A few questions I had for DroneDeploy may answer some of yours

Flight - Discussion and Q&A
#1

I sent Jono an email with a few questions earlier and he replied that I should ask them on the forum as well to help others. So here is a list of my initial questions before I got started.
I am looking forward to getting started on the beta testing on one of my Inspires but have a few questions I need answered first that I didn’t see in any FAQ or other documentation.

  1. It says on the Inspire and Phantom that the middle position of the flight mode switch is required for your automation to take over. This will take over my Atti position. Is there a way to switch from flight path to Atti, or does it go to GPS mode. If a flight plan goes wrong, my assumption is the GPS will not be reliable either. I won’t do firmware if I loose Atti mode.

  2. Will batteries with your firmware work on non beta Inspires? (I am working with DJI Beta as well)

  3. Is there a reward type system to encourage test flights and bug reporting?

  4. Since all DJI warranty is out the window with this forward, do have a replacement/reimbursement program if firmware issues are found to have caused a crash?

  5. Can you guys do another video more geared towards advanced users? The one button does everything is good for most, but I would love to see all of the facets of the program.

  6. Am I forced to use my LTE as an upload point while flying? If so, how much data does a flight use? Would I be able to upload at a home wifi rather than using my cell data?

In addition to my initial questions I also have one more. As far as the maps we produce, who has the rights to them? Can we use them for a customer/friend?

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#2
  1. The newest firmwares referenced on the instructions use F mode. Although a flight plan can go wrong for reasons other than GPS, such as very strong wind and I would prefer GPS mode for that.
  2. Batteries will work. As far as I know there hasn’t been a battery firmware update to phantom 3 or inspire. If you are updating all your batteries every firmware update up to now it might not have been needed.
  3. No official reward system but you are getting the full dronedeploy system which usually costs money. We aren’t testing that it flies your drone. We are really testing the UI and getting feedback about use cases, etc. from users. It has also been helpful for our stitching pipeline to stitch different terrain all over the world.
  4. This is still official DJI firmware. But if you have concerns I could follow up after speaking with someone. If somehow dronedeploy actually caused the crash we would definitely work with you. That being said, dronedeploy sends waypoints to the device and assumes that the user has checked that it flies well as has the proper calibration. We don’t actually control the drone or send it any commands that could cause a crash. Almost all problems will be due to a malfunction on the device itself.
  5. We do have some other features we would like to show off. Somebody is actually working on a different video.
  6. You do not need to use LTE. Most people choose not to actually because the speed of downloading is pretty slow with the inspire and P3 camera. They upload with their SD card.
  7. All maps are yours. Some users are already using the beta for their businesses. The only time we might ask to use one of your maps is if it is a really awesome demo, but we will ask permission first.
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#3

Excellent, thank you so much for the reply. Had 2 flawless flights today. I do like to take control during landing and hand catch to keep dirt down but I do like being able to change the path during the RTH.