Exact Location?

[spamgnome]

I have an Air 3S with the NC3 controller. I need to have the drone fly to a specific location given by lat / Longs. Is this possible and if so how?

 

[Cafguy]

No its not. Even if it was possible to say input a place to fly to...GPS won't put you in an exact spot.
The GPS we use is not that accurate ..It will only get you within 20 feet or so. and I'm not including the Ephemeris Errors.

 

[spamgnome]

Within 20' would be fine actually. I was hoping perhaps one of the other apps might work

 

[Felix le Chat]

I have an Air 3S with the NC3 controller. I need to have the drone fly to a specific location given by lat / Longs. Is this possible and if so how?

Not with the software shoehorned into the drone... however there is a way to have it fly repeatedly and accurately to a (+/- 10-45') GPS northing and westing position.

Load Google Earth. Scout the location you want to shoot. Visually locate a recognisable point in the landscape (the corner of a building, a large boulder or something equally attention grabbing). This is where the drone will hover so you can orient your camera and get your shots. Now look in the bottom right hand corner of the screen: there's the northing and westing co-ordinates.

Use waypoints and choose a memorable area in the vicinity of your shoot location for your static TOAL point (this is the exact spot you'll take off from every time you want to repeat the flight). Now set your TOAL pin.

Mark your one and only waypoint on the recognisable point in the landscape you identified on Google Earth. Set the direction you want the camera facing in.

Now save your waypoint mission and it can be repeated ad infinitum.

**Mark the TOAL spot on the ground indelibly when you get on-site... this is the equivalent of your Take Off And Landing GCP (Ground Control Point)**

 

[spamgnome]

Thanks for the reply, although this is not quite the thing I need to do. I HAVE GPS coordinates and I just need to verify that the drone is at those coordinates when I do my shot. Perhaps your instructions above reference that, but I may be too dense to realize it

 

[KB9Radio]

You can fly to any number of preprogrammed locations with Litchi, however I don't know if Litchi works with the Air 3S. You'd have to check on Litchis website for compatibility list. On Litchi you can create a "mission" to fly to a specific location or many locations, tell it how long to stay there, and what to do while it's there. Then tell it where to go from there. It's not compatible with all models, but a quite a few.

 

[KB9Radio]

No its not. Even if it was possible to say input a place to fly to...GPS won't put you in an exact spot.
The GPS we use is not that accurate ..It will only get you within 20 feet or so. and I'm not including the Ephemeris Errors.

Sorry, but I find that hard to believe. I can hit RTH from a mile away and it will land on my landing pad inches from where it took off. I've done it many times and it's never been more than a foot off.

 

[Meta4]

Sorry, but I find that hard to believe. I can hit RTH from a mile away and it will land on my landing pad inches from where it took off. I've done it many times.

If your drone is returning to within inches of the launch point, that's because it's using the optical technology of the Precision Landing feature.
GPS cannot do that.

 

[Cafguy]

Sorry, but I find that hard to believe. I can hit RTH from a mile away and it will land on my landing pad inches from where it took off. I've done it many times and it's never been more than a foot off.

Get you some tape and make some wavy lines on your pad with it...Then it will land precisely on the pad!

 

[spamgnome]

You can fly to any number of preprogrammed locations with Litchi, however I don't know if Litchi works with the Air 3S. You'd have to check on Litchis website for compatibility list. On Litchi you can create a "mission" to fly to a specific location or many locations, tell it how long to stay there, and what to do while it's there. Then tell it where to go from there. It's not compatible with all models, but a quite a few.

Air 3S, I found out, doesn't have an SDK, so it won't work with other control apps

 

[akdrone]

Sadly there is no easy way to do this. While GPS isn't that accurate it would seem trivial for DJI to add a GPS readout. On a different note, if you want to know where your drone IS...you can take a photo. The GPS coordinates will be recorded on the image. It doesn't help your question...but thought it might be worth mentioning.

 

[spamgnome]

Sadly there is no easy way to do this. While GPS isn't that accurate it would seem trivial for DJI to add a GPS readout. On a different note, if you want to know where your drone IS...you can take a photo. The GPS coordinates will be recorded on the image. It doesn't help your question...but thought it might be worth mentioning.

That actually WOULD help with what I'm trying to do. However, my Air 3S doesn't cache the photos to my iPad / phone like my Air 2 used to. Plus, I don't believe that the photo has the EXIF data on it...one would need a PC to see that, which makes things impractical. I think the closest I can come is to visually compare the "pin" that indicates my desired location to what I see on the map on my controller.

 

[akdrone]

That actually WOULD help with what I'm trying to do. However, my Air 3S doesn't cache the photos to my iPad / phone like my Air 2 used to. Plus, I don't believe that the photo has the EXIF data on it...one would need a PC to see that, which makes things impractical. I think the closest I can come is to visually compare the "pin" that indicates my desired location to what I see on the map on my controller.

Lightroom will show gps coord and it's available on iPad so that might be something to check out...

 

[AZDave]

Sorry, but I find that hard to believe. I can hit RTH from a mile away and it will land on my landing pad inches from where it took off. I've done it many times and it's never been more than a foot off.

Clearly you don't understand how your drone works. It's the optical landing capability that is giving you that kind of precision. Read your manual.

 

[akdrone]

Clearly you don't understand how your drone works. It's the optical landing capability that is giving you that kind of precision. Read your manual.

Easy boy...easy ...

 

[spamgnome]

Lightroom will show gps coord and it's available on iPad so that might be something to check out...

Yes, but how do I get the drone to cache to the iPad? I really miss that functionality

 

[akdrone]

Yes, but how do I get the drone to cache to the iPad? I really miss that functionality

If you were running the DJI app from the iPad I think that might work....or you'd have to transfer it from your phone. I forget what DJI calls it...Quick Transfer or something. I'll see if I can do that directly to my iPad...

 

[akdrone]

Yes, but how do I get the drone to cache to the iPad? I really miss that functionality

I found you can quick transfer to the iPad. No problem. But I do have Lightroom installed and it is not showing the GPS coordinates. For whatever reason, when the file is sent by quick transfer the GPS coord are lost or Lightroom for the iPad can't read them. Not sure what's going on there. LR on my computer and even the Finder can see the GPS coord on a DJI pic.

 

[DISC]

Get you some tape and make some wavy lines on your pad with it...Then it will land precisely on the pad!

My pad has an H - would some sort of wavy lines be more accurate? Just asking for a friend as it’s the first time I’ve heard about this…..

 

[Cafguy]

My pad has an H - would some sort of wavy lines be more accurate? Just asking for a friend as it’s the first time I’ve heard about this…..

You must use a different Substrate then the pad! shiny semi reflective black tape works great. the Drones sensors cant tell the difference if you just draw it on the Pad. you can use many shapes a hashtag shape works well.