Taking of from a moving vehicle problem

MacPap · Nov 28, 2016

Hi
while waiting for my Mavic (as so many), I am making scenarios of what to do when it arrives. Doing that and reading and viewing all about intelligent modes I wondered about something. Maybe it seems stupid to the experienced users but I am a complete newbie in this. So here it goes.

Is the Mavic or the DJI Go app for that matter able to fly to the controller instead of going home? And Ill explain.

Imagine I start the drone from a moving boat and do all the flying around I want. At some point suppose I want to use the return to home function. The Mavic would fly to the take off coordinates and try to land. However with the boat moving around there would be no solid ground under it hence no place to land.

Same problem applies if for some reason id like to use the home lock feature.

So is there a way to make the drone fly toward the Remote controller? Or maybe set as new home the position of the remote while the drone is in flight?

Thx in advance

MacPap

msinger · Nov 28, 2016

MacPap said:
Is the Mavic or the DJI Go app for that matter able to fly to the controller instead of going home?

No. However, if you're using a mobile device that has a GPS receiver (e.g. a cellular iPad Mini 4), you could manually reset the home point to your mobile device's current location at anytime after takeoff. That's a manual process, so you'll need to keep resetting the home point as you move to a new location.

An alternative, would be to use Litchi in place of DJI GO. It includes a dynamic home point feature.

MacPap · Nov 28, 2016

thx msinger

actually what I plan to do is (sailing a lot) to document our sailing adventures. Being in mid of nowhere the only possible point to land and take off would be the boat.

And yes Ill be using it with an iPad min. SO i guess ill try if it works before trying the Litchi app since it is not for free (lol).

thx again

Easty · Nov 29, 2016

I'd be extremely careful moving far in a boat. Although it's a better scenario for line of sight. If you lose connection its going back to the last place you set as home. I was filming in the mountains as driving on a Forrest road and mine ended up going back a long way. Luckily it was literally on top of the peaks in the middle of nowhere.

gregw · Nov 29, 2016

MacPap said:
thx msinger

actually what I plan to do is (sailing a lot) to document our sailing adventures. Being in mid of nowhere the only possible point to land and take off would be the boat.

And yes Ill be using it with an iPad min. SO i guess ill try if it works before trying the Litchi app since it is not for free (lol).

thx again

Just make sure you have an LTE capable iPad mini... I believe that the Wifi only iPad mini does NOT have a built in GPS, so you will NOT be able to reset the home point to the location of the iPad mini if that's the case...

Just make sure that whatever device you use to connect to the controller has a built in GPS chip so you can send the new location to the Mavic when you reset the home point to the device location.

Freeky Reeky · Nov 29, 2016

so on my iphone 7 where i would fly it with(dont got my Mavic yet ) i should be able to do that ?
can someone explain how to do this.
because i would just fly it back to me.
but understand that in case of a probl yes .

MacPap · Nov 29, 2016

Interesting experience Easty. thx for sharing

MacPap · Nov 29, 2016

Yes Freeky Reeky. I have an iPad mini 4 wifi+cellular. And yes you are right. Only WiFi iPads do not have a GPS unit since that is goes together with the cellular chip. Stupid as it may be it is so.

Freeky Reeky · Nov 29, 2016

thanks Mac Pap.
so question how do i set new home point for Mavic when flying ? do i just push the bottom on my phone for the new location in the app?
i mean bottom ( home point)

garaobriain · Nov 29, 2016

WiFi only iPad Mini 4 has GPS or it wouldn't find your location on Google Earth. Go to the area you will be flying in on DJI GO/ Litchi awhile still at home and cache the area in iPad Mini's memory before going there.

Sent from my iPad using MavicPilots

MacPap · Nov 29, 2016

Hahaha I got mixed-up the nicknames lol. When i was saying "Yes Freeky Reeky. I have an iPad mini 4 wifi+cellular...." I actually was addressing gregw.

anyway I have not my Mavic yet either Freeky Reeky but try to find out as much as I can about the things i intend to do with it. So what I say is not from personal experience. I found the following info in the dji forum.
Here it goes having a GPS capable device such as the iPhone 7 plugged in the controller you have to go to the Main Controller Settings and select the icon (button) with the person next to the Home Point and that should do the trick.

MacPap · Nov 29, 2016

garaobriain said:
WiFi only iPad Mini 4 has GPS or it wouldn't find your location on Google Earth. Go to the area you will be flying in on DJI GO/ Litchi awhile still at home and cache the area in iPad Mini's memory before going there.

Sent from my iPad using MavicPilots

I am afraid you are wrong in the assumption that a Wi-Fi only iPad has a GPS unit in it. Its been long debated and it has been clarified by apple itself.

From the apple site. iPad mini specs.
iPad mini 4 - Specs - Apple

PS iBeacons are Apple's implementation of small, often inexpensive beacon devices that utilize Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) wireless signals to deliver location-based product information and offers or specials to iOS-powered mobile devices like iPhones and iPads.

garaobriain · Nov 29, 2016

Hmm. Well, researched! Even so, map caching should still work (someone did a video on the subject). I'll try when mine arrives!!

Sent from my iPad using MavicPilots

garaobriain · Nov 29, 2016

Would you be able to set the home point at your house, go fly not too far away, and have return to the house instead of where you actually are? (Say in case someone decided they wanted to have your Mavic instead of you, you could send it back to the house!)

Sent from my iPad using MavicPilots

Freeky Reeky · Nov 29, 2016

MacPap said:
Yes Freeky Reeky. I have an iPad mini 4 wifi+cellular. And yes you are right. Only WiFi iPads do not have a GPS unit since that is goes together with the cellular chip. Stupid as it may be it is so.

MacPap said:
Hahaha I got mixed-up the nicknames lol. When i was saying "Yes Freeky Reeky. I have an iPad mini 4 wifi+cellular...." I actually was addressing gregw.

anyway I have not my Mavic yet either Freeky Reeky but try to find out as much as I can about the things i intend to do with it. So what I say is not from personal experience. I found the following info in the dji forum.
Here it goes having a GPS capable device such as the iPhone 7 plugged in the controller you have to go to the Main Controller Settings and select the icon (button) with the person next to the Home Point and that should do the trick.

View attachment 1718

thanks man just what i was thinking but didnt know anymore where to look.
great help again.

Freeky Reeky · Nov 29, 2016

what do i do wrong. i wanted to post this to Mac Pap and came to me .
but i pushed the reply bottom by Mac Pap ????

MacPap · Nov 29, 2016

It is the Return to home function of the forum hahahahahaha

MacPap · Nov 29, 2016

garaobriain said:
Would you be able to set the home point at your house, go fly not too far away, and have return to the house instead of where you actually are? (Say in case someone decided they wanted to have your Mavic instead of you, you could send it back to the house!)

Sent from my iPad using MavicPilots

Well I suppose that id the normal use of the Return to home function. Making the drone return where it started from regardless of where the controller is.

MacPap · Nov 29, 2016

garaobriain said:
Hmm. Well, researched! Even so, map caching should still work (someone did a video on the subject). I'll try when mine arrives!!

Sent from my iPad using MavicPilots

Map Caching should that is correct but i guess you would never know where you are. You would know only where the drone is. But t is a good idea to try it and let us know

Willem · Nov 30, 2016

MacPap said:
Hi
while waiting for my Mavic (as so many), I am making scenarios of what to do when it arrives. Doing that and reading and viewing all about intelligent modes I wondered about something. Maybe it seems stupid to the experienced users but I am a complete newbie in this. So here it goes.

Is the Mavic or the DJI Go app for that matter able to fly to the controller instead of going home? And Ill explain.

Imagine I start the drone from a moving boat and do all the flying around I want. At some point suppose I want to use the return to home function. The Mavic would fly to the take off coordinates and try to land. However with the boat moving around there would be no solid ground under it hence no place to land.

Same problem applies if for some reason id like to use the home lock feature.

So is there a way to make the drone fly toward the Remote controller? Or maybe set as new home the position of the remote while the drone is in flight?

Thx in advance

MacPap

I fly all the time from my sailboat. You can't rely on return to home. make sure you never deplete your battery too much. so long as your controller has a GPS location which I'm sure yours will then you can just follow the course line back to your location. very easy. I would not even think of using return to home as your boat will always be moving. just follow your course line back. also you should practice hand launching and retrieving. for that you might need to disable downward vision sensors.