And? Can you get in already?
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This was my assumption Michael.
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I did get in and this is all it had for the MA2 iOS Mobile SDK. Android also stated support for the MA2.
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Deadline is end of March?
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Когда уже сможем летать? Подскажите пожалуйста
There is no deadline and DroneDeploy cannot tell you definitively when they will be able to release it. You are welcome to sign up for the DJI Developers group and when you see an official release come out that states the availability of waypoints then it might be more beneficial to ask DroneDeploy. Judging from other models it would be assumed that DJI might release it in April, but noone has control over that but them. The other problem that we have is the fact that DJI separates functionality for a reason. There are several models in the past that not only didn’t have waypoint control but also had truncated coordinates so the geotags were worthless anyways. Why would they want to sell a $900 model to professionals when they could have a better package at $1500. Beyond that I have said it many times and will continue to that the specs of the Mavic Air 2 are not sufficient for professional mapping which is what DroneDeploy caters to. You are welcome to take your own pictures and load them in to a number of other softwares that are good for subpar maps and models.
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This app does have waypoint mode with Mavic Air 2.
If this app does, then why not Drone Deploy?
Looking forward to it.
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Rainbow uses virtual sticks just like the others. See why this is different above.
Regardless of whether the mavic air 2 can work completely or incompletely with drone deploy, can we assume that we can use it? Even though they are virtual sticks?
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As long as you can manually control the gimbal or program it to the correct angles you could theoretically use that program and then just upload the pictures manually to DroneDeploy.
Other alternatives to automated flight via virtual sticks include Beta support through Dronelink. If users are looking for a post processing tool, I recommend the open source software WebODM.
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What makes the Mavic Air 2 not sufficient for professional mapping?
As a licensed drone pilot, I agree to a point. I have used the Mavic Air 2 for mapping missions, manual flight and automated flight using the app Maven. The end result was <0.5 foot resolution pixels. I could clearly see small objects (water valve covers in the street). I would not discourage new users looking for a cost-effective solution.
I’ve never used Maven. Is it similar to Drone Deploy? Does it allow you to plan flights ?
It is an IOS app (13$ USD) that uses virtual sticks. Its is designed for video collection, but you can lay out a gridded path and have the app collect pictures on a timed interval along each leg. You have to estimate the overlap, but it worked well.
You can read the posts above, but in “short” -
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It is not capable of automated waypoints that allow it to fly in the case that it loses communication to the controller. If you lose connection to the controller you are out of luck and even if it regains connection it will break your virtual stick waypoint mission. This also creates possible scenarios in which you will be denied waivers and/or will not meet the requirements of municipal and State managed projects. Also, it will not be capable of terrain following which means that your GSD will not be consistent.
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It is not capable of any kind of RTK/PPK corrections of the geotags which means that it is not capable of centimeter accuracy unless you use ALLOT of GCP’s. Pixel resolution is not map and model accuracy.
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The camera is only 12MP which means that you have to fly much lower to get the resolution (0.7in/px or better) of a survey-grade capable drone.
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It is very small and will have trouble with any winds above 10mph sustained or 20mph gusts. This will also decrease battery life. At least in our area that would have you down most of the time.
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Even with making adjustments to compensate your flight time will be longer than a M2P and much longer than a P4P which means that unless you have allot of batteries you will be limited in the size of projects you can do in a consecutive amount of time before the paths of satellite orbits become a problem in creating a consistent map.
@evansenriquez, If you read my post just above you will see that I state that you can make maps without using DroneDeploy for flight. My point is that it is not capable of professional survey-grade mapping. What do you mean by “The end result was <0.5ft resolution pixels”? That would be 6in/px and that is terrible. The GSD and pixel resolution is determined by your camera resolution and AGL so there is a wide range of values that the GSD could be. The MA2 is definitely capable of better than 0.5ft/px. While you may be able to see a 6in water valve cover what happens when you zoom all the way in. Tie-points depend on individual pixels that can be matched across many different images and the fewer the pixels there are the less tie-points you will have which has an even further lack of accuracy. What is your typical mission configuration? I can assure you that there are ALLOT of licensed professional pilots on this forum and you can ask any one of them and they will tell you the same thing. Basically you are going back 5-years in time to a Mavic Pro or Phantom 3 Standard in terms of mapping capability. We are way past that now.
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I am not trying to get into an argument. I checked a few projects and the Mavic Air 2 maps I have made had a resolution of 4cm or ~1.5 inches. I was just sharing my experience and knowledge. I am happy with the performance of the Mavic Air 2.
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No arguments here, just experience and opinion. I am sure that the MA2 might work for some people, but expectations have to be understood and what level is DroneDeploy going to consider an acceptable demand… All the posts across this forum are about a year old and only have about 25 original posters that are interested in the compatibility. I think it should have it, but understand what you are giving clients and how that meets the standards of professional drone mappers. We as a community need to maintain those relationships. If your are just doing a map here and there then get after it!
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I agree with Michael. It depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. If you’re looking at high accuracy for mapping projects, I would not consider the MA2, mainly due to the rolling shutter on the camera. It is a great little bird for obtaining video and photos, and it can be considered a nice little backup in the case of the inevitable, but it does not have a suitable camera (IMO) for photogrammetric mapping. I struggled with the concept at first, mainly because of the more expensive drones/cameras. I ended up flying the P4P’s since their cameras are more suitable for creating fairly accurate orthoimagery, and can handle a variety of conditions (and they broken the bank yet).
Just my two cents.
Doug
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