Very good work Iretia, thumbs up, BUT, your interface needs revamp.
it's like a FrontPage built site, beside the navigation is not too good. When ever you zoom in or out, the whole page reloads. why not make it web 2.0 like so that only that section of the map reloads on the background.

Also the adverts are too cluttered. Your adverts should maintain aspect ratio. i.e an image or company logo should not be shrunked or stretched. it deforms and looses taste. Even your own company logo was shrunked on the solutions page.

Your company's good in the backend and not front end but you know what? Features mean nothing to the user, it's a coherent user experience that matters. Please out source your UI to a good company that can render your interface using web 2.0 like Flex or Ajax. Check out sites like Zenith, Mtn, GTB etc and pick one of their designers and talk to.

Am also thinking if you guys can open up your API, it will help other sites connect and make search using your platform. This means more reach for you cos your adverts on he maps will have more mileage, not just on your site.

It will also be nice if you can port same application to mobile devices like Symbian Series 40 and 60, J2ME and Windows Mobile, leveraging technologies like Flash-Lite, kunerilite etc, as most people will find it needful on the move. I want to search for streets on the road or in my car most likelier than at home or office on the PC, that way it's more handier. You can sell the mobile versions as installable software over-the-air (OTA) and make good money through OEMs or Mobile Operators. Your car device is good, but that will sell to people who are "rich", there are more people down the pyramid who use a Nokia 6300 than those that can afford a 50k for a special navigating device. Why not tap into that pool, even if for just 2k, you'll have hundreds times more sales than those specialized devices.

Kudos! u can go places,
Olumide

What ever goes around comes around. I don't pirate cos I'm a software developer myself and no one pirates my softwares. They are online services though. I bought Adobe CS3 Web premium for N150,000, that's more than the cost of my laptop and am proud I can associate with Adobe and become a certified partner. My point is "Integrity has its values". The funny thing is that people here in Nigeria dont know the cost of software development and what goes into it. A single core MSSQL costs $21,000, that's N3.6m in naira, for your dual core, that'll be N7.2m, but think of it, how come serious business organizations don't opt for mysql which is free?

Opensource is good but when it comes to critical enterprise apps, there's nobody to hold if your system goes down while using opensource. Even google that shouts opensource charges heavily if you plan using their google maps for real heavy work cos it cost money to deliver good at that extent. Quality costs money!

What you can do is what Canopus did to Edius 4: Make a USB dongle, your software wont run till a dongle is plugged. Even while running, major part of your computations and processes are stored on the dongle.

I agree with yawa-ti-de, I think what we need are usergroups like we have in Adobe, msdn etc today.
Maybe from usergroups, the larger association of programmers can then evolve. Usergroups are targeted at specific technologies and exists to foster sharing of ideas and concepts as they evolve.

There 're heap of guys out there that really want to get to know programming but find it decidedly difficult to learn on their own.
I thank God for myself cos am self taught but some still have to be taught and will very much be willing to assist them. I own www.flexcubed.com and www.lumzy.com (still in beta) and have made a living out of it with over 2,500 paying clients across the world in 3 years. I have made friends in almost all the countries of the world today albeit I've only traveled once.
I wish to share same knowledge with other Nigerians, the only fear is that people tend to want to learn cos of the money but you'll never be good if money is the primary purpose of learning. I think a Usergroup will proofer better opportunity and platform to share knowledge and assist other people, telling them that instead of fraud, they can make good money and be valuable to the world.

Am a Professional Actionscript programmer. AS2, AS3 and Flash Lite.
I major in Flash, Flex and AIR Components and have worked with Adobe on Flash Player 9.
I reside in Lagos Nigeria.

Olumide

Interesting.
I pray people see Bush in a better light later on in the years to come.
We can all chat and comment; Americans can all point hands and cry out loud but none, not even obama knows what it feels like, being the commander-in-chief in a primary school playing with kids and next thing is news of a series of planes hitting buildings without even knowing which is next.
Thousands of people dead and they all look to you for succor and a promise that it will never happen again.

Only test can prove the character of a man, not his words.

A guy once commented on Lindsay's site that none of you have seen what it means when a little Iraqi boy's face turns from frown to smile when a US army hands him a pack of meal. Cnn will never show that but he has seen numerous of such because he's that army.
Sadam has innumerable number of underground gas chambers used to extinguish people arbitrarily, women and children inclusive, God knows how many have been killed with this and how many would have been if 4000 american soldiers had not sacrificed their lives to end this.

We can all sit on cousy chairs, watch cnn and comment on the web, but let me say the real heroes are those on the hot seats.

Interesting.
I pray people see Bush in a better light later on in the years to come.
We can all chat and comment; Americans can all point hands and cry out loud but none, not even obama knows what it feels like, being the commander-in-chief in a primary school playing with kids and next thing is news of a series of planes hitting buildings without even knowing which is next.
Thousands of people dead and they all look to you for succor and a promise that it will never happen again.

Only test can prove the character of a man, not his words.

A guy once commented on Lindsay's site that none of you have seen what it means when a little Iraqi boy's face turns from frown to smile when a US army hands him a pack of meal. Cnn will never show that but he has seen numerous of such because he's that army.
Sadam has innumerable number of underground gas chambers used to extinguish people arbitrarily, women and children inclusive, God knows how many have been killed with this and how many would have been if 4000 american soldiers had not sacrificed their lives to end this.

We can all sit on cousy chairs, watch cnn and comment on the web, but let me say the real heroes are those on the hot seats.

I like Nokia so much cos they represent quality! the only cons i have with them is their OS, why cant they explore other OSes rather than sticking with that Symbian stuff?

Sony Erricsson, Samsung, HTC and the rest are developing on other platforms like Windows Mobile and HTC even on Google's Android. it opens up the phone and a lot other people can develop apps and tweak the OS to do much more.

For instance, I had a Treo last year based on WindowsMobile and wrote an app that converts the infrared into a universal programmable remote control, downloaded another app that turned my screen into a sketch pad for the pc, a lot cos you have direct access to the hardware at a base level through the OS.

I've used so many Oses and have come to like WindowsMobile so much cos of the context menu (like right click) on the screen to get more menus, it helps with navigation, copy/paste, undo/redo etc. Palm lacks a lot of these and so does iPhone but am not sure of symbian since this is the first touchscreen symbian 5th edition. anyway, am sticking wif ma Touch Cruise in the mean time.

@kulzoid4u

It's great what TB joshua is doing, but much more, Fashola is a great giver too and a silent one I assure you.
Go to mbonu ojike in surulere and you'll see Fashola's orphanage, he does not hand out cash, he builds lives that'll build others.
If you know how much it costs to run an orphanage monthly and run that into years, you'll appreciate God for his life.

@kulzoid4u

Sorry man, hope you were not affected! sad though but what you have to understand is that to make the state better, some people have to suffer, mostly those that took the back door to get things done. In my area, a lot of shops were demolished, parks recovered etc etc they are properties gotten by bribing local gov officials who can even sell the roads if not checked.
It's a simple lesson. Do things well and right and you will not be affected. Then if the government tramps on you, you can take them to court but you'll find out that none of the affected guys have the guts to face the government not cos of fear but of shame. Things were not done rightly from the beginning.

For me, Fashola is great and is doing things well, the way things ought to be.

uspry1:

@michal3l

I don't buy commercial Flash components as well as commercial pre-made Flash files that are created by someone else (Flash developers to sell) for me to create dynamic flash sites. Why should i wasted obtaining my Visual Communications bachelor degree I learned lot about Flash actionscripting, other web programmings including graphic design, color theory, design principles, etc for?

I rather use free pre-made/giveway raw Flash files from my registered membership of Flash-kit.com, actionscripts.org, flzone.com, and many other flash actionscript sites based on the advanced/professional Flash application developments books/e-books/online subscriptions I bought during schooling time in order to obtain my bachelor degree for US job requirements.

Do you know that your Flash CS3 has several built-in pre-made templates that is ready to use? Like AS3 slideshow template i used for my client when i cannot afford to buy PowerPoint-FLV converter or vice versa in order to upload their website or youtube video.

Go Google.com finding that there are so many free Flash actionscripting tutorials and giveaways that allow you to modify at your own for FREE from those Flash developers gave away useless Flash files.

Also clients who hired me for actionscripting/modification job that they already bought pre-made Flash files such as Flash-XML MP3 player, Flash-XML video player, Flash-XML banner rotator, Flash-XML image slideshow/gallery, etc. where they do not know nothing about how to populate XML, or/and PHP-MySQL code to be modified or added loading images, audio, video files to the pre-made Flash files. Even they did not know about the requirement of use Flash CS3 for modification. That's where I come in.

Also clients do not have Video-FLV converter or encoder software in order to import them to those pre-made Flash-XML video player.

Finally, you are very funny that i get the sleepless nights doing coding! Don't forget that i have 8 years web development experience know how to employ actions/behaviors resulting in Flash actionscript, PHP, XML, and MySQL using my FAVORITE FLASH COMPONENTS to populate external files, no problem. It takes 1-2 days depend on how many images/video/music files client send me via email file attachment or zipped or CD/DVD disc.

I always REUSED those customized Flash files i create for clients all the time. (resize, font/color/layout modification based on what client want---not me).

Interesting post. Let me say there are times you really need components. I run flexcubed.com and developed all the components there and even some for major flash components sites out there but I still spent over $400 buying animation components from jumpeye this year. Please visit their site and tell me how many months development time it will take you to come up with a textEffect component as that. Components today doesnt me lack of personalization, it simply means more functionality in lesser time. It doesnt mean you cant do it, it means it will take you longer.

Anyway great to have some nigerian AS guys, I develop on both flash and flex.