Yet another Virtual Litchi Mission (Chrome/Firefox Extension)

bazuchan · Aug 17, 2018

I made Google Chrome and Firefox extension that acts almost exactly as VLM and can be used on Mac/Linux/Win. Virtual Litchi Mission itself is cool software, but it is windows only. I'm a linux user and running google earth in virtual machine was pain, so I spent a day learning/reversing how VLM implemented and made a python script that converts exported csv mission to google earth kml file (same way as VLM does). Originally I was doing it only for myself, but decided to share it and made Chrome Extension to make it easily usable. Since I used original VLM as reference, most of credits for this work should go to its creator @namirda.

Chrome version Chrome Virtual Litchi Mission
Firefox version Firefox Virtual Litchi Mission
Source codes: Github

Usage:
1. Install extension in Chrome/Firefox by clicking the link above
2. Install google-earth(-pro) desktop app
3. Go to Mission Hub - Litchi
4. Select a mission, click "MISSIONS"->"Export as VLM", it will download .kml file
5. Click downloaded .kml file to open it in google earth (or import it into google earth manually)
6. In google earth click mission name under "Temporary places" and double-click "Virtual mission"
7. Enjoy

Usage video:
Video is a bit out of date, you need to click "MISSIONS"->"Export as VLM" now.

Exphantomflyer · Aug 18, 2018

bazuchan said:
Virtual Litchi Mission is cool software, but it is windows only. I'm a linux user and running google earth in virtual machine is pain. So I spent a day learning/reversing how VLM implemented and made a python script that converts exported csv mission to google earth kml file (same way as VLM does). Originally I was doing it only for myself, by decided to share it. Since I used original VLM as reference, most of credits for this work should go to its creator namirda.

Here is bazuchan/pythonvlm

People love videos showing how it works and how to use it, perhaps create one, but top job for doing what you have done

bazuchan · Aug 23, 2018

bazuchan · Aug 23, 2018

Usage video

bazuchan · Aug 24, 2018

Fixed a few bugs and published a new version 0.1.1.

Boeropreis · Aug 24, 2018

Tested it today.. Works like charm. So i can use this on my Mac from my Chrome browser and use the orginal Namirda version on my PC. Both thanks for the great work! I am amazed about the level of accuracy, so I can make my planning of flights so much easier.

russ.carpenter · Aug 25, 2018

Your plug-in is also working well for me, using Chrome on an iMac. Thanks!

psl3 · Sep 1, 2018

I couldn't get VLM installed as it kept telling me I had no internet connection -- so downloaded and installed this - very quick to get running and works very well. Will encourage me to start using Litchi again. Well done!

Yankee mike · Sep 7, 2018

very nice add on ! works great, thanks !

frankze · Sep 16, 2018

Wonderful, man. Great job.

Is the python script closed source? As I'm not on windows, I never used VLM, so it's hard for me to compare. But I could well imagine that certain features, like warnings based on drone-specific capabilities, or similar features could be added.

Thanks for your effort!

bazuchan · Sep 16, 2018

frankze said:
The the python script closed source?

Source code link is below video.

frankze · Sep 16, 2018

Oh, I missed that. Super!

OzoneVibe · Oct 5, 2018

Hi
I'v been having a look at this today - and I think I may have found a bug.

I have a mission that starts with 10 waypoints at 25m altitude (not in terrain mode) and then finishes with 6 waypoints at 50m altitude.

At/near the last waypoint set to 25m, Google Earth (and the camera movement) shows it dropping to 21m, and at/near the first waypoint set to 50m, it shows a rise to 78m.

Any thoughts?

bazuchan · Oct 5, 2018

Would you mind sharing a mission with me? Download csv file with another browser (or temporary disable extension) and pm it to me.

OzoneVibe · Oct 5, 2018

bazuchan said:
Would you mind sharing a mission with me? Download csv file with another browser (or temporary disable extension) and pm it to me.

Will do. I'm not back home until later.
Interestingly, the purple "smooth" track looked fine in GE ... it's just the "camera" position that doesn't seem to comply.
I'll get back to you.

bazuchan · Oct 15, 2018

OzoneVibe said:
Will do. I'm not back home until later.
Interestingly, the purple "smooth" track looked fine in GE ... it's just the "camera" position that doesn't seem to comply.
I'll get back to you.

fixed

OzoneVibe · Oct 15, 2018

bazuchan said:
fixed

I can confirm this fix has completely resolved the problems I was having!
Thanks @bazuchan !

Mosvold · Nov 4, 2018

Hi,
I´ve been using this extention on my MAC with success, but also with failure..
Sometimes when I am opening the kml file in google earth, some or all the waypoint is below ground level?
I am using the mission with the above ground option.

Someone else seeing this and know how to solve the problem?

OzoneVibe · Nov 4, 2018

Hi @bazuchan

Another little bug I seem to have detected … vertical speed between waypoints very close together in the horizontal plane (coordinates) but significantly different heights.

It seems that it only considers the horizonal speed to get between them and not the vertical speed.

OzoneVibe · Nov 4, 2018

Mosvold said:
Hi,
I´ve been using this extention on my MAC with success, but also with failure..
Sometimes when I am opening the kml file in google earth, some or all the waypoint is below ground level?
I am using the mission with the above ground option.

Someone else seeing this and know how to solve the problem?

I've been OK with that myself … though on Windows.
There's one mission I want to fly that's going to be really tight to a very steep slope, and it looks fine in GE.
Chances are I'll have to tweak when I actually want to fly it … I don't trust the GE data that much!