DJI Mavic, Air and Mini Drones
Friendly, Helpful & Knowledgeable Community
Join Us Now

Weird Issue VLM and Google Earth Movies

Bussty

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2018
Messages
528
Reactions
377
Location
New Zealand (Queenstown)
Site
andrewbusst.wixsite.com
I'm pretty sure this is a Google Earth issue bit I have used VLM to create the KLM file so thought somebody here may have some experience to help solve.

The issue is it appears even though I can plot a perfectly well behaved flight in Litchi via VLM and import that to Google Earth Pro, when I go to make a Movie in GEP it renders perfectly except for a weird few frames when it gets to the end of the lake (see attached) and suddenly it's like the altitude jumps down to ground level then soars up to like 300-500m!

It's really weird as there is a KLM line going across the lake between two Waypoints and the Waypoints are not any where near the area where it abruptly changes altitude. It's as though there is a tear in the mapping of Google Earth?

This is a Google Drive Link which contains a short movie showing the issue (the original edited much longer movie cutting out the blip is here
) and the Google Earth KMZ and VLM generated KLM file for the path of that movie.

The public small Litchi Flight Path of the effected are is here Mission Hub - Litchi

Hopefully somebody can offer some help?

Many thanks in advance


Bussty

EDIT: I Just tried a short manual sequence of same flight in Google Earth Studio and flies fine (note KML file loaded as overlay so flight path similar. You can see that small clip here Google Studio Clip
 
Last edited:
I am afraid I have no insight into the significant blips that appear in this simulation. They are definitely there, and unlike anything I have seen in VLM. Is it possible to change way points significantly (for example, delete them and substitute nearby locations) to check whether this is just some Google incorrect estimate of ground height?

One other thought: in the early part of the mission, where the drone goes over mountain forests, have you definitely taken the height of the trees into account? It is not always clear whether Google is giving ground height or terrain height...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bussty
I am afraid I have no insight into the significant blips that appear in this simulation. They are definitely there, and unlike anything I have seen in VLM. Is it possible to change way points significantly (for example, delete them and substitute nearby locations) to check whether this is just some Google incorrect estimate of ground height?

One other thought: in the early part of the mission, where the drone goes over mountain forests, have you definitely taken the height of the trees into account? It is not always clear whether Google is giving ground height or terrain height...
Thanks for having a look but I have sorted. I was using the Google Extension rather than standalone VLM 2.7.1 as soon as I started using that everything was perfect :)
 
Lycus Tech Mavic Air 3 Case

DJI Drone Deals

New Threads

Forum statistics

Threads
131,095
Messages
1,559,762
Members
160,078
Latest member
svdroneshots