First off; I am thrilled that this tool exists so I hope I can get help figuring some of this out.
Second; I simply do not have time to read through thousands of posts to MAYBE find the answers to my questions. I’ve done this with other endeavors (like building and programming drones from scratch, for instance) and one can waste an incredible amount of time searching and hoping for answers. If DroneDeploy wants my business, then show me how you support your product/ service. I’m on a 30 day pro trial so treat me as though I paid you. I will assume the way you treat me now is the way you will treat me after I start paying you. I’ll ask direct questions, you answer them directly, we’re in business, and I promise not to abuse your kindness - I have other things to do.
I really didn’t want to activate a 30 day trial just yet. I just wanted to try out the tools to see how it works. I have almost nothing that needs mapped right now, but if I’m on my trial I’m kind of forced to get out there and map some stuff that doesn’t need mapped just so I don’t squander the opportunity. OK, fair enough, it’s free, but I was just going to do the 5 uploads per month thing for the time being… At least I’ll get to see how your customer support works - though I see that the chat thing is only for paying customers.
So here are my questions:
I planned and partially flew a survey. I had to change the battery 3/4 of the way through. I resumed the flight (very cool) but when my camera got to the restarting waypoint it just sat there. I brought it back and tried again, and it did the same thing, so I had to fly the entire survey over again from the beginning to get it to complete. What happened, and how do I fix it?
I flew another survey and uploaded it. Then while it was processing I uploaded another survey. I was able to review the second, much larger survey after some time, but the first survey showed on the dashboard as pending, or incomplete, or something like that. There was an option to do something like “cancel” or “bypass” or “skip” or something like that which I can’t recall, but when I clicked on it my first survey was eliminated, even though all the photos had already uploaded and had been processing for a long time. I still have all the photos, how can I upload them to make a map? Do I actually have to go back out and fly that survey over again or is there a way to use the photos I already have?
Sometimes I log in and there is no dashboard. Other times there is a dashboard. I am using Firefox - both when it shows up and when it does not. Any clues as to why this might be happening?
Sorry for the long “post”. If you can help me out, I’ll get out of the way. THANKS.
I am not a DD employee, just a user, but wanted to share my experience with you.
I am a big fan of the chat option on the customer service. I use it quite a bit for things ranging on project processing times and actual technical questions/issues. Usually pretty quick turn around; however, when there is a delay in responding I just send another message and that usually gets a response.
I fly multi-battery missions almost exclusively. My last one was a 6 or 7 battery mission. I have not run into where the drone just sat there (using Inspire 1’s), but I have had instances where my telemetry screen has had an a issue. I usually just let the drone finish that battery and restart the program and just resume the mission. There is an option to copy the mission and start from the last waypoint that remember completing. Not an idea solution, but sometimes in the field a solution is better then nothing.
Again not a DD employee, but I believe there are a lot of factors that impact the processing time of a mission. Outside of project area, number of pictures and other settings, there is the actual subject matter that you are looking at. The way I understand the stitching process, certain terrains/objects can take long to stitch. Not sure if this was an issue for you. I have had the same things as you, with subsequent projects being completed prior to the previous. I typically reach out, via chat, to the DD team to get me an update.
Use Google Chrome is my best advise. It seems to be the best. I also will periodically, or when I have issues, clear the browser cache and log out and back in.
Hopefully you get your questions resolved by an actual DD employee, but feel free to reach out to the rest of us if you have any additional questions!
Thanks dragonflyAS. While I still have a few unanswered ??s I do appreciate your responses. Could be that one of my uploads just needed more time. Also good to know that the customer service chat is responsive. I do hope to hear from DD. Cheers.
So everyone knows - I found a DroneDeploy support email address and when I wrote I received a well written response fairly quickly. I just wanted to include this because my original post was a bit edgy regarding customer service, and that was because I thought I was going to have slog my way through a lot of posts to find answers.
The answers are
You can upload or reupload image sets using the Upload button on the top right of your dashboard. Just name the map and upload the images.
On multi-battery flights after you swap batteries the map should now say “Continue”. I have found that sometimes to get that I have to close and reopen the app. When it says Continue it will go to the last waypoint where it left off. Sometimes when you take off without that the data path is not cleared out and this may be the cause of you P4 hovering. Sometimes it is helpful to recycle the app and the power on Android devices if you are using one of those to clear things out for a fresh start.
This one was a misunderstanding of the question, but since asking why I have been intermittently unable to find the dashboard on PC I have had no further problem with it.
I will mention that there is still some flaky numbering going on in the forum - the preview of my post does not look like what I am writing. Details…
This is a closable thread, & thanks again to dragonflyAS.
Owen