Flying a mission to collect data

General Help
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Hi all

I’m relatively new to all this and just getting started out. Ive been looking at pix4d and dronedeploy, which are pieces of software that look to perform well, but while learning and doing my own stuff in the mean time before being in a position to be able to charge for any work, its totally out of the question to pay their high fees.

The part of the puzzle that Im not sure on for ODM (Ive purchased webODM) is the actual flight part of it. Can anyone suggest a process for capturing the data. I have a Mavic 2 Pro. In an ideal world id like to preprogram a flight path using waypoints and altitudes, and have it capture the photos automatically.

I’m sure someone in here has gone down that path, are there any pointers of a system to do that with?

Thanks.

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I also use DJI’s M2P, and use DJIFlightplanner initially, then import into FLyLitchi, where you can adjust as necessary, including setting constant AGLs for your waypoints, adding extra imagery, adjusting camera gimbal angle etc.

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Welcome to the community! Happy Flying.

I use this site https://ancient.land/ to initially plan the flight, then export to litchi where you can customize the flight plan online, but you could just use ancient land to plan the entire flight if you wanted to then export to litchi.
Litchi does have a cost associated with it however. about $20 I think. I got it years ago when it was on sale for $5

There is also pix4d capture app which I believe you create the flight plan entirely from the app, but i have not used it.

depending on the terrain you are trying to map be sure to keep your overlap around 70 - 80% for a single grid pattern flight and about 60 - 70% for a crossgrid pattern.

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Both DroneDeploy and Pix4D provide free flight planning apps which allow you to plan and execute the flight (without requiring their processing). So you can use their tools to plan and fly, and then just process your stuff with WebODM.

Free and good flight planning tools I use or have used on IOS:

  • Pix4D Capture
  • DroneDeploy Flight App
  • MapPilotPro from Maps Made Easy

All of those should drive your M2P no problem.

I’m sure there are more now. I haven’t really checked the market lately.

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Epic, this info is gold. Ill have a look at those options. Fantastic that the capture components are free

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