Flight planning for mavic Air

[KristV]

Hello,

I have recently bougth a Mavic Air. One of the things I want to do with it is create 3D maps of my land.

I am looking at a good app to do flight planning. My experiences so far however were mixed...

I tried PIX4D. The problem there is that the phone app did not show any map. I also installed on the iPad, and there could create a flight plan, but I did not find a way to share that with the phone attached to the controller.
I also looked at Dronedeploy. There I managed to prepare a project on my iPad however when I tried it on the android phone I want to dedicate to the controller the app did not work on it. Then when I tried with my iPhone I did get to the point that it detected my drone, but it refused to start the mission because the drone was missing an SD card. (However the Mavic Air has internal memory...)

Both these apps require you to sign up to the pix4d resp. dronedeploy services. Will they still work once the 14 day trial is over?

Are there other options? I would prefer using my own software (eg. Meshroom) to proces the pictures. but need something to plan the flights. Are there other options apart from pix4d and dronedeploy?

Thanks for any pointers, and forgive me if this is a too obvious newbie question...

 

[brass_monkey]

Hi, I assume that you want to plan out a route to fly and get the drone to autonomously fly the route? If so then Litchi does the job very well. It's a paid for app but I've been very happy paying for it. There's loads of help and other resources on the web and YouTube to help you decide. Just search for Litchi.

 

[Keule]

Both these apps require you to sign up to the pix4d resp. dronedeploy services. Will they still work once the 14 day trial is over?

Yes, the flight control apps are working. Only the cloud-based processing is no longer available.

Are there other options?

If you own an iPad use GSPro from DJ to plan your 3D missions.

There are more flight control apps available with more or fewer capabilities.
Search for Autopilot, Map Pilot, UgCS or Hammer Missions to name a few.

 

[KristV]

If you own an iPad use GSPro from DJ to plan your 3D missions.

I though GSPro was not compatible with the Mavic Air. But I will have a look.

Ideally I would like to prepare the mission on an iPad or my PC, and then fly it using the controller and a cheap phone.

I would prefer not to use my main phone for flying, so after my first flights using my phone I switched to using a cheap android phone I had lying around, but without much success.

 

[Keule]

I though GSPro was not compatible with the Mavic Air.

Yep, you were right - AIR is not supported by GSPro.
So, try the other apps I mentioned.

Ideally, I would like to prepare the mission on an iPad or my PC, and then fly it using the controller and a cheap phone.

Then UgCS is the best choice. (However, the app comes with a $$$ charge)
As you said, you will use a cheap phone, Autopilot is not suggested, because it requires a high-performance Phone/tablet to run the app)

 

[KristV]

Then UgCS is the best choice. (However, the app comes with a $$$ charge)
As you said, you will use a cheap phone, Autopilot is not suggested, because it requires a high-performance Phone/tablet to run the app)

Well, I can use my previous main phone, an iPhone 7. Would that do? I plan on making that the dedicated drone phone, but could not do that as it is currently somewhere else...

 

[Keule]

I can use my previous main phone, an iPhone 7.

When using an iPhone, you only have the option between MapPilot or Hammer.
(UgCS is only for Android devices)

Plan your mission in Google Earth, export your flight track as .KML and import it into MapPilot. Fine adjust the mission on your iPhone (i.e. height) and you are good to go.

 

[paul050079]

Use litchi mission it answers all your problems

 

[Meta4]

I also looked at Dronedeploy. There I managed to prepare a project on my iPad however when I tried it on the android phone I want to dedicate to the controller the app did not work on it.
Are there other options apart from pix4d and dronedeploy?

Go back and try DroneDeploy again and work out what you did wrong.
It's become the accepted standard for mapping and has thousands of happy users.

 

[Meta4]

Use litchi mission it answers all your problems

Litchi is not a mapping app.

 

[Inflatable photos]

Hello,

I have recently bougth a Mavic Air. One of the things I want to do with it is create 3D maps of my land.

I am looking at a good app to do flight planning. My experiences so far however were mixed...

I tried PIX4D. The problem there is that the phone app did not show any map. I also installed on the iPad, and there could create a flight plan, but I did not find a way to share that with the phone attached to the controller.
I also looked at Dronedeploy. There I managed to prepare a project on my iPad however when I tried it on the android phone I want to dedicate to the controller the app did not work on it. Then when I tried with my iPhone I did get to the point that it detected my drone, but it refused to start the mission because the drone was missing an SD card. (However the Mavic Air has internal memory...)

Both these apps require you to sign up to the pix4d resp. dronedeploy services. Will they still work once the 14 day trial is over?

Are there other options? I would prefer using my own software (eg. Meshroom) to proces the pictures. but need something to plan the flights. Are there other options apart from pix4d and dronedeploy?

Thanks for any pointers, and forgive me if this is a too obvious newbie question...

You can’t do better than Litchi.
I’ve been flying with this app 4 years now with no problems.

 

[Meta4]

You can’t do better than Litchi.
I’ve been flying with this app 4 years now with no problems.

But you can't use Litchi for what the OP is wanting to do.

 

[paul050079]

Why not?

 

[Meta4]

Why not?

Because it's not a mapping app with all the functions of something like DroneDeploy.
It would be like trying to use a drill when the correct tool is a saw.

The OP tried with the correct tool but didn't get it to work properly.
The solution is to get it working rather than using a different tool.

 

[PHZ]

For what it is worth, I have used DroneDeploy to create dozens of maps. It is an excellent tool. I have used it with the Mavic Pro, Pro 2, Inspire 1 with X3 camera, and Inspire 2 with X4s camera. It works extremely well.
It is best with a live connection to the internet. Through your iPhone that should be no issue. And you are knitting the maps yourself, so you have that covered.
However, having DD process the maps gives you a myriad of other options, but you may not need them.
Good luck.

 

[KristV]

Update: I recovered my old iPhone 6s from the person I lend it out to. Just tried a mission using Pix4D and it worked like a charm. I still have some time left on on pix4d trial, so will see what I get.