Pilot to drone orientation icon on the bottom of the fly screen

[grahamjohnson10]

What mobile device are you using.

I'm using an Ipad 4 Mini and it does not have a compass.

 

[Meta4]

What mobile device are you using.

I'm using an Ipad 4 Mini and it does not have a compass.

It does ... every iPad has a compass.

 

[DanMan32]

Actually ... the point the app is showing is the recorded home point for the drone, not where the tablet might be now (the difference is likely to be trivial anyway)

If that were true, then why would it show a tablet in the center when the app doesn't have access to the device's location services? It shouldn't care.

 

[Meta4]

If that were true, then why would it show a tablet in the center when the app doesn't have access to the device's location services? It shouldn't care.

A tablet?
What in the world are you on about?
Just for a change, how about trying to comment on something you actually know about rather than confusing people?

 

[DanMan32]

I don't think you can know for sure because it's details are not documented. At least not in the manual. We can only make educated guesses based on shared observation.

Someone had the tablet symbol in the center and it was corrected by enabling Fly to have permission to the iOS location services.
I've seen that symbol too.

 

[deepakvrao]

Unless the firmware update screwed up the compass in your phone or put a steel item right next to it, the firmware update had nothing to do with what you've observed.
Forget about the firmware update.

And it doesn't matter how accurate your phone compass is, the home point is always the centre of the direction indicator.
Fly towards the centre and you are flying toward home.

he issue is you dont know where you are flying towards, if the drone is not oriented correctly on that indicator.

 

[Meta4]

I don't think you can know for sure because it's details are not documented. At least not in the manual.
We can only make educated guesses based on shared observation.

You can't know (if you don't have a good understanding of how DJI drones and DJI programming actually work).
In the years that people have been flying DJI drones, some of us have developed a good understanding.
Lots of features, despite being poorly documented are no mystery.

The drone records a home point which is represented by the centre point on the directional indicator.
There's nothing to be gained by complicating it further with GPS location information for the phone or tablet.
There's no need for the indicator to show anything other than your recorded (or reset) home point.

If that were true, then why would it show a tablet in the center when the app doesn't have access to the device's location services? It shouldn't care.

Someone had the tablet symbol in the center and it was corrected by enabling Fly to have permission to the iOS location services.I've seen that symbol too.

I could understand that the app wants you to enable location services but can't see any reason for the indicator to show a tablet or to care about the GPS location from the tablet.
I can only assume that your account is confused as it really doesn't add up.

 

[old man mavic]

I don't think you can know for sure because it's details are not documented. At least not in the manual. We can only make educated guesses based on shared observation.

Someone had the tablet symbol in the center and it was corrected by enabling Fly to have permission to the iOS location services.
I've seen that symbol too.

what you are referring to is an icon that looks like a phone shape with a line through it and its in red ,this happens when it can not get a satt lock

 

[Meta4]

The issue is you dont know where you are flying towards, if the drone is not oriented correctly on that indicator.

I flew for a year with a tablet which had powerful magnets in its case that meant its compass was always wrong.
I can assure you that it doesn't matter how (in)accurate your phone compass is, the home point is always the centre of the direction indicator.
Fly towards the centre and you know that you are flying toward home.

 

[Meta4]

what you are referring to is an icon that looks like a phone shape with a line through it and its in red ,this happens when it can not get a satt lock

It won't matter whether the phone or tablet gas GPS location data.
It's not needed at all for most flying.
The only GPS data that matters is the location data from the drone.

 

[old man mavic]

It won't matter whether the phone or tablet gas GPS location data.
It's not needed at all for most flying.
The only GPS data that matters is the location data from the drone.

@Meta4 i am in total agreement with your comments ,and respect your knowledge,i personally have no issues flying my drones at all ,you know my procedure before i fly i have stated it many times when these questions come up, sometimes no matter how hard you try to explain things to people, they just dont get it

 

[scro]

I think I've learned a bit from the various responses here on how the onscreen indicator works and how to interpret what it shows. I've not had enough time flying to really get to understand the app and aircraft inside out.

If it sets its "datum" on the recorded home point just before takeoff presumably the direction indication can be wildly wrong until the drone moves at lease a few meters away from the home point and there is a measurable difference between the set home point and the current position of the drone?

@maclavin Does your indicator continue to give inaccurate readings when the app has set a home point and you have the drone up in the air and, say, 10m / 30ft away from that home point? How does the indicator compare to the mini-map in the bottom left corner of the fly app?

 

[IFlyhigh37]

I was having the same problem but I saw that I had turned off (share my location) in my privacy settings on my iPhone. I turned it on and it corrected itself. I don’t know if that’s what u have wrong but it fixed mine. Happy Flying.

 

[zeusfl]

I will test this today.

 

[old man mavic]

When you set up the app and register.,you agree to share your location I have this set to only when the app is in use

 

[maclavin]

Indicator is always inaccurate. If i turn far enough to line up so I am facing the drone on the indicator the drone will be behind me to the right. Have not compared it to the map. I don't know if the firmware update caused it as I updated before my first flight

 

[zeusfl]

Again, everything was working very stable and fine before the firmware update. I respect the experts that the firmware update should not affect the compass. I will be testing with an iPad Pro 11.

 

[Canuk]

If it was me I would see if you can roll back your firmware.
Maybe it got a glitch while updating . I can see on your video the display is not normal .
Having the video clip to watch made it clear what you are talking about .

 

[Paul51]

Hi guys, first post, but have been watching the forum for some time. Not flying the mini yet, (Father Christmas has delivered it, but I'm not allowed it until Xmas day ) I've been watching lots of youtube reviews to learn as much as possible (some better than others).

Anyway, back on topic. Please see the attached youtube, and watch the orientation arrow. In fact there are 2 types, first seems to be a triangle, which then seems to change to an arrow shape (at about 1min 26secs) I have watched other videos, where the triangle never seems to change to the arrow. Something seems odd …..

 

[zeusfl]

The drone is represented as an arrow when is in front of you 180 degrees and turns to a triangle when the drone is behind you. At least that's the goal.
The issue in discussion is that the application is presenting or interpreting that the drone is behind you when in reality is in front of you. This makes difficult to point the antenna in the correct direction when the drone is far away and you can not see it. Flying FPV especially when you are not familiarized with the area where you are flying became a bigger issue.