Fair Use Policy

1. The short version

We do not put hard caps on projects, locations, imports or storage. Ground investigation work varies enormously from one project to the next, and we would rather you got on with the job than watched a meter.

In return, we ask that you use GIMLabs for what it is for, at a scale that is reasonable for the plan you are on. This policy explains what that means and what happens if usage goes well beyond it. It forms part of our Terms of Service.

2. What GIMLabs is for

Your subscription covers storing and working with your organisation’s own ground investigation, geotechnical and geoenvironmental data, and the photos, documents and files that belong with it.

It is not intended to be:

• a general file store, backup service or archive for material unrelated to your projects;
• a way to host data for other organisations that are not your clients or suppliers on a project; or
• a bulk data processing service run through our import tools or API.

3. What we look at

We monitor overall usage so we can keep the platform fast and plan capacity. The things that matter are:

• Storage, especially photos, video and attached files, which make up most of what we store.
• Imports, in particular very large or very frequent automated imports.
• API traffic. The API has published rate limits and a monthly request allowance per organisation. These are technical limits rather than fair use judgements, and the API tells you when you reach them.
• Licences. Registering as many users as you like is fine and expected. Finding ways to have more people working at once than you have licences for is not.

We compare usage with what is typical for customers on the same plan. Being above average is not a problem. We only act when usage is far outside the normal range, or is affecting the service for other customers.

4. What happens if you go well beyond normal use

We will never quietly throttle you, delete anything or add charges without talking to you first. If we have a concern:

1. We get in touch. We contact your administrators, explain what we are seeing and ask what is driving it. Often there is a simple explanation, such as a one-off migration.
2. We agree a way forward. That might be archiving old projects, tidying up large files, changing how an integration runs, adding licences, or agreeing a storage add-on at a fair price.
3. We give you time. You will have at least 30 days to make changes or agree an alternative.

Only if we cannot reach an agreement, or if usage is putting the platform at risk, may we limit the feature causing the problem or suspend the account. We will give you notice unless we need to act immediately to protect the service, and we will not delete your data for fair use reasons without telling you first and giving you the chance to export it.

5. One-off heavy use is fine

Moving to GIMLabs from another system, bringing in a backlog of historic projects, or a single very large scheme are all normal. If you know a big load is coming, tell us at support@gimlabs.io and we will make sure it runs smoothly.

6. Changes

If we ever introduce published limits for a plan, we will give you at least 30 days’ notice, and they will not apply during a period you have already paid for.