Recording precise gps locations with Mavic Pro

[Andregasket]

Hi there,

firstly - apologies for the noob question; I've tried searching this for the last week or so, but perhaps I'm not using the correct search terms.

I'm looking for a way to record placemarkers during my flight which can then be viewed once I'm back in the office.
Background: The project I'm working on requires me to fly over some abandoned remote (very remote) sites and record the locations of existing structures. Unfortunately, the areas aren't captured by google maps or similar. Once back in the office, we will then be able to add these locations to site plans.

Do you have any suggested methods?

My initial ideas were:

• record locations in the waypoints mode, but the 500m max radius will be too tight. (I also couldn't work out how to download these once back at the office).
• Take a photo at each location (though this would be extremely tedious to extract the metadata from each photo once back at the office (i think?))
• Purchase the litchi app and see if this gives another method?

Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

 

[Keule]

Take a photo at each location

It's easy with the right tools ...
You need:
a) exiftool.exe
b) Excel

With all your images (with EXIF data) in a folder, run exiftool and create a .csv file.
In this .csv file are all exif fields from all your images.
Process the .csv with Excel. (e.g. list coordinates etc)

 

[Andregasket]

It's easy with the right tools ...
You need:
a) exiftool.exe
b) Excel

With all your images (with EXIF data) in a folder, run exiftool and create a .csv file.
In this .csv file are all exif fields from all your images.
Process the .csv with Excel. (e.g. list coordinates etc)

Legend - Thankyou!

 

[53-63-6f-74-74]

PhotoPlace
This free software might also be of use. It will take all photos in a directory and extract the coordinates, then put all of them into a single KML file, for viewing in Google Earth. The photos are embedded into the KML file (at reduced size if you wish) and can be viewed by clicking on the Google Earth waypoint.

 

[Robert Mitchell]

Were you aware that Go4 records your exact GPS location continuously during the flight? It is displayed at the bottom from beginning to end. You need only point your camera straight down and pause over your target for say, 5 seconds. That pause and exact location will be recorded for you to see and use in Go4 flight record.

 

[Andregasket]

Thanks everyone.

I wound up buying the Litchi app. I found that I was able to customise one of the C buttons to save points in the waypoint mode, and then using their Mission Hub website, download those points in either KML or CSV.

Thanks again for all the help!

 

[Wyldwings]

Were you aware that Go4 records your exact GPS location continuously during the flight? It is displayed at the bottom from beginning to end. You need only point your camera straight down and pause over your target for say, 5 seconds. That pause and exact location will be recorded for you to see and use in Go4 flight record.

This was very helpful for me. Thanks for the information. I also use my drone to locate the specific location of "items" and now I have the GPS coordinates of every place I fly and mark items.

 

[bliksem]

Maybe look at DroneDeploy. It lets you create a flight plan over an area and then an orthomosaic. Maybe overkill for what you need but still easy to use.

 

[dylanthecat]

Maybe look at DroneDeploy. It lets you create a flight plan over an area and then an orthomosaic. Maybe overkill for what you need but still easy to use.

Works well but pricy. I mapped my house and office.

 

[bliksem]

Pricey? I've done a bunch of free flights

 

[Wyldwings]

The Flight Records menu of the DJI Go4 is very precise. It lets you drag your finger on the lower portion of the flight record to the précises spot you are interested in, and gives Lat Lon readouts as it goes. When I get to a spot where I want to remember the exact location, I just do a quick 360 degree circle and move on. Then under the Flight Record, I drag the little bar at the bottom of the page to the place where I did the 360 and it gives precise Lat Lon for that specific location. Its awesome.