Running multiple SSL web service containers on the same host using HAProxy

October 10th, 2019

Scenario: Multiple containers running a web service over SSL (with their own certificates) Different web domains for each service Single machine and single public IP How to make both services work on the same machine? I couldn’t find easy instructions on how to get this done, but a bit of research and trial and error led me to HAProxy. The setup is pretty simple: Setup DNS A records to point to the machine for both domains Start the containers using […]

Highlights from Oculus Connect

September 26th, 2019

Prediction: VR will take-off within 10 years.

Self-Publish a Technical Book – Tools Overview

August 13th, 2019

I recently finished writing the first edition of OpenDroneMap: The Missing Guide. I thought I’d write a blog post about the overall experience in the hope that it will be useful to other want-to-be writers. First of all, if you are a software developer and you are thinking of writing a book about a project you’re involved with, don’t do it for the money; the amount of work required to write a book is huge compared to the monetary returns. […]

WebODM 1.0 Released

June 9th, 2019

On August 8th 2016, almost three years ago, the WebODM project was started. The goal was to bring a friendly user interface to OpenDroneMap, which at the time worked only via command line and had a bare-bone UI via NodeODM which lacked things like user authentication, map previews, 3D model display, etc. Yesterday I merged the entwine branch which upgrades the 3D model display to support EPT and the new features of Potree 1.6. The release is mostly symbolical, as […]

How To Make Money With Open Source? Hint: Sell Something

April 19th, 2019

Free and open source software is creating a lot of value. Maintainers however are often capturing no value from their work, rarely out of choice and often times because those individuals and companies that could contribute and fund the development of a project choose not to. And you can’t fault them. People need to ditch donations/crowdsourcing/patronization models and start selling something instead. Read the slides from my recent presentation at FOSS4G-NA: Please Sell Something – FOSS Funding for the Next […]

The SIFT patent has almost expired

April 4th, 2019

Correction from 10/9/2019: I thought the patent had expired this year, due to the confusion on the Priority Date vs. Filing Date. The patent is still in effect, and is set to expire March of 2020. As of March 7th of next year, the SIFT patent will expire in the U.S. U.S. patents are valid for 20 years from the earliest filing date, but can be extended to 21 years if a Priority Date is used, and SIFT (US6711293B1) was […]

What’s new in WebODM 0.8.2

March 20th, 2019

Today I merged WebODM version 0.8.2 into master. It includes a long needed feature to make plugin management easier. No more command line, no restart needed. Simply log-in into the Administration panel and toggle the plugins you need. It also features some bug fixes and minor improvements. Guess what we are going to do next.

OpenDroneMap Article in Italian

March 2nd, 2019

Great article about ODM. We REALLY need to start translating / localizing the software in other languages.

Got it! New domain piero.dev.

March 1st, 2019

When I first started this blog I wanted to name it piero.com, but that of course was already taken. I didn’t like other TLDs. I like .dev and today Google announced the availability of these domains to the general public, so I snatched it.

OpenDroneMap Book Announced

February 28th, 2019

OpenDroneMap’s documentation is a bit… missing. Not because the information is not available. Between the various documentation pages, the community forum and the source code (yes that’s a form of documentation) it’s quite possible to learn the ins and outs of the project. But nobody has had the time or willingness to write a more cohesive and central source of information. I have no hope that some contributor will come along anytime soon to fill this need. So today I’m […]