Computer nerds

[HoleInTheRoof]

I started going back to school to get a 2nd bachelors, this time in Business Admin.

I'm taking a class where we were put in a group, and we have to propose a new business.

The other people in my group decided to propose a business that photographed and took virtual tours of golf courses, from each hole. Not what I would've went with, but I was out voted.

At any rate, we're trying to determine what kind of server we'd need, if we'd even need one, and how we could transfer the pictures (3-5 pics per hole) to non-local resorts.

I'm thinking we wont need one as we're already planning on using a web hosting company to host the website.

Any help would be appreciated . . . because I really don't feel like doing the research myself. I'd rather argue about Crayton.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Just get a hosted site that way you don't have to deal with hardware. You shouldn't deal with hardware until your requirements demand that you do.

You can host pictures or full video with a hosted site.

 

[HoleInTheRoof]

Just get a hosted site that way you don't have to deal with hardware. You shouldn't deal with hardware until your requirements demand that you do.

You can host pictures or full video with a hosted site.

Okay, assuming we took approximately 54-90 pictures per golf course, how much server space should we request on the web server?

 

[YosemiteSam]

Okay, assuming we took approximately 54-90 pictures per golf course, how much server space should we request on the web server?

That can depend on the size of the pictures themselves and how many golf courses.

The best thing about hosting services is many times you can just call and say, "I need more space" and they will give it to you for a few more dollars.

Basically, take all your pictures, total up the size of them all and then request at least 50% more space for growth and other things.

 

[Dallas]

Okay, assuming we took approximately 54-90 pictures per golf course, how much server space should we request on the web server?

Regardless the resolution you are using for your images, you shouldn't have a problem w/ any hosted site as far as space. I would get something in the 30gig range and try to keep those tiffs or jpgs 1680+ for good quality.

Just FTP everything up to it. Easy Peasy.

As a matter of fact..I would create jpgs from my tiffs then upload them.

 

[YosemiteSam]

btw, I've found drive space generally the most underestimated thing about infrastructure.

Most people look at todays use and move forward. Buy a 1TB drive cause you have 250GB of data. One and a half years later, you're scrambling for more space.

In a hosting site, it isn't quite as bad since you can usually request more and they generally have plenty to spare. I'm talking about when you are holding the actual hardware.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Regardless the resolution you are using for your images, you shouldn't have a problem w/ any hosted site as far as space. I would get something in the 30gig range and try to keep those tiffs or jpgs 1680+ for good quality.

Just FTP everything up to it. Easy Peasy.

As a matter of fact..I would create jpgs from my tiffs then upload them.

How dare you not use png format over jpeg! :yousuck:

 

[Dallas]

How dare you not use png format over jpeg! :yousuck:

It doesnt support print graphics hence WHY we ignore it.

Most of our maps and land updated images from our carto's need CMYK.

 

[dback]

It doesnt support print graphics hence WHY we ignore it.

Most of our maps and land updated images from our carto's need CMYK.

I worked at TxDOT for a summer and I had to help scale down a billboard image photo (TIFF) to poster size for publication. I remember the CMYK nightmares. Then when we thought we had it correct, the printer wouldn't support the dimensions. Arghhhh. Something that would take 30 seconds with a jpeg on a home printer would take hours to prepare for professional publication.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

You know you're a nerd like nyc when someone asks for help calling you a nerd, and you jump right into it.

 

[big dog cowboy]

You know you're a nerd like nyc when someone asks for help calling you a nerd, and you jump right into it.

 

[Kangaroo]

Also some sites have bandwith usage fees so how many hits are you getting can cost extra so look at all the plans out there and also be careful of small companies they pop up and disappear all the time due to money issues.

Bandwith and space are your two biggest factors when having a hosting company.

Also are you going to build your web site and if not you will need a developer are you relying on adds or charging to access the sites. The more complicated the site the better the developer you want.

Also if you are going to due credit card transaction you will need a SSL certificate that will run you about 400-500 dollars for a two year certificate

So there are a lot more issues domain name can cost $10 on up depending on the name

Then you have to look at cost for Search Engine Optimization so they find you and get you are the few first page you can do this your self and it can also cost you quite a bit of money

There can be even more cost and hosting your own server gets more complicated because you need dns static Ip's etc

 

[67CowboysFan]

I started going back to school to get a 2nd bachelors, this time in Business Admin.

I'm taking a class where we were put in a group, and we have to propose a new business.

The other people in my group decided to propose a business that photographed and took virtual tours of golf courses, from each hole. Not what I would've went with, but I was out voted.

At any rate, we're trying to determine what kind of server we'd need, if we'd even need one, and how we could transfer the pictures (3-5 pics per hole) to non-local resorts.

I'm thinking we wont need one as we're already planning on using a web hosting company to host the website.

Any help would be appreciated . . . because I really don't feel like doing the research myself. I'd rather argue about Crayton.

I'm not sure I understand what you are asking there. transfer to non-local resorts?

If you are going to host this on a public domain, a virtual hosting account should work just fine since I doubt you are going to have tons of traffic.

File sizes of your images will depend on size and what you use to resize the images (it does make a difference). Just a guess you can count on 65-100kb per image file space unless you are going to have huge full screen sized images.

I'd recommend using a virtual acct. that uses apache os and the latest version of php. (5.2 is the latest I think).

Hosting accounts should come with a stats program. If yours does not come with awstats, I'd suggest using google analytics too.

Depending on what script you plan on using for your virtual tour, you might also need to have a mysql database added. That should come with your hosting but check with your hosting company first if you are going to need on to make sure they provide that at no extra cost. Also, ask to see some of the sites that they host that use mysql on the same type of hosting you are going to use. Some have mysql servers that are way overloaded and the sites run very slow.

Search engine optimization: Ask if you need help with this or keyword research. I can teach you the basics of both in under an hour.

If you are going to handle any type of monetary transactions on the site, paypal is an option to consider due to it's low cost. There are a few free shopping cart scripts out there that can be set up on your site.

If I forgot anything ask. I'll do my best to get you an answer.

 

[SaltwaterServr]

I started going back to school to get a 2nd bachelors, this time in Business Admin.

I'm taking a class where we were put in a group, and we have to propose a new business.

The other people in my group decided to propose a business that photographed and took virtual tours of golf courses, from each hole. Not what I would've went with, but I was out voted.

At any rate, we're trying to determine what kind of server we'd need, if we'd even need one, and how we could transfer the pictures (3-5 pics per hole) to non-local resorts.

I'm thinking we wont need one as we're already planning on using a web hosting company to host the website.

Any help would be appreciated . . . because I really don't feel like doing the research myself. I'd rather argue about Crayton.

Did you outsource the photography? Are the tours full spherical or donut tours? What kind of interface are you using for the tours?

I dabbled in this for a while during my now hibernating real estate career. The really high end tours take full spheres from every square foot and allow you to see from any point in a room or area. I was working with TourWeaver and PanoWeaver, but I'm not sure what versions they are up to now. Around $1200 for the both of them.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if there wasn't already a company doing this.

 

[67CowboysFan]

Did you outsource the photography? Are the tours full spherical or donut tours? What kind of interface are you using for the tours?

I dabbled in this for a while during my now hibernating real estate career. The really high end tours take full spheres from every square foot and allow you to see from any point in a room or area. I was working with TourWeaver and PanoWeaver, but I'm not sure what versions they are up to now. Around $1200 for the both of them.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if there wasn't already a company doing this.

Never under estimate the power of wordpress themes to handle a real estate site. There are affordable plugins to handle virtual tours too.

I just did a quick search and found this one for free. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/great-real-estate/
I haven't tried it so not sure how well it works.

 

[YosemiteSam]

You know you're a nerd like nyc when someone asks for help calling you a nerd, and you jump right into it.

Nah. I'm not a nerd and a nerd wasn't necessarily what he was looking for. A geek is the proper term.

 

[HoleInTheRoof]

To be clear, a nerd is anyone who knows more than me.


Thanks for a lot of the information provided thus far. I have another question:

This is supposed to be B2B. The idea being we take the photos, upload them on the server, and each respective course can download them and put them on their site as they see fit.

My question is, if we went with a web hosting company (Go daddy, for example), how would be go about transferring the pictures to the company while at the same time keeping them private from others. In other words, are you able to get access codes that we could give to each course that would allow them to access their respective photos from the web server?

 

[YosemiteSam]

To be clear, a nerd is anyone who knows more than me.


Thanks for a lot of the information provided thus far. I have another question:

This is supposed to be B2B. The idea being we take the photos, upload them on the server, and each respective course can download them and put them on their site as they see fit.

My question is, if we went with a web hosting company (Go daddy, for example), how would be go about transferring the pictures to the company while at the same time keeping them private from others. In other words, are you able to get access codes that we could give to each course that would allow them to access their respective photos from the web server?

Several different ways, but first and foremost. This sounds like something you are supposed to be figuring out as part of the project!

No cheating!

 

[HoleInTheRoof]

Several different ways, but first and foremost. This sounds like something you are supposed to be figuring out as part of the project!

No cheating!

It's called utilizing my resources.



To be honest, I really have no interest in learning this. The business idea sucks (IMO). And I just got a pretty decent job, so I'll likely stop taking classes when the semester is over.

 

[YosemiteSam]

It's called utilizing my resources.



To be honest, I really have no interest in learning this. The business idea sucks (IMO). And I just got a pretty decent job, so I'll likely stop taking classes when the semester is over.

What are you writing the backend in? You can use that to send the files without allowing direct access to files in the directory. Even then you could use htaccess to limit who can access the files.