Planning Drone Missions in Google Earth

[seccode5]

Hi all,

I posted last week about a free and open-source chrome extension that I made called the DroneHub Flight Planner. I made a tutorial video on how to use it and wanted to share with the community. Here is a link:

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The Flight Planner lets you create missions from Google Earth, then upload them to Litchi and fly. I hope that you all find this useful and would love to hear your feedback.

DroneHub Flight Planner Chrome Extension:

DroneHub Flight Planner

Create drone flight plans from Google Earth

chrome.google.com

Best,
Sam

 

[BigAl07]

Love the concept.

You mentioned "posted last week" but could it have been on one of our other forums because you only have ONE post on this forum.

 

[seccode5]

Love the concept.

You mentioned "posted last week" but could it have been on one of our other forums because you only have ONE post on this forum.

I did also post about this on the Phantom Pilots forum, but I believe I posted it here as well

 

[Thomas B]

I did also post about this on the Phantom Pilots forum, but I believe I posted it here as well

Nope.., I see only the 2 posts in this topic for MavicPilots forum.

 

[BigAl07]

As Thomas said, only (2) posts here total but that's fine.

I LOVE the potential for this flight planner.

Any potential to be able to create Orbits?

 

[seccode5]

Nope.., I see only the 2 posts in this topic for MavicPilots forum.

Okay, sorry about that, my mistake!

 

[seccode5]

As Thomas said, only (2) posts here total but that's fine.

I LOVE the potential for this flight planner.

Any potential to be able to create Orbits?

Yes! That is definitely one of the features that will be added. Other features that will also be added are the ability to control actions from the Flight Planner instead of having to do that in Litchi. For being able to create orbits, I was thinking of having a button separate from "Add Waypoint", such as "Add Orbit" that would orbit around the focus point of the Google Earth view - maintaining the same altitude and pitch.

If there are ideas or specific features people are looking for, please let me know and I will get cracking on it!

 

[BigAl07]

Yes! That is definitely one of the features that will be added. Other features that will also be added are the ability to control actions from the Flight Planner instead of having to do that in Litchi. For being able to create orbits, I was thinking of having a button separate from "Add Waypoint", such as "Add Orbit" that would orbit around the focus point of the Google Earth view - maintaining the same altitude and pitch.

If there are ideas or specific features people are looking for, please let me know and I will get cracking on it!

Add Orit would be GREAT!! When you click Add Orbit have it put a "moveable" POI on the map with a drop-down to change POI height (AGL), Radius of Orbit, Direction of Orbit, and Speed of Orbit. Also option to Stat/stop Video. Should be very easy LOL.

 

[seccode5]

Add Orit would be GREAT!! When you click Add Orbit have it put a "moveable" POI on the map with a drop-down to change POI height (AGL), Radius of Orbit, Direction of Orbit, and Speed of Orbit. Also option to Stat/stop Video. Should be very easy LOL.

Thanks for the suggestions Al, I will definitely work on incorporating those. Can I ask, would you also like to be able to change the positional information (lat, long, altitude, etc.) for the regular waypoints? I intended for the control of waypoint positions to be completely by moving around in Google Earth, but if you and others would find that helpful I can add it. Thanks for the feedback

 

[BigAl07]

Thanks for the suggestions Al, I will definitely work on incorporating those. Can I ask, would you also like to be able to change the positional information (lat, long, altitude, etc.) for the regular waypoints? I intended for the control of waypoint positions to be completely by moving around in Google Earth, but if you and others would find that helpful I can add it. Thanks for the feedback

I'm not sure how much I would use the Lat/Lon adjustment for Waypoint but Alt most likely yes. I like the idea of your process a lot. Keep in mind I'm looking at this from a more Commercial aspect (Construction Site documenting etc) so I'm collecting actionable data and not just Magazine Cover pictures. Totally different mindsets.

 

[seccode5]

I'm not sure how much I would use the Lat/Lon adjustment for Waypoint but Alt most likely yes. I like the idea of your process a lot. Keep in mind I'm looking at this from a more Commercial aspect (Construction Site documenting etc) so I'm collecting actionable data and not just Magazine Cover pictures. Totally different mindsets.

I have 0 experience flying commercially (though studying for Part 107 now), so I appreciate the insight on what the use case for this might be

 

[BigAl07]

I have 0 experience flying commercially (though studying for Part 107 now), so I appreciate the insight on what the use case for this might be

I just use Waypoint and Orbits to be able to capture the same shot/video of a Construction Site over and over again over the course of many months. I create a Waypoint to fly the Cardinal Points (take pic at all 8), Birds Eye, and specific locations on the job each couple of weeks. Then I need a consistent Video Orbit of the same POI (center point of the job site), same Alt/Raduis/Speed/Direction each and every time.

 

[seccode5]

I just use Waypoint and Orbits to be able to capture the same shot/video of a Construction Site over and over again over the course of many months. I create a Waypoint to fly the Cardinal Points (take pic at all 8), Birds Eye, and specific locations on the job each couple of weeks. Then I need a consistent Video Orbit of the same POI (center point of the job site), same Alt/Raduis/Speed/Direction each and every time.

For these Construction site pictures/videos, do you use the same waypoint mission each time you return every couple of weeks, or are you creating new plans each time?

 

[BigAl07]

For these Construction site pictures/videos, do you use the same waypoint mission each time you return every couple of weeks, or are you creating new plans each time?

Ideally the SAME.... as the project grows I will "Tweak" the Waypoints etc to stay within the scope of the current stage/phase.

Initially I will set up a "basic" waypoint from the Litchi Mission Hub (at home on laptop) and when I'm on site I will tweak it to allow for unforeseen items (cranes, signs, poles etc) that do not show up on GE/Litchi. Once I have it tweaked I'm able to return time and time again and just grab the saved flight and execute it. The client sees the same shot/video over and over and it able to see the progress of the build during each phase. I also do MAPPING etc but that's outside the scope of this thread

 

[lilewis]

Seccode5 When do you think this might ba available on FireFox?

 

[Fred Garvin]

@seccode5 just want to say THANKS! for your efforts on this flight planner! It’s folks like you with generous third party support that can make a user community so awesome!

 

[seccode5]

Seccode5 When do you think this might ba available on FireFox?

Aiming for this weekend to release on Firefox. Currently in a 22 credit course load and working 2-3 hours a day doing software consulting, so the bulk of work with the Flight Planner will be done and released on weekends

@seccode5 just want to say THANKS! for your efforts on this flight planner! It’s folks like you with generous third party support that can make a user community so awesome!

Thanks for the feedback Fred, it motivates me a lot to make tools that people will actually use and find helpful

 

[Buzzman]

I'm a Safari user so looking forward to that update in the future.
Congratulations on creating this Chrome Google Earth plug-in that allows a UAS pilot to pre-plan a flight with such prevision, including the angle of camera views from the drone. I've never used Litchi but plan to get it. I wonder if you have considered a mapping function. Drone looking straight down with 50% overlap for creation of simple maps. This would be useful in my own entomological research where I map out native ground-nesting bee nesting sites and plot the occurrences of their food host plants.

A Point of Interest orbit feature would also be cool.

Thanks again for all that you have done. An amazing flight tool.
Best,
Steve

Stephen Buchmann
Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,
The University of Arizona,
Tucson, AZ

 

[Tolly]

Hi all,

I posted last week about a free and open-source chrome extension that I made called the DroneHub Flight Planner. I made a tutorial video on how to use it and wanted to share with the community. Here is a link:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

The Flight Planner lets you create missions from Google Earth, then upload them to Litchi and fly. I hope that you all find this useful and would love to hear your feedback.

DroneHub Flight Planner Chrome Extension:

DroneHub Flight Planner

Create drone flight plans from Google Earth

chrome.google.com

Best,
Sam

I use Dronelink for preplanned missions. Way more powerful and versatile than Litchi and 'simulated drone' and google earth integration are all there and work amazingly. Downside to the benefit of complex missions is quite a steep learning curve. But its a learning curve without risk as all the work is in the preparation of your missions on your computer at home and now i'm getting up to speed I love it..

 

[seccode5]

I use Dronelink for preplanned missions. Way more powerful and versatile than Litchi and 'simulated drone' and google earth integration are all there and work amazingly. Downside to the benefit of complex missions is quite a steep learning curve. But its a learning curve without risk as all the work is in the preparation of your missions on your computer at home and now i'm getting up to speed I love it..

Hi Tolly, this Flight Planner actually goes a step beyond what Dronelink offers in its 3D visualization of mission planning. The DroneHub Flight Planner lets you create the missions in Google Earth, whereas in Dronelink you can only export a mission to view in Google Earth