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

Offline maps for the DJI RC now available

scro

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 8, 2019
Messages
1,741
Reactions
1,607
Location
UK
Looks like there's a new firmware update just out which supposedly gives us offline maps (ie download and cache beforehand) for the DJI RC.
 
how is that done?
 
Install the updated firmware/software on the DJI RC and a new option will appear in the 'Profile' menu on the start screen for 'Offline Maps'. You then zoom in on a section of the world map you want and download it to the controller or SD card. Looks like the area you can save is a fixed physical size and is relatively small (I'm guessing 2km by 1km rectangle).

Edit: download speed seems to be very slow too.several minutes to download 1 small rectangle. Much slower than downloading a much larger area for Google maps. Size is fixed at 2miles x 1 mile rectangle it seems.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: dirkclod
I bet the RC controller doesn't have enough memory to hold much offline map. Too bad they couldn't code it to store maps on the SD card. :(

This is better than nothing for me, though, since I often fly in areas where there's no cell service.
 
I bet the RC controller doesn't have enough memory to hold much offline map. Too bad they couldn't code it to store maps on the SD card. :(

This is better than nothing for me, though, since I often fly in areas where there's no cell service.
My RC was reporting about 56gb spare space when i tried downloading some maps. I have a fairly empty 64gb SD card in it, so I think it does save the maps to SD card if you have one inserted.
 
I believe I put in a 64 gb but haven't none anything with it that I know of, lol. I have wondered if a larger card would improve performance in some way or not.
 
Last edited:
They've ditched Google maps for the much less useful OpenStreetMap. Really poor in many areas but free as opposed to paying Google for API keys.
So over the years they've gone MapBox > Google > OSM

The area you can download (not satellite) is very small with each selection so youd need to be very precise planning ahead of time to get the right map.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rchawks
They've ditched Google maps for the much less useful OpenStreetMap. Really poor in many areas but free as opposed to paying Google for API keys.
So over the years they've gone MapBox > Google > OSM

The area you can download (not satellite) is very small with each selection so youd need to be very precise planning ahead of time to get the right map.
Really poor resolution for maps in satellite view, using DJI RC Pro that is not cheap with this creep resolution ! For Mavic 3 now with waypoints, it’s not easy to plan the points with this low resolution !
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rchawks
Its not just the RC Pro - its all products using the Fly app on all controller devices.
Its like the old MapBox problems all over again.

My guess is DJI is moving away from Google either for financial reasons (API keys) or political.
 
They've ditched Google maps for the much less useful OpenStreetMap. Really poor in many areas but free as opposed to paying Google for API keys.
So over the years they've gone MapBox > Google > OSM

The area you can download (not satellite) is very small with each selection so youd need to be very precise planning ahead of time to get the right map.
Thank you for the information on this.
 
This feature has been there with DJI Go 4 and the SC for instance for a long time.

Cannot say I am impressed, but better DJI has now decided to bring it back.
 
I bet the RC controller doesn't have enough memory to hold much offline map. Too bad they couldn't code it to store maps on the SD card. :(

This is better than nothing for me, though, since I often fly in areas where there's no cell service.
If you change the settings the storage location for the system you can. I did it. On my RC Pro I have the main storage to my 128GB SD card. All offline maps are stored there.
 
  • Like
Reactions: globetrotterdrone
If you change the settings the storage location for the system you can. I did it. On my RC Pro I have the main storage to my 128GB SD card. All offline maps are stored there.
You can't change the default storage locations on the RC non-Pro.
But, good news is that offline map downloads go on the SD card if it's present. Finally had a chance to update and test it today (no rain, no snow, no wind...) Yes, the individual maplets are really tiny, but better than nothing, especially for those of us who live in an area with spotty cell phone coverage, so I can't hotspot to my phone much of the time.
 
My RC was reporting about 56gb spare space when i tried downloading some maps. I have a fairly empty 64gb SD card in it, so I think it does save the maps to SD card if you have one inserted.
It does if you have your SD card on your RC Pro set as the default storage solution.
 
You can't change the default storage locations on the RC non-Pro.
But, good news is that offline map downloads go on the SD card if it's present. Finally had a chance to update and test it today (no rain, no snow, no wind...) Yes, the individual maplets are really tiny, but better than nothing, especially for those of us who live in an area with spotty cell phone coverage, so I can't hotspot to my phone much of the time.
I have both controllers and it allows you to change the storage location to where we you want. The MicroSD card or the controller itself.
 
Lycus Tech Mavic Air 3 Case

DJI Drone Deals

New Threads

Forum statistics

Threads
130,599
Messages
1,554,265
Members
159,605
Latest member
petravka