite' would have to provide which is why I answered small. I think it's a tossup between freely available info and restricted. The info will get out if it's restricted. The info is becoming so widely used, it'd be nice if SSA or perhaps the local groups (i.e., PASCO) where they BLIPMAPs cover could contribute since it's of benefit to the wider audience they support.

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I think the improved topography ETA would be a good step. I am willing to participate as a small contributor. But I do not prefer that as a funding method. I think a combination of funding sources should be sought, including grants. I think the resulting resource should be open to the public.

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For the time spent doing the BLIPMAPS, there should be some compensation. Being the capitalist I am, I would charge everyone for its use.

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The activity of soaring is already too expensive and charging users for a potential safety of flight information isn't wise.

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I would be happy to pay for this service

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I already have my altitude diamond. Here in the flatlands, this feature may not be worth much extra money. On the other hand, it might have saved me a trip to the Colorado wave when I was trying for that diamond.

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Blipmaps should be funded 100% by the SSA - Blipmaps are the only useful program I've ever seen to help soaring.

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I don't have a large amount of money, although if it came down to it I would contribute maybe $250 in cash annually (possibly more if I could convince my wife) to support advances in BLIPMAP.

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Appeal to sailplane racing association. Good at raising 10 20 $ from pilots at contests!

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WRT contributions towards ETA-BLIPMAPS would this be a onetime contribution or an ongoing contribution? I'd be willing to make a one time contibution of a couple hundered dollars but would prefer an smaller fee (annual?) if it was ongoing. This would, of course, need to be spread out over a larger community of users.

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See if the Sailplane racing association might make a contribution

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I don't know the real answers to the funding issue. As noted the ETA-40 model is pretty good and free. Thus, it is hard to say how to do it.... Perhaps on a Club to Club level ??? This might spread the cost over a greater number of folks and could be used as instruction in WX for many different groups of pilots.... I would kind of hate to see more splitting of the soaring community into haves and have nots.....

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Funding is always a hard call. I know i hate banners but maybe that would work.

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(1) This is a valuable service. I would pay for it. I spend over $3,000 per year on direct soaring expenses, so even another $50.00/year would not be unreasonable (2) I hate banner ads, but if you must, I would tolerate them for better info. (besides, they might be for something I am interested in)

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Grant from SSA. Optional fee at time of anual SSA renewal. Agreement with retailers ie. Wings & Wheels, Knauff/Grove etc... who might contribute a portion on sales for funding. Merchandising.

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PayPal contribution would be easiest, I'd think.

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I don't know much about eta. Subscriptions are ok for things of value. How much is large? I'm enthusiastic about Blipmap! You could have trial subscriptions?

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Depending upon what you consider a "large" contributor, I might be willing to be in that category. I really appreciate you providing this service to the soaring community.

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pretend 48 hr forecasts aren't science fiction and keep a straight face while fundraising for them. Or show data showing how incredibly little the 48 hour forecast differs from the eventual 6 hour forecast and the analysis. Put a mailing address on the website and ask for $$$.

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This information is so fundamental to the success of this sport that it should be funded by the SSA.

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I am extreemly skeptical that 48 hour in advance forcasts will be of any practical use. Hence my comment that I don't really favor them. Since I appreciate the effort and research that has gone into the current forecasts I am willing to contribute to whatever research direction you wish to try.

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SSA should fund it.

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Depending upon how much money we are talking about, either individuals or local/regional organizations could be approached for funding. I'm sure PASCO would help with funding.