DroneLab is dead.

 Well, it's been a long and protracted death, but it doesn't look like we're going to be able to resuscitate the patient, and before we can lay the corpse of DroneLab into the grave, it still seems like you end up paying Amazon for all manner of storage costs and service costs for obscure little bits of architecture that have been running in the background all this time. 

I'm also having to pay for glacial storage, as I can't bring myself to delete the 5TB of data that we've amassed over the years. 

Apparently, we might be able to bring back static maps, which would be nice, as this would mean we could keep those deep links that are out there and potentially bring the website back. I think this might be a good idea. I'm reluctant to throw away the past ten years of my life without keeping some sort of record online that proves that we actually used to exist. 

I suppose you could always visit the Wayback machine, but that's not really the same.

Wow. If you ever wanted an example of how quickly you can slip from the number one spot on Google, just try searching for 'DroneLab'. We were number one for years, and now we're languishing down in seventh place. 

 

DroneLab is down...

Unfortunately, DroneLab is down right now. 

Please bear with us while we investigate the issue. 

If you want to be notified when the site is up and running again, please add your email address to this form and we'll let you know what's happening. 

Again, sorry for the inconvenience, but thanks (in advance) for your patience. 

If you really want DroneLab to come back, we're going to need more funding to maintain and operate the servers. 

All we need is six supporters, paying $70/£50/€60 per month. 

Here's the new DroneLab Patreon page. I've set it up as an easy way to take payments. If we can sign up six new generous benefactors/clients/supporters then I can get the site running again. 

Until then, I'm afraid we're defaulting to this page for all embedded maps as I can't figure out anything more sophisticated than this right now. 

I'll give this until the end of the month to run (it's half term next week and I'm looking after the kids). If we reach the target, I should be able to get it up and running again in a matter of hours. If there's literally no interest, then DroneLab has expired. It's been an interesting 10 years, I've learnt a lot, and I'd like to thank you if you have supported us over the years - it has meant a lot to me, but the start up grind is exactly that - it grinds you down over time, and 10 years is a long time in this industry. 

If you want a copy of the code so that you can run your own instance locally on your own infrastructure - send me an email. 

Ciao, for now. 

p.s. If you can't stretch to a monthly subscription, perhaps consider getting me a coffee?