Is the only way to share my maps and models by downloading and sending the files? Is there anyway to create a public model that can be viewed by anyone online? What i would like to be able to do is what Maps Made Easy has done, public web links to models and embeddable HTML links. Do we have anything like this with WebODM?
I need my maps amd models to be easily accessible to non-computer literate humans.
You can instead host OpenDroneMap on a public server, but if this is something you haven’t done before, it can be challenging to get right.
You would need to do the following:
allow rules for ports 22, 80, and 443: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-set-up-a-firewall-with-ufw-on-ubuntu-20-04
./webodm.sh down && ./webodm.sh update && ./webodm.sh restart --ssl --hostname yourhostname.com
If this is too much to do, then you should probably find a web developer and/or systems manager to do it for you. Good luck!
Hi Ryan,
Stephen gives a pretty good overview of a healthy and relatively secure way of doing this. There are simpler way, and more complicated ways too!
The main issue is your computer is set up to only receive data from the internet that its already requested. Cold calls, if you will, are all refused.
The simplest way to get access is go into your router management UI via a web browser.
Another option is to set up a service like Ngrok, which uses a program on your WebODM machine to bypass any need for port forwarding at your router.
I wrote a guide here, if its any help https://community.opendronemap.org/t/link-webodm-to-the-internet-ngrok/1815
Just to confuse things, my initial advice & Stephen’s advice wont quite help if you want to get access to another service that has a web interface, say like Piero’s DroneDB, on the same PC. In that case you’d to set up multiple Ngrok tunnels or dabble with reverse proxy in a web server like Nginx.
I’ve struggled with reverse proxies so would happily settle for Ngrok.
Sorry for reopening this almost a year later. I opened up the proper ports on my computer to access webodm from the internet and it seems to work great. However I’m not able to disable all the buttons on the left hand side (administrative stuff ). I imagine there’s settings for that somewhere I just can’t find them.
I have noticed though that when I use the link provided by webodm to share a task it seems to be quite secure and does not give the option to access those administrative controls and if I try to bypass all of the task codes in the link it just takes me to a login page. So is providing a link more secure than setting up individual users with limited access to specific tasks?
Has anyone been able to solve this to create a complete workflow yet?
Im interested in any more information to help me go from;
Flyover (Drone deploy) →
Processing on the cloud (WebODM on AWS Virtual Instance) →
Client Access to the map on the cloud
Its the last step that I’m not sure if it is possible or not. I dont want to have a physical server set up with public domain, much prefer to have a cloud server that is accessible by client.
Open to any information
Welcome!
Right now I think that DroneDB.app (our Cloud-based sUAS data visualization and sharing platform) might be the easiest bet if you don’t wish to maintain your own infrastructure.
Thanks Saijin,
Appreciate your help. I’m going to create a tutorial on how to create this workflow this weekend I hope.
Can you confirm if I have this correct in my head?
"
Firstly, register with Web ODM Lightning (Pay as you go) - to process the images, simply create an account, log in, upload images and WEBODM LIGHTNING will take care of the processing power and provide me with a local copy of the imagery.
Secondly, register with DroneDB - a little more complicated to organise, but this will essentially take care of the interface between client and their project, it will also provide the storage which I will pay for.
"
My purpose is to create visualistion/maps/models that have a measure functionability and different client can access different projects.
Thanks again
Sounds about right, the only caveat being that DroneDB doesn’t have 2D/3D tools enabled quite yet as it is still being developed and features are being added.
If you absolutely need those tools, you might have to self-host for the time being.
So clients can view but not perform measurements yet? I’m waiting on the edge of my seat until that comes out 
Until then, self hosting or sending the 3d model as a .las point cloud and using qGIS seems the go.
I am not sure if it would be cost wise economic to self host and run web odm through ubuntu via a virtual instance through Amazon Web Services or Google Cloud. Have you had any experience with this? Or better should I ask… are there any cost effective ways to self host?
Post edit.
Correct. We’re always working on expanding and improving things, so this is likely on the roadmap, but I can’t comment as to when.
Some folks have discussed this here on the Community. Give it a search and see if you turn up any good insights you can use.
Thanks for your help Saijin
It’s looking like at the moment the workflow will be:
So shortly before I begin this I wanted to understand what limitations might be faced by clients who use this interface? Am I going to be able to have multiple projects, clients from different companies accessing their own jobs, while I am uploading another project for a new client using the same instance for example?
Any information is helpful.
B
Bradley, should work just as you describe. Once you set up the Groups and Users properly, you can tune permissions to Projects, Tasks, tools, settings, etc.
The options are quite extensive!
Hi,
I’m working on a similar project & have this working as you describe. I’m running my own processing nodes & WebODM on dedicated servers to ensure delivery times on large projects. The server costs are enourmous but once you start processing a certain size / number of maps it becomes economical to run self-hosted, as long as you are confident with server & network administration.
Shoot me a message & perhaps we can find ways to work together to reduce infrastructure costs etc. I’ve got plenty of server resources spare and happy to give advice where I can on setting up for public consumption.
Hi nextechit,
Check your inbox, id definitely be interested in something like this.
It seems I cant reach you via message your profile is private/hidden. Feel free to send a message, ive emailed you darren at nextechit dot com dot au
B
Cheers Bradley, chat soon.
There are plenty of ways to deliver maps and 3d models to clients. Easiest is to just use the share feature that is built in to webodm, it gives you both a public link and an iframe source that you can embed into a web app.
./webodm.sh down && ./webodm.sh update && ./webodm.sh restart --ssl --hostname subdomain.something.com
This works ok at a small scale & will get you started sharing your results. I don’t recommend creating accounts within WebODM for clients unless you really have to.
Id like to get in on this too,
Anyone want to start a group chat?
Did you start a group chat for that?
I’m looking for a simple way for clients to view online without having to download and run it on a local machine.