Mavic 3 and Waypoints

[jmm123]

Will Waypoints as we know it on the Mavic 2 ever come to the Mavic 3?
There is a brief reference to Waypoints in the new Mavic 3 Firmware
TIA,
John

 

[Lasidora]

Only when DJI releases the actual SDK to 3rd parties such as Litchi will we see "proper" waypoint capability. I remember using my Mavic 2 Pro on the Go 4 app & trying waypoints & found it rather limited & somewhat clumsy. Only after trying Litchi did I realize just what the drone was actually capable of doing using waypoints, quite astounding really, although I will be honest I would feel VERY nervous using the Mavic 3 for the same thing, just seem to be too many bugs in the firmware at the moment, I much prefer using the Mavic 2 Pro at the moment as it has turned out to very reliable at what it currently does.

 

[spamgnome]

Only when DJI releases the actual SDK to 3rd parties such as Litchi will we see "proper" waypoint capability. I remember using my Mavic 2 Pro on the Go 4 app & trying waypoints & found it rather limited & somewhat clumsy. Only after trying Litchi did I realize just what the drone was actually capable of doing using waypoints, quite astounding really, although I will be honest I would feel VERY nervous using the Mavic 3 for the same thing, just seem to be too many bugs in the firmware at the moment, I much prefer using the Mavic 2 Pro at the moment as it has turned out to very reliable at what it currently does.

A couple weeks ago one of the drone YouTubers was told by DJI directly that the M3 will NEVER support waypoints. This has been conformed by others on this forum. Same for the Air 2. I waited a year thinking that they would support it. Nope!

 

[jmm123]

Thanks - that has kind of confirmed it. I am like Lasidora - very comfortable using waypoints when flying.
I wonder if they are avoiding Waypoints for the M3 as it would be too good to be true (for beginners especially) and overly powerful??

 

[Desert Drone Works]

There are baby waypoints in hyperlapse mode for the M3, hardly useful for most situations though. I read that waypoints weren't even on the roadmap for M3.

 

[AZDave]

I think DJI considers the M3 to still be in the "recreational" category, and as I've said before it seems pretty obvious to me that DJI has no plans to ever include the capability for autonomous waypoint missions anymore in their recreational series of drones. My personal (and totally unfounded) opinion for this is that they are trying to defuse governmental concerns about foreign drones in general and the ability of drones to circumvent FAA restrictions for drones in particular. The FAA specifically requires that the operator must have the ability to manually control the drone at all times, and autonomous waypoints potentially violate that.

In my case, I'd like to be able to fly my MA2 drone behind a mountain or on the other side of a ridge line, but to do so would mean loss of signal and loss of VLOS. Autonomous waypoints would allow me to do that, but both are prohibited.

 

[Defens]

Hmmm. Was going to sell my MP to partially fund my inbound Air 2S. I guess I might just need to keep the old bird around!

 

[LA 2020]

Will Waypoints as we know it on the Mavic 2 ever come to the Mavic 3?
There is a brief reference to Waypoints in the new Mavic 3 Firmware
TIA,
John

Another reason not to get an M3 yet. I can't imagine having a drone without waypoint capability. It seems the M3 was rushed to market for before Christmas. I just see too many issues online. Hopefully for all those that already bought one all the issues can be cured with software updates

 

[meeestermike]

Thanks - that has kind of confirmed it. I am like Lasidora - very comfortable using waypoints when flying.
I wonder if they are avoiding Waypoints for the M3 as it would be too good to be true (for beginners especially) and overly powerful??

I've recently purchased a Mavic 2 Enterprise thinking the autonomous flight capability would be available (I thought I had seen it somewhere that it was) For those who want to work with their drone, it makes all the sense in the world to have that capability, but for the life of me, I can not understand how a company like DJI who would want to sell as many drones as they could would leave autonomous flight out of the equation...

 

[AZDave]

I've recently purchased a Mavic 2 Enterprise thinking the autonomous flight capability would be available (I thought I had seen it somewhere that it was) For those who want to work with their drone, it makes all the sense in the world to have that capability, but for the life of me, I can not understand how a company like DJI who would want to sell as many drones as they could would leave autonomous flight out of the equation...

I'm pretty sure that DJI is leaving autonomous flight out of the equation PRECISELY because they want to sell as many drones as possible. Most of the governments of the bulk of the current drone user base (USA, most of Europe, etc) specifically require constant signal connection and for the operator to have continuous control over the aircraft. As I've said several times here, I'm pretty certain that DJI is not including autonomous waypoints because they don't want to be excluded by the respective governments from selling in those countries. How is that difficult to understand?

 

[meeestermike]

I'm pretty sure that DJI is leaving autonomous flight out of the equation PRECISELY because they want to sell as many drones as possible. Most of the governments of the bulk of the current drone user base (USA, most of Europe, etc) specifically require constant signal connection and for the operator to have continuous control over the aircraft. As I've said several times here, I'm pretty certain that DJI is not including autonomous waypoints because they don't want to be excluded by the respective governments from selling in those countries. How is that difficult to understand?

Thanks for your reply. I understand what you're saying and can rationalize to that point, but since DJI has the ability to sell to numerous countries, why couldn't they pick and choose which drones to sell where? They have quite a selection to choose from to suit each person's needs. I only have the need to fly here in the U.S. and simple mapping flights and the ability to orbit is what I'd be looking for. That is happening all over the U.S.. Are you saying that would be too autonomous? I guess I don't not understand the level of control you're talking about.

 

[Meta4]

I'm pretty sure that DJI is leaving autonomous flight out of the equation PRECISELY because they want to sell as many drones as possible.

I would think that assuming that DJI won't produce an SDK which allows waypoint flight would be a mistake.
Just because someone from DJI said something, or someone said that someone from DJI said something is not conclusive evidence of anything.
Waypoint flight is important for a lot more than recreation use.
It's critical for surveying, mapping and agricultural applications and many DJI Phantom 4 pro and Mavic 2 pro drones are used for those purposes.
It would be surprising if DJI would not support such uses for the M3.

 

[AZDave]

Thanks for your reply. I understand what you're saying and can rationalize to that point, but since DJI has the ability to sell to numerous countries, why couldn't they pick and choose which drones to sell where? They have quite a selection to choose from to suit each person's needs. I only have the need to fly here in the U.S. and simple mapping flights and the ability to orbit is what I'd be looking for. That is happening all over the U.S.. Are you saying that would be too autonomous? I guess I don't not understand the level of control you're talking about.

I'm pretty sure that DJI wouldn't find it economically feasible to offer different versions of the same model for different countries. The software differences would likely be trivial, but the logistics would be a nightmare for them.

I'm only saying that the capability for fully autonomous waypoints means that the drone can fly somewhere beyond direct control of the operator, and that's the part that many governments have ruled against. In my opinion, DJI has decided that they don't want to offer a product that clearly and easily would circumvent that government requirement. They are already under tremendous scrutiny from western governments.

Pre-programmed waypoints per se are not the problem, and apps like Dronelink, Litchi, and Maven can do those (and legally so) ... but only as long as the signal connection is maintained (i.e., virtual stick). I'm not sure, but I think all three of those apps can do predefined mapping as long you maintain signal integrity. I know Dronelink can. Pretty certain Litchi can. Don't remember about Maven.

 

[AZDave]

I would think that assuming that DJI won't produce an SDK which allows waypoint flight would be a mistake.
Just because someone from DJI said something, or someone said that someone from DJI said something is not conclusive evidence of anything.
Waypoint flight is important for a lot more than recreation use.
It's critical for surveying, mapping and agricultural applications and many DJI Phantom 4 pro and Mavic 2 pro drones are used for those purposes.
It would be surprising if DJI would not support such uses for the M3.

I'm not assuming anything based upon what anybody has said, and I never said I did. I am, however, assuming that DJI has made that decision based upon the fact that none of their recent drones have that capability, together with the fact that I read the news enough to know that some elements of various western governments would like to exclude DJI from their borders altogether.

I do suspect that DJI might make a distinction between drones targeted to the recreational market versus drone intended more for professional use, but until we see a new drone come out with autonomous capability we won't know one way or the other. And we don't know for sure where DJI considers the M3 to be on that scale.

 

[Meta4]

I am, however, assuming that DJI has made that decision based upon the fact that none of their recent drones have that capability

DJI haven't released a small drone suitable for serious commercial use since the Mavic 2, several years back.

together with the fact that I read the news enough to know that some elements of various western governments would like to exclude DJI from their borders altogether.

Only one western government has made noises about DJI.
But it's just political posturing.
If they wanted to exclude DJI they would have done something to achieve that, but they haven't done anything towards that assumed objective.

But even if your unlikely guess was true, how is that related to the ability of drones to fly waypoint missions?

I'm only saying that the capability for fully autonomous waypoints means that the drone can fly somewhere beyond direct control of the operator, and that's the part that many governments have ruled against.

Really? which governments?
You are joining a lot of dots to come up with your assumption.
Some of those dots don't even exist.

I'm only saying that the capability for fully autonomous waypoints means that the drone can fly somewhere beyond direct control of the operator, and that's the part that many governments have ruled against.

Can you point to any case that shows this to be true?

In my opinion, DJI has decided that they don't want to offer a product that clearly and easily would circumvent that government requirement.

And what information is this guess based on?
DJI haven't given any indication to even hint at it.

They are already under tremendous scrutiny from western governments.

Are they? Which governments?
What evidence is there to suspect that it has anything to do with waypoint flying.

Pre-programmed waypoints per se are not the problem, and apps like Dronelink, Litchi, and Maven can do those (and legally so) ... but only as long as the signal connection is maintained (i.e., virtual stick). I'm not sure, but I think all three of those apps can do predefined mapping as long you maintain signal integrity. I know Dronelink can. Pretty certain Litchi can. Don't remember about Maven.

Litchi always has allowed waypoint flight without signal connection.
It's only relatively recently that they gave the option to RTH on signal loss.

 

[AZDave]

DJI haven't released a small drone suitable for serious commercial use since the Mavic 2, several years back.


Only one western government has made noises about DJI.
But it's just political posturing.
If they wanted to exclude DJI they would have done something to achieve that, but they haven't done anything towards that assumed objective.

But even if your unlikely guess was true, how is that related to the ability of drones to fly waypoint missions?

Really? which governments?
You are joining a lot of dots to come up with your assumption.
Some of those dots don't even exist.







Can you point to any case that shows this to be true?

And what information is this guess based on?
DJI haven't given any indication to even hint at it.

Are they? Which governments?
What evidence is there to suspect that it has anything to do with waypoint flying.


Litchi always has allowed waypoint flight without signal connection.
It's only relatively recently that they gave the option to RTH on signal loss.

Now you're just being obtuse. I think I have explained this all every way possible, and if you can't follow it I can't add anything to it that would be more illustrative.

 

[borzoiboy]

For anyone still interested in waypoints. DJI released a limited version in mid December 2021 for creating hyperlapses. You can have up to 5 waypoints. You can randomly set pictures and length of shot and it saves everything to internal memory or memory card. It does not creat hyperlapse movie if there are less than 25 pictures (or short movies). I don’t know how flexible it is. I purchased the non-cine version but haven’t yet tried the updated firmware. Possibly this weekend.

 

[Mullazman]

For anyone still interested in waypoints. DJI released a limited version in mid December 2021 for creating hyperlapses. You can have up to 5 waypoints. You can randomly set pictures and length of shot and it saves everything to internal memory or memory card. It does not creat hyperlapse movie if there are less than 25 pictures (or short movies). I don’t know how flexible it is. I purchased the non-cine version but haven’t yet tried the updated firmware. Possibly this weekend.

Thanks for mentioned that borzoiboy! Appreciate it. I'll check that out, I'm still interested. Can you use it for video modes too? Have you tried it since you posted this?

 

[up&overimaging]

Thanks for mentioned that borzoiboy! Appreciate it. I'll check that out, I'm still interested. Can you use it for video modes too? Have you tried it since you posted this?

No it will only work in photo no videos.