Introducing Dronelink

[dronelink]

This software is fantastic! As a IT-professional I want to applaude the developes for thinking in the terms of modules/commands. Love it!
What is the status of the project now?

We are planning to release v1.0 in a few weeks. Have you tried the beta?

 

[HawkEye76]

This software is fantastic! As a IT-professional I want to applaude the developes for thinking in the terms of modules/commands. Love it!
What is the status of the project now?

Yes, the concept is great!
They are in the beta test phase. Preparing for release. We are providing feedback to developers. I think you can sign up for the beta as well. You get some more info here about what is going on:

Dronelink

Dronelink. 3,683 likes. Drone flight automation mobile and web app for flying mapping, waypoint, orbit, facade missions.

www.facebook.com

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[parkgt]

So far I have really enjoyed the beta version and know it will be fantastic when it is fully fleshed out. They listen to the users and are implementing suggestions as fast as they can. Jim and Eric are very responsive to questions and concerns; something you don't find with the other mission apps.

 

[Dan C]

It's been good being in the beta. Great learning experience for me, and a chance to give feedback from the ground level.

 

[dronelink]

We will be presenting at the Austin Drone Meetup at 6p CT for those of you who can make it!
Event Details | Live Stream

 

[dronelink]

Thank you to everyone who participated in the beta test! The beta is now complete and we have announced our pricing here. Also, check out our new launch video:

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[ozzyp3s]

I've had a look at Dronelink and was impressed with the concept but being a hobby flyer I find the price way out of my pocket. I will stick with Drone Harmony and Litchi, I wish you well with your product.

 

[dronelink]

I will stick with Drone Harmony

I assume you mean the recreational version of DH? The current version of Dronelink is definitely for professional drone users that are making money flying drones; however we may consider future versions for hobbyists and recreational use cases.

If you directly compare our plans to DH's pro and business licenses, our pricing is 3.5x to 11x less expensive.

 

[Facherty]

I've enjoyed the beta, and am impressed with it. However, I am not a professional, and will not pay $100/year when I already have Litchi. I will look forward to the introduction of a version for "hobbyists and recreational users", though, so please keep us informed.

 

[ozzyp3s]

I assume you mean the recreational version of DH? The current version of Dronelink is definitely for professional drone users that are making money flying drones; however we may consider future versions for hobbyists and recreational use cases.

If you directly compare our plans to DH's pro and business licenses, our pricing is 3.5x to 11x less expensive.

Yes I have the basic version of DH which does more than I require,so for a one off payment of £26 it is ideal, as is Litchi at a similar price. I might be interested in a version for hobbyists if it's a one off reasonable payment.

 

[dronelink]

Yes I have the basic version of DH which does more than I require,so for a one off payment of £26 it is ideal, as is Litchi at a similar price. I might be interested in a version for hobbyists if it's a one off reasonable payment.

Understood. The primary issue with a one-time payment revenue model is the long term incentives for continued innovation and support are not there for the developer. We are really looking to avoid another Autopilot fate here. Obviously in the case of DH, they have a recurring revenue model for the other side of their business, so the consumer side benefits from their efforts on the business side. We decided to start with the business side for similar reasons. The goal is to become sustainable so we can have more options in the future for other segments of users.

 

[dronelink]

Did a quick video showing the new export to Google Earth option:

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[HawkEye76]

Did a quick video showing the new export to Google Earth option:

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This is really cool and useful.

 

[GaryR.]

KMZ export of a curved path to Google Earth. Blue line is Dronelink, white line a competitor. Do you see the difference?

 

[waylander]

Hey everyone,

I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted, but I’ve been heads-down working on my next project called Dronelink.

Dronelink is an entirely new approach to flight automation, and we are looking for beta testers on iOS, Android, and the web. This is a great opportunity for you to influence our product roadmap, and we would love your feedback. You can join the beta now, and our public launch is scheduled for later this year.

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Jim McAndrew and I am a software architect and drone enthusiast from Austin, Texas. My passion for creating drone software started in 2014 with Autopilot, the first app for DJI drones in the iOS App Store. After Autopilot I cofounded Hangar and served as CTO until mid 2018. Since then I have been working hard to create Dronelink - the culmination of five years of experience and lessons learned. To those of you who have supported me along the way, thank you.

I look forward to creating the future of flight automation with you.

-Jim

Hi There
I have been a user of Autopilot for nearly 4 years, really liked it, but was disappointed when the program development cycle ended. I would like to be a Beta tester for your new app, how do I get involved..?

Regards
Waylander

 

[GaryR.]

Hi There
I have been a user of Autopilot for nearly 4 years, really liked it, but was disappointed when the program development cycle ended. I would like to be a Beta tester for your new app, how do I get involved..?

Regards
Waylander

The beta test is over, but Dronelink is now live and ready to use on www.dronelink.com

 

[dronelink]

The beta test is over

That is correct. Also, as stated here, we just updated the Explore plan to include the ability to create repositories (public and private), and create mission plans and components. You still need to upgrade to a paid account to actually fly missions with your plans, but we added the 30-day money back guarantee to the pricing page to take a step in the direction of offering a trial. More to come soon.

 

[dronelink]

Just got iOS App Store approval. Enjoy:

‎Dronelink Flight

‎Drone Flight Control - Fully Automated Missions, Semi-Automated Workflows and Manual Flight Tools Fly missions for maps, waypoints, orbits, panos, vertical mapping, or inspections. Use flight modes such as orbit, follow, or focus. Link missions together, automate everything, and preview in 3D...

apps.apple.com

The Android app is still available via direct download due to the DJI SDK issue

 

[dronelink]

We thought it was worth reposting this comment from Commercial Drone Pilots in case you all had similar questions:

------------

limburgdrone said:
For $100 / year the app has to be pretty perfect.

No app will ever be perfect, but we are certainly committed to listening to your feedback and making it better over time. In the end there are many different types of users and use cases and the requirements across these use cases can vary drastically.

For example, some people are more focused on manual control and looking for a DJI GO replacement. Others are in search and rescue and prioritize things like offline access, security, and collaboration. Still others are doing advanced inspections such as cell towers and building facades.

Just like in the Autopilot days, our mindset has always been to prioritize the features and functionality that make our product unique as we feel doing so provides the most value for early adopters. For example, we spent a great deal of time on the component-based architecture of mission plans as components enable a level of reuse and scalability not previously possible with DJI drones. We also spent a large amount of effort on the pre-mission workflows (mission preview, verifications missions etc) as we believe the goal should be to control for as many variables as possible before the flight to reduce the chance of error (saving time on re-work in the field) and increase the overall safety of the mission to protect people and property.

limburgdrone said:
HDR bracketing

It's interesting that you bring up this particular point as this was one of the bugs that most DJI cameras currently suffer from: the number of bracketed photos does not save across drone restarts. One of our users pointed this out to us during the beta and we responded by creating the Camera AEB Count command component the next week.

With Dronelink mission plans, you can simply include your standard camera settings list component in each of your plans, and put the AEB Count command in that list to be sure that you never forget to set that setting manually because Dronelink will do it for you every time. Need to make a change to your standard camera settings component? If you designed it as a separate component and included it in your mission plans, Dronelink will automatically prompt you to update your mission plans to use the latest version of your settings component, and managing the versioning process of your mission plan for you!

If you are interested in seeing the complete list of commands and UI options, you can download the native app for free and open the flight dashboard (airplane icon, top right). You can also sign up for a free explore account on the web app to access the command component list in the mission planner.

limburgdrone said:
I hate to replug USB and start another app

We agree, this is a drag and our goal is to minimize this over time (hopefully to zero). The continued development effort to make this happen is part of the reason for the subscription-based revenue model (trying to avoid another fate like Autopilot), but this is only part of what your subscription is for.

Dronelink is also a growing network of drone professionals that are looking to enhance their craft by sharing ideas. We are taking the lead by continuing to create innovative components in our public repositories, and we hopeful that the rest of the community will actively participate in helping us iterate to make these components better, or even start creating brand new components as we have already seen happening (users have already created Gigapano and Hyperlapse components for example). When it becomes too difficult to implement a component with the existing component types, we are committed to rolling out new component types that drastically reduce the time and energy required to plan innovative missions. Many of the ideas for new component types are already represented on our public product roadmap, which allows up-voting. Is there any other company in this space that takes feedback so seriously that it publishes its product roadmap and allow you to vote on it?

 

[Northwood Mediaworks]

Wishing you great success, and a spotless safety record. When there is a consumer level version, I will surely get on board. If I later move into a commercial role with drones then this current iteration seems a solid choice.