Question on waypoints and elevation.

[rambling outdoors]

I have a buddy that has a small piece of land that they will be harvesting the timber from. We where talking about flying it before and after the logging was done to give us an illustration of how much was actually taken. I thought using waypoints would be perfect for this but my question comes on the terrain. How does the Mavic 2 determine the elevation? Will I just need to establish a baseline on my first waypoint and adjust my elevation on the following waypoints from a Topo map? I don't want to set it at 200 feet and have it end up flying into the hill by the second waypoint.

 

[AMann]

You could use GoogleEarth and Litchi Virtual Mission:

Virtual Litchi Missions in Google Earth - Avios Media

How to run Litchi missions in Google Earth to show exactly what it will look like before you get on location and start burning precious battery time.

www.aviosaerialmedia.com

But are you trying to estimate board feet of timber? Your buddy should have a certified forester help in planning the cut. If he lets a fly by night firewood cutting crew go in there, they may end up wasting thousands of dollars worth of good timber reduced to cordwood. Also, there may be issues with erosion and soil loss down the road if it is not addressed properly. Doing an aerial survey to determine tree species also takes a bit of practice- I used to do it for Forest Service. Your drone will be most useful for mapping the property and getting a good estimate of tree canopy (which indicates more mature trees), but he definitely should have a survey done with boots and getting the trees marked for the fallers. It’s also important to leave some wildlife trees if there are any snags (dead trees) around. Your drone aerial map will be most iseful for finding snags, planning access roads, drainage, etc. during the process. Have fun, I miss timber cruising- saw some incredible forests doing it!

 

[rambling outdoors]

You could use GoogleEarth and Litchi Virtual Mission:

Virtual Litchi Missions in Google Earth - Avios Media

How to run Litchi missions in Google Earth to show exactly what it will look like before you get on location and start burning precious battery time.

www.aviosaerialmedia.com

But are you trying to estimate board feet of timber? Your buddy should have a certified forester help in planning the cut. If he lets a fly by night firewood cutting crew go in there, they may end up wasting thousands of dollars worth of good timber reduced to cordwood. Also, there may be issues with erosion and soil loss down the road if it is not addressed properly. Doing an aerial survey to determine tree species also takes a bit of practice- I used to do it for Forest Service. Your drone will be most useful for mapping the property and getting a good estimate of tree canopy (which indicates more mature trees), but he definitely should have a survey done with boots and getting the trees marked for the fallers. It’s also important to leave some wildlife trees if there are any snags (dead trees) around. Your drone aerial map will be most iseful for finding snags, planning access roads, drainage, etc. during the process. Have fun, I miss timber cruising- saw some incredible forests doing it!

No it nothing really serious. His son is a forester with the State so they are having thing done correctly. He is interested in the drone and it is new to me so we are just going to do a couple videos. Its a really small tract of timber. I don't have a whole lot of experience with it yet and don't want to fly it into a tree as it goes up the slope.

 

[Meta4]

How does the Mavic 2 determine the elevation?

Your Mavic uses a barometer to show altitude above or below the level of the home point.
If you are flying waypoints around steep terrain with tall trees above that, estimate carefully, check twice and allow a comfortable safety margin.
To show what's down there you don't want to be too close anyway.

 

[THE WOMBLE]

Fly the route you want to video and use the C1 button to make the waypoints on the map ( the drones altitude is recorded against each waypoin for later use)t. Don't forget to save the flight and waypoints. You can then reload later and edit the flight ie drone speed, direction of gimble etc ant the altitude is shown by each waypoint. Save again using a different name. You willl then have a master copy of the flight should you want to change any of the settings.

 

[SandiSCE]

Fly the route you want to video and use the C1 button to make the waypoints on the map ( the drones altitude is recorded against each waypoin for later use)t. Don't forget to save the flight and waypoints. You can then reload later and edit the flight ie drone speed, direction of gimble etc ant the altitude is shown by each waypoint. Save again using a different name. You willl then have a master copy of the flight should you want to change any of the settings.

Is there a video or other tutorial for doing this?

 

[Ralph thompson]

The important parameter for altitude is the Home Point and drone will adjust the altitude relative to Home Point. The barometer is used for accurate altitude adjustments. If the waypoint is a mile away from the home point, the drone altitude is still relative to the Home Point. Beware that the drone doesn’t know anything about the terrain height or obstacles until they’re close and the IR or visual sensors recognize them.

 

[THE WOMBLE]

Is there a video or other tutorial for doing this?

These 2 video give a pretty good idea what to do. The second part sets up a waypoint plan to film a building site ...I can see your trees instead of a building being used.
I am still sorting out how to use waypoint.... have only tried flying and setting waypoints twice and when tested worked well. Hope my limited knowledge is of help.

More details that may help

 

[SandiSCE]

These 2 video give a pretty good idea what to do. The second part sets up a waypoint plan to film a building site ...I can see your trees instead of a building being used.
I am still sorting out how to use waypoint....

More details that may help

Thank you! Those are great. Does the C button have to be configured to mark waypoints? Sorry I’m a beginner.

 

[brett8883]

Thank you! Those are great. Does the C button have to be configured to mark waypoints? Sorry I’m a beginner.

No this is the default behavior in Waypoint mode.

 

[Thomas B]

Good discussion.
One question; why not just fly the drone manually, especially if this would be OP’s ( @rambling outdoors ) first attempt at programming a mission?

The learn mission programming in a more controlled area for practice and learning drone behaviors, etc.

 

[THE WOMBLE]

Good discussion.
One question; why not just fly the drone manually, especially if this would be OP’s ( @rambling outdoors ) first attempt at programming a mission?

The learn mission programming in a more controlled area for practice and learning drone behaviors, etc.

By setting up a waypoint route the same route can be flown many times. Can compare videos and see progress being made etc.

 

[Thomas B]

By setting up a waypoint route the same route can be flown many times. Can compare videos and see progress being made etc.

All true... maybe OP has time to learn to do this confidently in a forest.

 

[SandiSCE]

I tried a short mission yesterday with my M2P following the instructions. Had about 7 waypoints and 1 POI that each one pointed to. Elevation for all of them at about 100 feet (I’m a beginner so wanted to make sure cleared trees!). Did initial takeoff, and everything seemed fine, but pressing the Green GO button just brought up a box for task editing. Nothing I tried would get the mission to run. Can someone help?

 

[vwjones]

Not sure if this was ever answered but the box you mentioned has the start option lower than can be seen on screen. You need to scroll down. I spent hours working that out. A very poor layout design that catches a lot of people out!