Tips for managing your height when ground level changes significantly

[Talon360]

One way to take automatically into account ground elevation while flying your drone is to use the LITCHI application instead of DJI Go 4.0. Litchi permits to plan your mission in advance using waypoints which will take into consideration ground elevation above your HP. The application uses the DME (Digital Elevation Model) of the Google satellite imagery of the area you are flying in. The only drawback is the availability of a Litchi version for Mini 2. It will come. I use an old Mavic Air for my flying. Good luck and happy flying with preflight estimations from USGS Topo maps.

The DroneLink app is a great alternative to LITCHI, and it's free for recreational use. Plus you can import any flight plans prepared in LITCHI.

 

[Galopin]

The DroneLink app is a great alternative to LITCHI, and it's free for recreational use. Plus you can import any flight plans prepared in LITCHI.

I agree 100% with your proposition. I'm also sure that topographic maps at 1:20 000 or 1:50 000 scale can be consulted on the web or bought in South Whales where jweaver is flying, if he doesn't want to use third party applications.

 

[RPSM]

The issue with using Google Earth data are 2 fold.

1. It takes a lot of calculation power to make these calculations in real time - at least 100x per second. More power required by this computation leads to less flying time.

2. The results are subject to inaccuracies due to variation in the barometric altimeter, and variations in the Google Earth datums. This exposes DJI to significant legal risk when something goes wrong when relying on that information.

Compared to tracking GPS? Pfft. The calculations are trivial, it's a simple look up and addition. This is completely doable, and might even make it in one day, but the issue is one of "why?"

 

[ThommoPerth]

Dronelink in my experience provides a pretty good Above Ground level indicator for planning flights over hilly undulating ground.