Linear Mapping, how to get it to work?

Hello, I am trying to map several roads within an HOA for egress in a fire emergency. I have read through the other topics in the forum and read the description on the app itself. I don’t seem to be getting the pop up that asks me if I want to use the linear mapping feature when I switch it on. I am in the trial period testing out DD, could this be the issue? I am trying to do this on my laptop before I go out in the field as cell service is often spotty around here.

I also have an unrelated question, but one that I’m hoping is a quick answer so it doesn’t warrant another forum post. In addition to the overhead ortho of the roads they would like video from a lower altitude showing what the overgrowth of the roads looks like similar to what you would see driving down the road. I have a DJI Phantom 3 pro, so it has the follow me feature, which I’ve never used. Does anyone know how closely to your walking/driving path the drone follows? Like if I go around a curve will the drone follow my exact path or will it cut the corner? Also is there a preset distance or does it stay at whatever distance you place it a originally. I would go out and test this myself but the wind has been crazy around here lately.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Have you installed the linear mapping option from the app store?

Follow-me uses the connection with the remote so it tracks the path very well. If you go to fast for it then you will get a little S curve through the turn as it calcs the remote path. I find that my P4P tracks pretty tightly up to about 30 mph then it starts to over correct.

Hi @Wendie,

Thanks for swinging by the DroneDeploy Forum. It is great to hear that you are testing our software. I’m happy to answer your questions and other comments below:

  1. In regards the Linear Mapping app, please ensure that you have installed the app (please visit our App Market to do so). Once installed it, the app should appear on your dashboard and you should toggle it on to start adjusting your flight plan:

image

Please give it a try and let us know how that works for you :slight_smile:

  1. To complement @chascoadmin response, if you are attempting to record a video or use the follow me feature, I would recommend you using DJI GO app rather than DroneDeploy. DroneDeploy app does not support recording videos or flying a mission that does not have waypoints.

I hope this resolves your questions. Have a wonderful day!

Best,
Andrea

Once you have it installed, trace the ROW of your road and change the number paths from 3 to 1. Message me if you would like to see what I have been setting up.

Yes I of course I have installed the app. I also turned on the switch, that is the point where nothing happens and I need help. I would like to know what I am missing after that step. I do not see the pop up screen that was shown when I went through the the posts about linear mapping.

I have done that but its still doing the traditional flight path, something is not working correctly.

When you tick on the linear mapping option you should get two prompts for permissions to location and access to modify the map. Do you get those?

No I do not get any prompts.

Here is a screenshot of what my screen looks like:

It didn’t change your flight path either. Could you try running Chrome in Incognito? I used to have allot of issues with the site because of cache and saved data which might have been fixed by now, but I have been running Incognito ever since and never have any problems. Also, i’m guessing you have already removed and reloaded the app?

Yes I did remove and reload the app once already. I will try it in incognito mode. I also just tried it on the ipad and it worked just fine, the prompts came up like they should and I was able to get it set right up, so this problem is specific to my laptop.

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Hi @Wendie,

Thanks for providing this information. The reason as to why you are experiencing issues using the Linear Mapping [Beta] app on your laptop is because, at this time, this app only works on our mobile app. I will let our Product and App Developers team know that our customer would like to plan their flights using this specific app on their desktop account. My apologies for the inconvenience here.

Have a wonderful day!

Best,
Andrea

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Oh well yeah, that sounds like the problem, and yes I would love to be able to pre-plan on the laptop, I rarely fly in areas that have cell service, let alone internet access so I like to lay out the plans ahead of time. I realize this is a Beta app right now though, we have two apps we are currently building and it’s a process…

So in other news I was in the field today and it was too windy to fly but I thought I might try to lay out a couple of flights, none of my folders would open to access already started locations and when I tried adding a flight plan the left side of the screen would just turn blank, the basic flight plan square never showed up on the map either. One location we had full cell service, the second spot had none, the app acted exactly the same in both spots. When I would close down DD completely and reopen there would be a new untitled flight plan that was empty and would not delete after hitting delete. I could zoom in and out and move around the map so it was like only half of the DD app was froze, I tried connecting the drone to see if that changed anything and it never connected, though when I switched over to the DJI Go app it connected just fine. Now that I’m back at my house the app is working fine again. Any ideas on that?

Sorry if I’m asking a lot of questions, I work for a non-profit and funds are really tight so I really need to check everything out while demoing this to make sure it’s going to work well for us before we spend the money on mapping software.

Related question - is there any place to go to better understand how to use Linear Mapping? For example, what does it mean when the interior of your map area turns red?

Oh, I know this one!

The red means that the shape is out of whack somehow. I found that I couldn’t map curves at both ends of the road if the curves weren’t heading in the same direction, I had to split it into two sections. U shape seemed to be good S shape bad, I believe this is because it’s still using a polygon to make the linear path. Does that make sense?

Makes good sense; thanks, Wendie!

I plan linear maps on my laptop… and yes, the red means that you polygon is intersecting itself.

Hi Andrea,
In Linear flight planning app is working for me even in desktop. In number of flight paths I set the value to 3 and I also want to have the option to set the horizontal distance for the offset flight line. Is it depend on your side overlap value ? Also suggest me what should be side and front lap for this kind of corridor mapping. Looking forward for your response.

Hi @Suman,

We have made some improvements to the Linear Mapping [Beta] app, so it should be working in the desktop platform now.

To answer your question, the flight paths and the distance between them depend, primarily, on your side overlap. If you want to adjust that distance, you might want to adjust your flight side overlap. As for the best overlap settings, I always recommend using at least 75% or 80% front and 70% side overlap.

Happy flying!
Andrea

@Suman What type of “corridor” are you referring to? I use the linear app on 1 path for roadways and it works well.