How hard would it be to simulate litchi missions in google earth?

pogopilot · Feb 16, 2017

JTS said:
That is indeed harsh: I'm offended. I'm a professional programmer known in real life to several people on this forum: of course I wouldn't write a virus.

The program has built-in instructions, which you deliberately ignored.

Dropping a file into the download directory and then running the program won't work. This is because the program uses a Windows api call (fileSystemWatcher) to monitor the contents of (in this case) the download directory looking for the appearance of a file called litchi_mission.csv. when it appears, it converts it to KML and blah blah blah.

How about either:

A) delete litchi_mission.csv from the download directory, then run the program and copy the file into the download directory? That would work.
or
B) follow the instructions before you start hurling unwarranted aspersions.

JTS, this sounds amazing!. I cannot wait to try this when I get back home in a few days!

Gernby · Feb 16, 2017

WolfgangStiller said:
You can do "add Path" in google earth to create points for a flight route. If you set relative elevations, you can use to setup Litchi elevations (relative to take off point). What you do is export the path as a kml from google earth and then import that into the flylitchi.com web page. There is a youtube video that walks you through that step-by-step. A search on Litchi should let you find that video.

I was able to do that through google maps, but it wasn't what I'm looking for. I don't want to manually create points. What I wan is to enter a starting address and ending address, then export the GPS route map that follows the streets, intersections, and curves between those 2 addresses. That would make it much easier for real estate agents to create videos in and out of neighborhoods.

JTS · Feb 16, 2017

Gernby said:
I was able to do that through google maps, but it wasn't what I'm looking for. I don't want to manually create points. What I wan is to enter a starting address and ending address, then export the GPS route map that follows the streets, intersections, and curves between those 2 addresses. That would make it much easier for real estate agents to create videos in and out of neighborhoods.

I just had a quick look into that. It looks do-able. GE saves direction routes as KMZ, so it's mainly a matter of adding KMZ support.

I'll add it to the features list for v2. If it's windy or too cold to fly at the weekend I'll be coding!

WolfgangStiller · Feb 16, 2017

Nice work on that software!

Gernby · Feb 16, 2017

JTS said:
I just had a quick look into that. It looks do-able. GE saves direction routes as KMZ, so it's mainly a matter of adding KMZ support.

I'll add it to the features list for v2. If it's windy or too cold to fly at the weekend I'll be coding!

That would be awesome! Thanks!

MavicFrank · Feb 16, 2017

This sounds like a fantastic idea and I am going to have to give it a try for sure. On my tablet now, but I should be able to give it a go over the weekend. Thanks for putting this together!

triafgg · Feb 18, 2017

Would love this to work, unfortunately no. Standard Win10, any ideas?

triafgg · Feb 18, 2017

Sorry, works brilliantly, dropped in wrong dir:-(

Thanks JTS

torqum · Feb 19, 2017

JTS said:
Here you go, zip file worked. Give me some feedback (especially if it doesn't work on your machine!)

This is v1, I have some more ideas to include when I have time. If you have any request or ideas I'm happy to include them.

For best results:

In Google Earth:
go to "Tools/Options/3D View" and set "Elevation Exaggeration" to 1.
go to "Tools/Options/Navigation" and set "Fly-To-Speed" to 5.
go to "Layers" on the sidebar and ensure "Trees" under "3D Buildings" is checked.

This program works best if you click "Don't ask again" when prompted in both Litchi & Google Earth.

To see one of my my favorites right now (and to test that trees & buildings are showing up ok)
search Litchi Mission Hub for "B Street Trail" and them zoom out a little bit until you see the yellow blob, click it and export to csv.

Wow, that's awesome and it works pretty well. A couple questions though. For some reason it flies really fast through my missions. I've tried to slow it down, but it doesn't matter what the "fly-to-speed" is set to, whether it's at the minimum or maximum, it always flies at the same rate.

Also, I've noticed a frustrating discrepancy between missions presented in the litchi app and missions presented on litchi's website. In the litchi app you can set a default for the heading of the mavic, and it will be applied to all waypoints automatically, as long as a waypoint isn't in focus POI mode. But on the mission hub on the website, even if you've loaded the same mission, a waypoint that isn't focused on a POI will retain the heading of the previous waypoint instead of assuming the default. What this means, for example, is if you've designed a mission in the app where the mavic is always pointing towards the next waypoint, when you load the mission on the website it will instead give a fixed heading to all waypoints. And of course when I then use your program to simulate the mission it is all wrong.

So do you know why the fly-to-speed settings don't work and if there's anything I can do to ensure that the mission as displayed on the website matches the mission as designed in the app?

triafgg · Feb 19, 2017

Same for me, fly to speed doesn't slow it down. Would be great to make mission really slow for analysis purposes. Otherwise, brilliant.

Related to this, I found out today that if you export your flight from Healthy Drones and import to Google Earth you can see your mission in 3D, showing elevation.

Downunder · Feb 19, 2017

If you download one of your missions. i.e. export it to a CSV. it does not save the file as litchi_mission.csv. it downloads it as <mission_saved_Name>.csv
I found you have to rename it litchi_mission.csv then drop it into the directory when the program is open.

deonmap · Feb 25, 2017

Hi, I try to run the program. The Lichi file is been exported into the directory, I then click on "Launch Google Earth" - but nothing happens?

Something else I must do?

triafgg · Feb 25, 2017

You need to run the app, and then drop the file from Litchi, renamed to litchi_mission.csv into the downloads directory. Close Google earth first and it will re-open it with your mission.

deonmap · Feb 25, 2017

Still no luck ... sorry.

I done the following .. in this exact order:

1. Open Lichi
2. Search for the mission "B Street Trail, Forest Grove, OR, United States"
3. Export the mission to the downloads folder. (just to be exact ... <C:\Users\Deon\Downloads>
4. If I look with explorer, the file <litchi_mission.csv> exist in the folder.
5. I Double click on <MissionVisualizer>
6. Google Earth launch.
7. I close Google Earth
6. I go to your program, Click Launch "Google Earth>
7. Nothing happen

Sorry to nag you, I really want to see how your program works.

MavicFrank · Feb 25, 2017

JTS,
I tried out your software. It's an interesting proof of concept, but the helpfulness at this point is limited by a few factors. My mission was set up to fly at 10mph but it zoomed through at like 50mph as others have mentioned. My only other concern is the camera angles are wrong. I had my POI on a house on the top of a mountain, and was almost never in view. I flew the mission just to see if I had something in Litchi set up wrong, but the house was clearly in the center of view. One other thing would be nice. If your file watcher could be configured to watch for any new csv file, it would be much easier to use. As one software engineer to another, I am not knocking your work. Just trying to give some feed back in the event you would like to take this farther.

deonmap · Feb 25, 2017

Been a programmer myself, I know how much work is going on in the background... but THIS functionality is desperately needed ... I think.

So, I agree, if you can build on this concept, it will be something very nice ... and I am sure some of us will be even willing to pay for it..

Keep going please...

triafgg · Feb 25, 2017

Deonmap, you are not following the instructions

close everything.
open the visualiser app
drop the litchi_mission.csv into the directory showing as download in the app, NOT the visualiser directory. Make sure there is not one there already as the app looks for a new copy.
google earth will open automatically, you do not need to click on open google earth

triafgg · Feb 25, 2017

I would contribute/donate for the above functionality, it's a great idea but with some small issues.

torqum · Feb 25, 2017

MavicFrank said:
JTS,
I tried out your software. It's an interesting proof of concept, but the helpfulness at this point is limited by a few factors. My mission was set up to fly at 10mph but it zoomed through at like 50mph as others have mentioned. My only other concern is the camera angles are wrong. I had my POI on a house on the top of a mountain, and was almost never in view. I flew the mission just to see if I had something in Litchi set up wrong, but the house was clearly in the center of view. One other thing would be nice. If your file watcher could be configured to watch for any new csv file, it would be much easier to use. As one software engineer to another, I am not knocking your work. Just trying to give some feed back in the event you would like to take this farther.

The missions I've simulated with this program have strong fidelity between the field of view in google earth and in real life. I wonder if your problem might be a difference between the altitude that Litchi thinks you are launching at (the ground) and the actual altitude you're launching at. For example, if you launch from the top of a structure that's well above ground (say 10m), but in mission planning you fixed all your POIs to ground level (i.e. 1m), then your camera angles will be based on the assumption that you're 10m lower than you actually are.

That's one nitpick I have with Litchi and with this simulation program. Whenever I'm launching from an above ground structure I always have to create two versions of the same mission. One, for simulation purposes, in which all the waypoints and POIs are set as if I'm launching from the ground, and the other for actually flying the mission. It's very tedious.

MavicFrank · Feb 25, 2017

torqum said:
The missions I've simulated with this program have strong fidelity between the field of view in google earth and in real life. I wonder if your problem might be a difference between the altitude that Litchi thinks you are launching at (the ground) and the actual altitude you're launching at. For example, if you launch from the top of a structure that's well above ground (say 10m), but in mission planning you fixed all your POIs to ground level (i.e. 1m), then your camera angles will be based on the assumption that you're 10m lower than you actually are.

That's one nitpick I have with Litchi and with this simulation program. Whenever I'm launching from an above ground structure I always have to create two versions of the same mission. One, for simulation purposes, in which all the waypoints and POIs are set as if I'm launching from the ground, and the other for actually flying the mission. It's very tedious.

I think that's it. The first waypoint was at 200ft. I was in a very tree cluttered area and didn't trust Litchi (in combination with my initial launch point) to clear the trees, so I manually flew up to the first waypoint before starting the mission. So if I understand you correctly, I can make a copy of the mission and insert a waypoint at the beginning at ground level and that will correct the angles? I will give this a try later today. It is a little tedious, but I really do like to be able to see the mission fly in the safety of virtual reality before I go out and fly it.

I do hope JTS continues to work on this project. I would certainly pay a reasonable amount for a finished product.