Summary of Issue: After my images processed and I opened the 2D and Plant Health tabs, 2 of my 3 fields that I shot today have to be re-done.
Date Issue Began: 6-30-2018
Drone Model: Mavic Pro Platinum - updated firmware, compass calibrated
Mobile Device Model and OS version: iPad Gen 6 9.7" screen, iOS 11.4
DroneDeploy App Version: 2.76.0
I flew one of the fields this afternoon that did not turn out good yesterday. This time I used my Phantom 4 Pro. 591 pictures were taken for the one field. After processing, I opened the map and about 4/5 of the field was missing. Yesterday I flew at 250 feet altitude, today at 200 feet. ISO set at 100, shutter speed at 400, 2.8 f-stop.
Before every flight I calibrate my IMU and compass. I also check for firmware updates. Everything is up to date and calibrated. The SD card is formatted prior to flight.
Something is not right. I would appreciate any ideas. This is the second time in 2 days that I have shot this field and both times resulted in incomplete maps. I should say that I had the Live Map turned on and everything looked good while the drone was flying. But when I processed the map it was not good.
I feel that I am losing credibility with this farmer who has 2,000 acres.
Hi @TCRay,
I’m sorry to hear your map did not stitch completely. I checked on your “Dorsey” and “Dorsey - Renken Rd” map, and it seems the problem is due to the homogeneous imagery where many of the adjoining images look the same.
As the growing season progresses, the canopy fills in and everything begins to look very homogeneous. This makes it necessary to fly higher so more shared reference features are in each image to align and stitch with. We would suggest increasing your altitude to 350 - 400 feet with 75/75 overlaps over most crops to assist in better stitching.
I went ahead and re-enqueued your “Dorsey - Renken Rd” map with another algorithm to see if we can improve your results. We can’t guarantee the results will be better, but it’s certainly worth trying to see what can be achieved. In the future, please do increase your altitude and overlap for a more successful map.
Happy flying!
Best,
Stephanie
Stephanie,
Thank you for your reply and suggestions. I will try them and hope to get better results.
Tom
Stephanie,
Thank you again for your help. I have a question for you. My trial period ends today, July 3. I need to re-shoot the field for the client that turned out bad 2 times, and cannot re-do it until tomorrow (July 4) afternoon because of my “real” job. I am making a decision about the Pro package for $999 with Precision Ag. I just want to make sure that the problem has been on my end.
May I have a 1-day extension if that is possible. If not, I certainly understand.
Thank you!
Tom Rayborn
Hi @TCRay,
Sure thing. I went ahead and extended your trial for an extra 3 days from today (until Friday, July 6th) so that you have more time to fully evaluate our software. Please let us know if you have any further questions or need help upgrading to a subscription.
Have a wonderful and safe 4th of July in the meantime!
Cheers,
Stephanie
Stephanie,
Thank you so much for the gracious extension! One question I have that so far I have not gotten a satisfactory answer for and I hope you may help. I have read everything I can on your website regarding the Crop Health, NDVI, VARI, and gone to the Crop Health blog posts, scoured the forum, etc. Here goes…
When I view a Crop Health map, and we see the various colors from green, yellow,red; underneath the Crop Health button is a color spectrum with red on the left to green on the right, and two dots that may be grabbed and slid from side to side.
So after a map is processed and I select Crop Health like the Dorsey - Renken Rd., there is alot of yellow, some green and just a bit of red. But… if I move the right side slider to the left most of the field will turn green so I can just about get any result I want.
I guess I am not understanding what I am initially seeing on that map (with a bunch of yellow) and what the purpose of the slide bar is. Can you help? That is a stumbling block to me with Drone Deploy. Some of your documentation is really good, some leave much to be desired.
With much thanks!
Tom Rayborn
Hi @TCRay,
In terms of moving the histogram tool, you are effectively moving the spectrum of the image over which the scale is applied. That means you can effectively remove the “very dead/red” soil, or “very alive/green” trees that you don’t care about.
Hope that helps!
Cheers,
Stephanie