Find My Drone workaround

[Gratton]

I haven't been able to get Find My Drone to work for my MM. When I try, it puts an arrow for me and a teardrop for the drone and a line between them but when I start walking towards it, nothing happens.

I'm using a Galaxy s8+ with no cell service.

The workaround i found is to take the latitude and longitude of the drones last known location from Find My Drone and type it into Google on my active cell phone and have it jump to Google Maps and choose walking directions. That works like I expected Find My Drone would.

MikeG

 

[Ramjam61]

This is something I need to try. Well we all should, rather than waiting until it actually happens for real. Thanks.

 

[Gratton]

If you figure out how to get it to work, please let me know. My workaround works for me but it would be nice to be able to do it in DJI Fly.

MikeG

 

[Capt KO]

Your phone has active gps. S8 does not. Without it, FMD only knows your takeoff point (H) and last drone location. Fly with the phone and it will work like you expect.

 

[Gratton]

Your phone has active gps. S8 does not. Without it, FMD only knows your takeoff point (H) and last drone location. Fly with the phone and it will work like you expect.

Ah, that makes sense. I've been using my old phone for the drone because I don't want to take the case of my active phone each time I want to fly. Also, I'm concerned about what happens when I get calls, texts or notifications. That actually happened today. I got a call while flying and I was able to answer it without issue.

Mikeg

 

[Capt KO]

Ah, that makes sense. I've been using my old phone for the drone because I don't want to take the case of my active phone each time I want to fly. Also, I'm concerned about what happens when I get calls, texts or notifications. That actually happened today. I got a call while flying and I was able to answer it without issue.

Mikeg

Airplane mode on phone. No calls but apps work.

 

[scro]

Did you have GPS (ie location services) enabled on your S8+? I used find my drone and my position updated as I walked towards where the drone was. Without Internet access you'll not get a map overlay, but should still get your, and the drone's locations.

 

[Tucson_Guy]

Ah, that makes sense. I've been using my old phone for the drone because I don't want to take the case of my active phone each time I want to fly. Also, I'm concerned about what happens when I get calls, texts or notifications. That actually happened today. I got a call while flying and I was able to answer it without issue.

Mikeg

Set up a hotspot on your phone Then use wifi on the s8 to connect to said hotspot. The s8 will use your phone's GPS.

 

[DanMan32]

Galaxy phone without GPS? Sounds ridiculous. It would have to be broken or turned off.

A hotspot would only provide network, not GPS. It would allow the retrieval of map details though, since that's obtained from the internet.

 

[Tucson_Guy]

Galaxy phone without GPS? Sounds ridiculous. It would have to be broken or turned off.

A hotspot would only provide network, not GPS. It would allow the retrieval of map details though, since that's obtained from the internet.

He's using an s8 with no cell service, therefore, no GPS. He also has an active cell phone to receive calls.

I fly using a tablet with no GPS. When connected to my phone's hotspot it shows my phone's GPS.

 

[DanMan32]

You don't need cell service for GPS. GPS is its own radio. It's receive only so it even works in airplane mode.

Now location services can use cell towers for determining location, particularly when GPS is problematic, but even then you don't need a cell subscription. It still receives cell radio.

Wifi has also been used for location services using a wifi database mapping wifi IDs with where they are located. Its an interesting read on how that database is managed.

However DJI apps only use GPS.

 

[DanMan32]

I also believe you're confusing getting map details, which you'd need internet for, with getting earth coordinates with GPS. I suspect your tablet has GPS, but the app needs internet to display it in a way you are familiar.

 

[dennyc39]

I haven't been able to get Find My Drone to work for my MM. When I try, it puts an arrow for me and a teardrop for the drone and a line between them but when I start walking towards it, nothing happens.

I'm using a Galaxy s8+ with no cell service.

The workaround i found is to take the latitude and longitude of the drones last known location from Find My Drone and type it into Google on my active cell phone and have it jump to Google Maps and choose walking directions. That works like I expected Find My Drone would.

MikeG

I tested "Find my Drone" today, one test. My Mavic Air 2 had a good GPS lock when I took off (15 birds). I flew around a bit, out to 2200 ft., then did RTH. I paused rTH when it was apparent that it would miss the takeoff point by about 5 feet and get into trouble. Then as a test, I flew over and landed in a vacant lot about 500 feet away. I then used Find my Drone to navigate to the drone. It got me within about 10 feet of the drone. Close enough for most situations, but not for murky water or things like a blackberry patch.

Note that my ipad has cellular data, and thus gps. The very important fact that no-cellular gets you a cheap ipad (and perhaps any tablet) with no GPS capability seems to be easy to miss when people buy a tablet. With apple it is almost a secret. For these, FMD
will not work other than giving you a landing spot on a map that is recorded from the GPS in the drone. You are on your own for getting yourself to that spot.

It was not necessary to carry the RC. The FMD worked within DJI fly on the ipad alone. The RC would be necessary to get it to flash/beep.

The lat / long trick described by you with a cell phone worked within about 15 feet, but was harder to use.