Hi.

I would really be interested in developing such a beast if other developers are also interested. I do have loose connections to a company that already implemented such a thing (for psion handhelds) and to a company that provides the needed maps to many nav system producers (amoung them Blaupunkt and the above company). I also have (little to intermediate) experience in unix/linux developments and more experience in C++ (sad but true, mostly under windows).

So if any other developers would be interested in developing such a thing, which would be a commercial product, at least as much as the needed maps are concerned. I don´t have any problem with releasing the source under GPL or any other more or less free license, but the maps are (expensive) payware, so we would have to sell those or rely on a (yet to find) provider for maps of a known format.
A note on estimated volume of such a project: A reliable nav system is usually estimated to be a project of about 10-20 man-years, so I estimate that a minimum of 20 developers is needed to be able to develop that beast in a not too long time (1-2 years).
Anybody interested in developing that system is welcome to mail me. Any possible sponsor is welcome, too. I won´t accept any money though until enough developers are available. Money provided by the sponsors would be used to do the pre-financing of the maps (you get that maps in a rather "raw" format you have to work on) and (if enough funds are raised) to hire one or two developers that do the coordination and merging of the sub-projects. I envision each
developer doing their own sub-projects that range from single functions to complex modules (map conversion/reading, voice sampling). I myself would not accept/get any money until the project is finished (if the software itself gets sold) or not at all (if the software is release under some freeware/GPL license, which I would prefer as it would make life a lot easier).


cu,
sven