Dji mavic mini is now available for purchase.
It will be one of the best selling drones due to the price and weight that makes it usable by anyone anywhere without too much bureaucracy.
So many people will want to use it for mapping too.
So when will it be possible to use with dronedloy?
When will you support It?
Thank you!
3 Likes
Hi @S_A,
Currently we do not have plans to support the Mavic mini. It seems like a great drone and our team is excited about it from a hobbyist perspective. There are certain limitations (wifi controlled, sdk-wise) that create for barriers in relation to use with our app. I’ll certainly pass this this request on to our product team though!
1 Like
Wifi connection. No dice unless all you are going to do is map your house. Let’s hope they don’t cripple the coordinates like they did on the Spark.
If you are in the US it’s not going to reduce bureaucracy much.
You would not have to register to use it recreationally, but would still have to follow the same rules as for a larger drone.
And if you used it commercially, it would still have to be registered anyway.
4 Likes
Yes, this. Everyone needs to understand this is not a “no rules drone”. The only thing that is different due to the weight is that you don’t need to register the drone (a 5-minute, $5 process) with FAA to use it recreationally. I think DJI is overselling this benefit, and I think they will have many upset customers when they find out that really nothing has changed as far as flight rules.
All flight restrictions still apply, and if you use it for business, then nothing changes.
2 Likes
This is a game changer in Canada where Transport Canada reduced the regulations to start at 250 grams. I would still need to fly safe but no more red tape. I can use this to 3D map a building without a license or permit as long as I follow the guidelines. Awesome
1 Like
I would kindly request support for this. At 4km range it is obviously not WI-FI. This would be HUGE for me mapping in Canada. Thanks!
1 Like
Yes, it is a boosted 25-30dbm 5.8ghz (wifi) signal and 4km is the absolute range in completely perfect conditions that you will never obtain. Considering the US still has VLOS regulations I’m not so concerned with the range and think that it would be best suited for real estate mapping and inspections. I was one of the people that wanted support for the Spark so I definitely want support for this, but it remains to be seen whether or not the geotagging system is capable of supporting mapping. If I get a couple extra dollars I’ll definitely buy one and let everyone know. Hopefully you would.
Just so you know. The reported 249g weight is with the lighter battery.
I’m interested too in developement in Mavic mini support (if possible).
Small, “cheap” and with no license for the pilot (Canada) drone will be a perfect addition in field worker’s backpack, helping them to gather more precise data faster 
2 Likes
I would love for DD support for the Mavic Mini too. I now own two DJI products (P4P 2.0 with SmartController and Mavic Mini) that cannot use DD.
2 Likes
Would you be willing to share an image from the Mavic Mini so we can see the geotags? If they reduced the accuracy like they did with the Air and the Spark then it is not likely that it will be supported.
Looks pretty spot on from inserting the coordinates from EXIF onto Google Earth on my end.
Accurate to 6 decimals.
It can look spot on, but still not be capable of sub-meter accuracy. Are you looking at DD.DDDD or DDMMSS?
The Air and Spark were rounded to the nearest second which is approximately 90ft in Lat or Lon.
Here is the actual EXIF GPS data.
thanks for verifying! It will be good to confirm positions by doing a manual upload to DroneDeploy. This will tell the true story. The main point for those who might be wondering is that we need to get to at least the third if not fourth digit in seconds. That gets us the possibility of sub-meter accuracy. When I tried to upload images from the Spark they were in a very large grid in many pictures are on top of each other because the geotags were not accurate enough.
I have access to Mini if we need to do testing.
That would be great! I have several use-cases in mind that I think a smaller unit like that could make a little simpler.
2 Likes
I’ve made two maps manually taking pictures and put them in Dronedeploy. Both turned out pretty good. The larger one (75 acres +additional area around trying to get good coverage) turned out great except for four areas. Two didn’t have good overlap and it “filled in” with colored blur. The two others I just missed getting a picture for that spot by a good bit and it just left them blank.
It would be great if I could setup flight plans and let it go. Probably wouldn’t take as long and would get great coverage.
2 Likes
Over here in Europe, there is a massive change in drone regs coming in next year (so called CAP 1789) which removes the commercial / private distinction and replaces it with a series of grades of drone and nature of the operation. Critically the sub 250g category (CO) will be more liberal in terms of overflying people and congested areas - the very kind of thing that drone mapping often entails. While these changes are very welcome clearly DD will need to respond, as there will be an inevitable switch down from the big beasts that are currently often used for mapping.
I would note that “mapping” is more than what craft is convenient to fly. The quality of the imagery actually does matter. I have not looked at the Mini, but a lot of folks were hot on the Air, and the imagery just isn’t that suited for photogrammetry.
I’m not discounting your request. Just commenting that a tool for a certain job is not appropriate just because we want it to be, else we could get rid of all the big expensive cameras and just film Game of Thrones with Osmo Pockets. Much more convenient and economical. (sarcasm !)
2 Likes