Keep the core app free for the next researcher.
FieldPoint's local collection, schema builder, and manual backup are free for everyone and always will be. Support isn't required to use any of it. It just helps cover the small ongoing costs of the parts that aren't fully offline.
A short, honest list
Weather API calls
The end-of-session weather sweep runs through a server-side proxy so no researcher has to manage their own API key. Clustering keeps call volume low, but it isn't zero.
Offline map tiles
Bulk region downloads for fieldwork without signal are served from a self-hosted tile server rather than a public one, which means real bandwidth and storage on our end.
Continued development
Time spent on the schema builder, export formats, and the Web Portal, the kind of unglamorous work that makes a dataset easier to defend later.
Donations don't unlock anything
There's no feature gate behind a donation. Everything in the free tier stays in the free tier, including full offline collection, the entire field catalog, and backup and restore to your own storage. Support goes toward keeping that true for the next student or PI who finds this app, not toward unlocking something for you.
If a paid subscription suits you better, the paid tier (automated backups, hosted sync, the full Web Portal) funds the same infrastructure on an ongoing basis. A one-time contribution here is simply the other way to help.
Handled entirely by PayPal, FieldPoint never sees or stores your payment details. You'll get a receipt by email.
Prefer to support it another way?
Reporting a bug, suggesting a field for the catalog, or just telling another lab about FieldPoint helps just as much as a contribution does.