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M2P Altitude Curiousity

darkneskies

Active Member
Joined
Apr 3, 2019
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Location
Cherry County, Nebraska
I noticed the ExIF data from the M2P includes altitude, in meters above sea level. At take-off from my deck I was actually at about 2459 feet and the reported value by the drone's camera in ExIF was 2252.6 feet (after converting), about a 63 m difference. My actuals are from a good Delorme Topo map confirmed accurate by AirNav info from a Class E2 airport 3 miles away. I took a picture from the deck and then from the ground and the drone's camera accurately reported the 9 foot difference (686.6 m vs 683.8 m). If I remember correctly when I was flying at about 267 feet high, the difference in ExIF altitudes correctly yield my height (768.2m vs 686.6m). But when at an altitude of 300 feet, as reported by DJI Go 4 App, the ExIF data reported an altitude of 2746 ft above sea level which is 494 feet above the deck and not possible because I instructed the DJI Go 4 App for a max altitude of 120 m or 394 ft. The 300 foot reported altitude by DJI Go 4 actually agrees fairly close with the ExIF altitude less my actual altitude (2746 - 2459). Strange. The drone is either getting ExIF altitude from GPS or from the app's downloaded map. The M2P has barometric sensors to measure height from ground zero as far as I know, but how is the ExIF data actually being created and why such large discrepancies? I'll need to take notes on future flights to figure this out.
 
The ExIF GPS data in the photos match exactly with Delorme Topo map coordinates. It's an altitude miscalculation somehow. I'll take better notes going forward and from different locations to determine (if possible) what's going on. The DJI Mavic 2 GPS correction for Pix4D from Aerial Metrics appears to be a GPS correction only. I've only just started to take photos so my data is severely lacking, but for now, the GPS is accurate. Thanks for info.
 
The ExIF GPS data in the photos match exactly with Delorme Topo map coordinates. It's an altitude miscalculation somehow. I'll take better notes going forward and from different locations to determine (if possible) what's going on. The DJI Mavic 2 GPS correction for Pix4D from Aerial Metrics appears to be a GPS correction only. I've only just started to take photos so my data is severely lacking, but for now, the GPS is accurate. Thanks for info.

The absolute altitude in the EXIF data, even the one labeled "GPS altitude", is actually the barometric altitude based on a standard atmosphere. It can be hundreds of feet off as atmospheric conditions deviate from that standard profile. And if it goes negative, the "GPS altitude" field is set to zero, creating even more confusion.

The thread linked above has a comprehensive discussion of the issue, but post #16 contains a detailed explanation.
 
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