First Map - Brutal

Data Processing - Discussion and Q&A
1

Well I did my first map today, but it looks more like some glob from outer space. The area is actually three small islands near a beach,

Everything seemed to work fine, except for the number of photos not being counted on my phone screen. I flew the map a t two different hieghts, 247 and 125 feet. I also did a bunch of extra photos to try and get more detail.

Any idea what went wrong?

https://www.dronedeploy.com/app2/data/58e7d61a9fa314597d25ccd5

2

I removed the images that were not taken in the Drone Deploy app and the map is a little better.

https://www.dronedeploy.com/app2/data/58e847bfd8ba8936bdcfef4d

3

@jmorse62
Neither of the links took me to the maps. Can you answer the following:

  1. What Drone are you using?
  2. What was your front and side overlap? At least 75%
  3. What time of day did you fly?
  4. Did any of your extra images contain the horizon?
  5. Was the camera settings on automatic or manual? If manual, did you adjust the camera prior to launching the mission?

Sorry for all of the questions, just trying to get a feel for what may have went wrong without seeing the map :slight_smile:

4

Thanks for the help.

  1. Mavic Pro
  2. 80% overlap front and side
  3. 11:30 am
  4. I checked the extra images and there was some horizon, probably not a good idea.
  5. Camera settings were on automatic.

Hi,
A Drone map has been shared with you. Sign in (or sign up) to DroneDeploy to view the map securely.
Just click the link below:
http://drdp.ly/QrFk3K

5

Horizon in images will almost certainly cause issues with the resulting stitching. Always filter out images with horizon before processing.

See here: http://support.dronedeploy.com/v1.0/docs/making-successful-maps#section-non-nadir-photos

1 Like
6

@jmorse62
So here is what I see, which may or may not be helpful:

  1. The horizon issue is a big no-no.
  2. My experience is that rendering over large areas of water turns out poorly due to the reflective nature of the water. In addition, it appears that there may have been some decent wave action during the survey, which would compound the issue.
  3. Try manual settings. Take the drone up and adjust the settings within the DJI App and then start your mission with those settings. The colors seem muted.
  4. Don’t give up! It takes a little getting use to the settings and methodology, but it is a very easy learning curve.
7

Thanks. I was trying to figure out why the colors looked so bad, but at this time of year things are really dull. The water was also brown after a storm, and really reflecting the sun for some reason.
There is a small agriculture test field nearby that I will try in the next couple days. It is about 20 acres and I think it might be interesting to show them what a drone can do to monitor the crops.