A lot of people here use Ride with GPS, so I thought this might be interesting to at least a few people, especially those who, like me, have an interest in software.

Cullen King, the founder and CTO of Ride with GPS, left a comment today on another web forum I read, Hacker News, describing in some detail the technology his company uses to run their website and app. What I found especially interesting were the dollar amounts he lists for the tech. He wrote the comment in response to someone who wrote that $10 a month was too much for a service like Ride with GPS:

Link to his comment

Thanks for the link Jeff. Although I don't have any interest in the nuts and bolts behind the RWGPS, I found King's responses informative. I do use the program regularly and have had a premium subscription for a number of years, which seems worthwhile based on my extensive use. I've also contacted their support team on a number of occasions and their responses have always been timely and satisfactory. 

That was interesting, Jeff. Most of it was too in the weeds for me but it was easy to get the gist of what he was saying. Thanks for posting the link. 

Like Susan, I’m a pretty satisfied RWGPS customer and have also been a long-time subscriber. 

Thanks for posting this Jeff. As a former techie, I too find all this very interesting. I  tend to think not so much about cost as about the system resources necessary to support it all, as well as the technical implementation. I spent a couple years teaching database design, so whenever I use a service I can't help thinking about what their database structure might look like. 

Thank you for that information. Most of it was over my head, but I do recognize dollar signs. There were plenty! I was such an early subscriber to RWGPS that they gave me a lifetime premium subscription for contributing $50.?  $100.? I don't even remember the amount. I've felt guilty about that on occasion. It's one of the few donations I've made in my life that's really paid off in spades. 

I post photos to my daily rides. Looking for something interesting to include with my saved ride each day is a fun activity. Now I'm wondering if I"m being frivolous, as Cullen specifically mentions the cost of photo storage.

I'm still an active software developer, so of course I'm interested in the technical implementation, but I think I'm even more intrigued by a software business revealing their real costs, just because I run a (pretty small) software business myself, and I have to keep a tight focus on my own server costs, etc. in order to keep making the margins I want.

I thought it was interesting that his company is still focused enough on being efficient that they buy some hardware from eBay to get good deals.

And the reveal that their average Google Maps bill is $20,000 a month is interesting to me, because even for a small business like mine, with a tiny mapping need, Google Maps' cheapest tier was way, way too expensive. So I went with Bing Maps, whose free tier was more than I need (so far anyway.)

Hi Jeff, re cost of Google maps, do you know what mapping system is used by Open Cycle Map?

For the record I also pay for a premium RideWithGPS subscription.

It uses OpenStreetMap I believe.

Thank you Jeff.

I am a new user to RWGPS and the UK monthly £9.99 charge feels expensive - but wait.  A paper chart of the area I am next cycling in costs more than that, and has much much less detail and information.  The paper chart is also dated while the mapping used by RWGPS will be more recent and current.  I still have concerns on relying on GPS systems (the most likely point of failure being at my end) so I will still take a chart and compass with me!