diff --git a/aio/src/app/navigation/navigation.service.spec.ts b/aio/src/app/navigation/navigation.service.spec.ts
index 847fa91829..7e826b895e 100644
--- a/aio/src/app/navigation/navigation.service.spec.ts
+++ b/aio/src/app/navigation/navigation.service.spec.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 import { ReflectiveInjector } from '@angular/core';
 import { Location, LocationStrategy } from '@angular/common';
 import { MockLocationStrategy } from '@angular/common/testing';
-import { Http, ConnectionBackend, RequestOptions, BaseRequestOptions } from '@angular/http';
+import { Http, ConnectionBackend, RequestOptions, BaseRequestOptions, Response, ResponseOptions } from '@angular/http';
 import { MockBackend } from '@angular/http/testing';
-import { NavigationService } from 'app/navigation/navigation.service';
+import { NavigationService, NavigationViews } from 'app/navigation/navigation.service';
 import { LocationService } from 'app/shared/location.service';
 import { Logger } from 'app/shared/logger.service';
 
@@ -11,6 +11,10 @@ describe('NavigationService', () => {
 
   let injector: ReflectiveInjector;
 
+  function createResponse(body: any) {
+    return new Response(new ResponseOptions({ body: JSON.stringify(body) }));
+  }
+
   beforeEach(() => {
     injector = ReflectiveInjector.resolveAndCreate([
         NavigationService,
@@ -29,6 +33,57 @@ describe('NavigationService', () => {
     expect(service).toBeTruthy();
   });
 
-  xit('should fetch the navigation views', () => {});
-  xit('should compute the navigation map', () => {});
+  describe('navigationViews', () => {
+    let service: NavigationService, backend: MockBackend;
+
+    beforeEach(() => {
+      backend = injector.get(ConnectionBackend);
+      service = injector.get(NavigationService);
+    });
+
+    it('should make a single connection to the server', () => {
+      expect(backend.connectionsArray.length).toEqual(1);
+      expect(backend.connectionsArray[0].request.url).toEqual('content/navigation.json');
+    });
+
+    it('should expose the server response', () => {
+      const viewsEvents: NavigationViews[] = [];
+      service.navigationViews.subscribe(views => viewsEvents.push(views));
+
+      expect(viewsEvents).toEqual([]);
+      backend.connectionsArray[0].mockRespond(createResponse({ TopBar: [ { path: 'a' }] }));
+      expect(viewsEvents).toEqual([{ TopBar: [ { path: 'a' }] }]);
+
+    });
+
+    it('should return the same object to all subscribers', () => {
+      let views1: NavigationViews;
+      service.navigationViews.subscribe(views => views1 = views);
+
+      let views2: NavigationViews;
+      service.navigationViews.subscribe(views => views2 = views);
+
+      backend.connectionsArray[0].mockRespond(createResponse({ TopBar: [{ path: 'a' }] }));
+
+      // modify the response so we can check that future subscriptions do not trigger another request
+      backend.connectionsArray[0].response.next(createResponse({ TopBar: [{ path: 'error 1' }] }));
+
+      let views3: NavigationViews;
+      service.navigationViews.subscribe(views => views3 = views);
+
+      expect(views2).toBe(views1);
+      expect(views3).toBe(views1);
+    });
+
+
+    it('should do WHAT(?) if the request fails', () => {
+      console.warn('PENDING: NavigationService navigationViews should do WHAT(?) if the request fails');
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('navigationMap', () => {
+    it('should compute the navigation map', () => {
+      console.warn('PENDING: NavigationService navigationMap should compute the navigation map');
+    });
+  });
 });
diff --git a/aio/src/app/navigation/navigation.service.ts b/aio/src/app/navigation/navigation.service.ts
index 652880c140..f6284904df 100644
--- a/aio/src/app/navigation/navigation.service.ts
+++ b/aio/src/app/navigation/navigation.service.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 import { Injectable } from '@angular/core';
 import { Http } from '@angular/http';
 import { Observable } from 'rxjs/Observable';
+import { AsyncSubject } from 'rxjs/AsyncSubject';
 import { combineLatest } from 'rxjs/observable/combineLatest';
-import 'rxjs/add/operator/publish';
+import 'rxjs/add/operator/publishReplay';
+import 'rxjs/add/operator/publishLast';
 
 import { Logger } from 'app/shared/logger.service';
 import { LocationService } from 'app/shared/location.service';
@@ -28,37 +30,37 @@ const NAVIGATION_PATH = 'content/navigation.json';
 @Injectable()
 export class NavigationService {
 
-  navigationViews: Observable<NavigationViews>;
-  currentNode: Observable<NavigationNode>;
-  activeNodes: Observable<NavigationNode[]>;
+  navigationViews = this.fetchNavigation();
+  activeNodes = this.getActiveNodes();
 
-  constructor(private http: Http, location: LocationService, private logger: Logger) {
-
-    this.navigationViews = this.fetchNavigation();
-
-    const currentMapItem = combineLatest(
-                              this.navigationViews.map(this.computeNavMap),
-                              location.currentUrl,
-                              (navMap, url) => navMap[url]);
-
-    this.currentNode = currentMapItem.map(item => item.node).publish();
-    this.activeNodes = currentMapItem.map(item => [item.node, ...item.parents]).publish();
-  }
+  constructor(private http: Http, private location: LocationService, private logger: Logger) { }
 
   private fetchNavigation(): Observable<NavigationViews> {
-    // TODO: logging and error handling
-    return this.http.get(NAVIGATION_PATH).map(res => res.json() as NavigationViews);
+    const response = this.http.get(NAVIGATION_PATH)
+             .map(res => res.json() as NavigationViews)
+             .publishLast();
+    response.connect();
+    return response;
+  }
+
+  private getActiveNodes() {
+    const currentMapItem = combineLatest(
+      this.navigationViews.map(this.computeNavMap),
+      this.location.currentUrl,
+      (navMap, url) => navMap[url]);
+    const activeNodes = currentMapItem
+      .map(item => item ? [item.node, ...item.parents] : [])
+      .publishReplay();
+    activeNodes.connect();
+    return activeNodes;
   }
 
   private computeNavMap(navigation: NavigationViews): NavigationMap {
     const navMap: NavigationMap = {};
-    Object.keys(navigation).forEach(key => {
-      const nodes = navigation[key];
-      nodes.forEach(node => walk(node, null));
-    });
+    Object.keys(navigation).forEach(key => navigation[key].forEach(node => walkNodes(node, null)));
     return navMap;
 
-    function walk(node: NavigationNode, parent: NavigationMapItem | null) {
+    function walkNodes(node: NavigationNode, parent: NavigationMapItem | null) {
       const item: NavigationMapItem = { node, parents: [] };
       if (parent) {
         item.parents = [parent.node, ...parent.parents];
@@ -68,7 +70,7 @@ export class NavigationService {
         navMap[node.url] = item;
       }
       if (node.children) {
-        node.children.forEach(child => walk(child, item));
+        node.children.forEach(child => walkNodes(child, item));
       }
     }
   }