The map will be dynamic — when we have resources we can free up to work on it! Trust us, we want it more than anyone. 
We just are a small company and have a lot of things going on
3 Likes
Awesome, thanks for the response! I apologize if I came across as demanding or ungrateful.
2 Likes
Absolutely not! Keep the ideas coming. I wish we could only move faster — truly!
2 Likes
[Edited to ensure compliance with community guidelines]
Following the discussion above:
I am VERY doubtful that the gotenna permanent relay nodes I placed in Puerto Rico and the Gulf Coast during last year’s hurricanes (and placed on imeshyou map) are still operational (even with solar and huge batteries). But, because my account was deleted by mods… I have no access with my new account to modify or update the information on these relay nodes. If people rely on those nodes during this year’s hurricane season, it could be dangerous. Is there a way for me to inherit ownership of those nodes with my new account to provide updates and delete relays which are no longer functional? Alternatively, could you please delete all nodes from my account with Autobots in the description? Or provide some form of community control / moderation of mapped relay nodes to pare stale information please?
@Frank4201 Hey, from this PR Reconnects update (https://www.facebook.com/notes/pr-reconnects/pr-reconnects-moving-forward/154757658569842/) it looks like they only paid goTenna for 84 discounted units, and it seems goTenna shipped those (in addition to 25 prior that were either donated by goTenna or by others). The nonprofit which received the money has the rest of the money, I presume goTenna will ship the rest if/when the nonprofit pays for them or needs them. Not sure how the company, which is based in NYC, could do anything around having you inherit ownership of nodes you personally installed/donated in Puerto Rico, it’s a decentralized off-grid network after all…
3 Likes
Hi Frank,
Users are able to login and delete the nodes they’ve placed, should they need to. Due to violation of the goTenna community guidelines, your past account was suspended. We’ll go ahead and remove the nodes placed by your previous account. If you can confirm the status of your nodes, you’re welcome to place them again. For any further discussion on this, please DM or email us — per Community Guidelines, individual tech support is not an appropriate use of Mesh Community.
1 Like
Integrate Google Map’s tool for measuring straight-line distance, so that one may measure the distance between nodes.
5 Likes
Cool idea! In the meantime, you can ping each node. Within the app, you can see the distance between the two. It may not be a line on the map, but it will tell you the information you’re looking for.
4 Likes
It would be a cool feature if as new nodes are added they show up in red or some other distinguishing colour then fade to their respective blue or green. I often login and see that a few nodes have been added but cannot tell where the new ones are located. It would be obvious if certain neighborhoods are adding nodes in clusters or just a general increase in the nodes throughout the world.
Just an idea…
5 Likes
Just had a little idea that would assist users when range testing with other gotenna relay units.
What if any node listed on the map that includes their GID in the comments section showed as a different color on the map. That would make it a lot easier for users to identify which nodes have supplied their GID for range testing. Instead of spending lots of time randomly clicking on the map trying to find which nodes have provided GID numbers.
Fitness apps like Strava have a way to identify a private range where your exact location won’t be shown (“Privacy Zones”), for example leaving for a 10 mile run to/from your house, you can paint a 500-meter area around your starting point, or anywhere along your route, to obscure the origin location.
If the goTenna Network Map supported something similar, where you see a pin on the map at higher altitude, but zooming in you get an increasingly larger ‘circle’ where the pin is somewhere inside, could help obscure its origin. Ideally, something that is more representative of the signal strength of the node, vs. it’s actual physical x,y on the map would be useful.
I haven’t yet put my nodes on the map, although I know that doing so would draw more around me to adopt mesh, because I don’t want them drawn straight to my house or office locations. I may choose somewhere close-enough-but-not-too-close to put them on the map for now.
Feature requests:
- Ability to delete a node from the map (FIXED)
- Ability to drag or relocate a node (without having to delete, add-new)
- Ability to mark a node as ‘Private’ (with “privacy zone” around the area, as described above)
- Ability to ‘Share’ a node’s location with named individuals, but keep it private to others (ala Google Docs sharing for example)
- Ability to mark a node as ‘Down for maintenance’, vs. delete, add-new later.
Any others that seem useful?
Is there any way we can cache the current Network Map + nodes in the mobile goTenna app, when the device is connected to the data network, so it can be used when offline?
Right now we have an offline map in the goTenna app that we can walk around in to show my position and roads, but doesn’t show the location of other nodes I may be near, but not near enough to ‘hear’ them. It’s much like the OSMAnd map app (a fantastic app, by the way!)
If I knew where other nodes might be, I can travel/hike/ride to where they are and use them to send out and relay messages to others further away.
1 Like
I’m waiting for the day when battery tech + solar panel efficiency reaches the point where we can have 100% “uptime” with drones hovering over specific places (not airports!), goTenna devices attached, so they can take flight, establish an ad-hoc relay network for an hour or more, then come back to home-base to roost, recharge and all goes quiet again.
For example, an array of 12 drones with GTM devices, each take flight, spread themselves in a straight line 2 miles apart from each other 500’ off the ground, relay their stored messages, wait for any replies, then fly back and collapse back into their home location.
This has some really interesting applications too, even with a single drone. If I am nowhere near the next relay node closest to me, I can send messages into my GTM, which will sit queued, ready to send when another node is in range.
I can then put that GTM on a drone, and send it up 300’ and take progressively larger concentric circles with the drone until the message gets out, then have it come back to recharge. It beats the ‘mast’ idea that was talked about in another thread recently.
With solar panel efficiency hovering in the mid-to-high 20% range (poor), it’s not feasible to keep the drone up there for an hour or more, but as panels and battery technology improves, when we see 60% conversion rates, we might be able to keep those drones alight longer and longer.
The other option, is to have two drones and a ‘skyhook’ type of device (magnets and a sleeve?) where a single drone takes flight with a GTM waiting to send out messages. When its battery life gets near critical, it comes back down, releases the GTM, and a second drone that is already charged and waiting picks up the GTM and takes it aloft, waiting for the messages to be sent. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
My head is an endless bucket of crazy ideas 
1 Like
From a privacy point of view i’m not really seeing the issue with having the exact location on a map (maybe just put it at your nearest intersection if you’re concerned). All the map is showing is that there is a relay at that location, not the gotenna ID, not whether its powered or not, and not its effective range (unless you want to add that). They are rather small and inexpensive devices so i cant see someone who is interested in gotennas and the network breaking into a house to steal a randomly placed device they probably wont find.
Maybe i’m missing something?
1 Like
Here’s a few:
- Intentionally “breaking” the ability of the network to relay messages by downing a node
- With physical access, being able to convert a node from paired to relay, without the owner’s knowledge or consent.
- Physically stealing the node
- Replacing it with a rogue node or compromising it in some other way
Physical access gives you a world of possibilities, especially in a mostly-anonymous network like mesh is.
It also pinpoints that a specific person living at a specific address has an interest in mesh networking, and could be using that for purposes that could be deemed “interesting” by those who may not approve of such technologies (law enforcement, HOAs, others).
I think it would be cool if we could get the private aircraft & boating communities involved in gotenna mesh.
Combine that with the gotennas installed at homes, in cars, & on hillsides/mountaintops and you would have quite the network.
Imagine a 3 dimensional morphing network of gotenna signals bouncing from planes to ships to houses to cars to mountain tops then right to the gotenna in your pocket!
I plan on doing this on my family’s cars, boats, aircraft, & rooftops.
2 Likes
I guess those are some legitimate concerns but they probably depend highly on the neighborhood (more of an opt-out feature).
Downing a node or stealing it would still require physically breaking and entering a home which the person would probably find far more interesting things once they were inside.
I could see this being an issue more in 3rd world countries or areas with corrupt police forces but in North America (and most of Europe) I think the FCC certifications would prevent law enforcement or HOA’s from caring (or being able to do anything about it).
Certainly if there is a lone unprotected node in the middle of the forest or a mountain peak it would be pretty obvious where it is with some searching, but other than those few circumstances i would be more worried about my smart phone being stolen (or internet router if they had access to the inside of my house).
Imagine having a unit placed on every lighthouse as well. This would be great for beach days or kayaking etc.
1 Like
Great idea!
Wouldn’t it be cool if gotenna partnered with companies like Lyft & Uber to have gotennas installed on all their drivers cars!
Gotenna could give a discount to those companies to pass on to their drivers as incentive to purchase gotennas and hang them from their rear view mirrors.
1 Like