DJI Mavic, Air and Mini Drones
Friendly, Helpful & Knowledgeable Community
Join Us Now

map seems to be offset..?

mickmick

Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2025
Messages
5
Reactions
0
Age
52
Location
lusaka, zambia
hello, good evening. inexperienced pilot here, in search of some assistance - after not finding answers, after about an hour and a half of searching the interwebs....

i have an AIR3 and a building project i would like to record over time. so, i created some waypoint missions, both for photos and for videos. the whole thing worked 4 times on different days and looked good. today, however, i went to the site, set up, called the mission from where it is stored (yes, the correct one, i named them myself), just like usual - but the drone flies elsewhere. the shape seems to be identical, but the position is about 20, maybe 30m off to the west. (my location is zambia, lusaka).

has anyone ever had that issue? is there an option to recalibrate the maps? or - most probably - it was an operator error, but which one?

any help would be greatly appreciated, as i am missing phases of the build, while not having a solution...
thanks so much in advance.
cheers
mick
 
I have noticed the same issue with Litchi and Dronelink. The GPS has a range of inaccuracy but usually not 30M off. No major solar activity to affect the GPS now. Dronelink has a method to realign the mission but only in the higher priced professional software. Litchi is supposed to have a Move button to realign but I haven't figured that out yet. Looking for solutions here too...
 
has anyone ever had that issue? is there an option to recalibrate the maps?
No, there is no option to recalibrate the maps.
Even if there was, that wouldn't solve your issue because the maps aren't the problem.
Your waypoints are saved as lat/long coordinates ... not spots on a map.
Was it was an operator error, but which one?
More information would be needed to solve the issue

No major solar activity to affect the GPS now.
Solar activity has never had an effect like this (or much else).
 
I have noticed the same issue with Litchi and Dronelink. The GPS has a range of inaccuracy but usually not 30M off. No major solar activity to affect the GPS now. Dronelink has a method to realign the mission but only in the higher priced professional software. Litchi is supposed to have a Move button to realign but I haven't figured that out yet. Looking for solutions here too...
thanx tom, for your response... which of the softwares you name is on the AIR3, would you know?
the funny thing is, i went back to the building site yesterday, like every day to record the progress, and it didnt do the funky offset again. HOWEVER, in the mission it stopped after 5 (of 7) waypoints and said "return to home"... battery was not the issue at 68%... sigh... this modern world... :)
 
No, there is no option to recalibrate the maps.
Even if there was, that wouldn't solve your issue because the maps aren't the problem.
Your waypoints are saved as lat/long coordinates ... not spots on a map.

More information would be needed to solve the issue


Solar activity has never had an effect like this (or much else).
thank you for your response, too, meta. albeit not very helpful... which information do you need? i would love to provide what i can...

and as far as long/lat coordinates of the waypoints: OF COURSE there is a possibility that a calibration would be necessary: long/lat and first measurement values (first calibration issue: EVERY measurement device needs to be calibrated!) and then, when flying the mission to recorded values (long/lat), there is another measurement (second potential calibration issue (PCI)) AND a comparison (3rd PCI)... so, i am not sure what you are saying, precisely... or maybe we mean similar things, i only used the incorrect terms? sorry, not too routined yet in the community, just a regular engineer, and a rather old one at that.... :)
 
thank you for your response, too, meta. albeit not very helpful... which information do you need?
The too things would be the recorded data from the problematic flight and data that shows the flight that was intended.
I haven't used DJI's waypoint feature, but have used Litchi's.
I can only imagine that they work in the same way.
and as far as long/lat coordinates of the waypoints: OF COURSE there is a possibility that a calibration would be necessary: long/lat and first measurement values (first calibration issue: EVERY measurement device needs to be calibrated!)
There's nothing you can calibrate that is relevant.
The GPS receiver is the only thing that matters and there's no way to calibrate it.

 
  • Like
Reactions: mickmick
The too things would be the recorded data from the problematic flight and data that shows the flight that was intended.
well, that is difficult, as i deleted the failed mission. although something tells me, by "recorded data" you dont mean the actual video, right? is it thos other files that i find in that folder of the drone?
I haven't used DJI's waypoint feature, but have used Litchi's.
I can only imagine that they work in the same way.
you seem WAY ahead of me. i bought the drone a few months ago, consider myself deep in the rookie stage, all i worked with so far is what came with the aircraft...
There's nothing you can calibrate that is relevant.
The GPS receiver is the only thing that matters and there's no way to calibrate it.
got it. bummer...

but even in general, it is not as precise as i had hoped for. i saved the waypoint missions and imagined i would go to the construction site each day, call up said mission(s), the drone flies them, and at the end, i edit it all together and have the building "rise" out of the ground... by now i think the photo mission (with 7 waypoints, giving me 7 directions out of which to show a timelapse of the building materializing) is giving me more, better...
 
well, that is difficult, as i deleted the failed mission. although something tells me, by "recorded data" you dont mean the actual video, right? is it thos other files that i find in that folder of the drone?

you seem WAY ahead of me. i bought the drone a few months ago, consider myself deep in the rookie stage, all i worked with so far is what came with the aircraft...

got it. bummer...

but even in general, it is not as precise as i had hoped for. i saved the waypoint missions and imagined i would go to the construction site each day, call up said mission(s), the drone flies them, and at the end, i edit it all together and have the building "rise" out of the ground... by now i think the photo mission (with 7 waypoints, giving me 7 directions out of which to show a timelapse of the building materializing) is giving me more, better...

If you want the more precise mission for construction progression, a drone with RTK will be much better. The drone will be much consistently much closer to the same exact coordinates of each waypoint.

But you can just use what you have and do some editing in various software.
 
If you want the more precise mission for construction progression, a drone with RTK will be much better. The drone will be much consistently much closer to the same exact coordinates of each waypoint.

But you can just use what you have and do some editing in various software.
thank you for your response. would you have a suggestion as to the editing software? i have been editing my personal videos (prior to the drone) with MAGIX movie editor pro and was thinking of using that same software...
 

DJI Drone Deals

New Threads

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
136,680
Messages
1,619,963
Members
165,317
Latest member
traphuong
Want to Remove this Ad? Simply login or create a free account