Flight Plan for DJI? Any experience?

MortenVR · Oct 1, 2019

Has any of you out there tried Flight Plan for DJI with the Spark?

Flight Plan For DJI Drones by Beyond The Cube

Flight Plan is a custom app built with the DJI Mobile SDK built by Beyond The Cube. It includes flight planning, POI, grids/surveying, interactive mapping, etc.

flightplan.beyondthecube.ca

GClef · Oct 1, 2019

I’d like to know, from anyone who also have Litchi app, how they compare.

MortenVR · Oct 1, 2019

I bought the app for iOS, I will test it, probably next weekend (if the weather allows for it). I havent tried litchi as it appears that it cant fly grids and double grids.

MortenVR · Oct 2, 2019

On the Mavicpilot forum, I found Dronelink, which is free, and seems promising. The app is down at the moment, so I havent tried with the spark yet. But when planning missions the spark is available.

MortenVR · Oct 3, 2019

MortenVR said:
On the Mavicpilot forum, I found Dronelink, which is free, and seems promising. The app is down at the moment, so I havent tried with the spark yet. But when planning missions the spark is available.

..And the app is now available, and does indeed seem very promising. the spark is supported, and can be chosen as vehicle. The learning curve seems a bit steep, but tutorials are included. Oh, and as a final thing, it is free, for non-commercial flying. I will try flying with it this weekend if weather allows for it.

Dragonfly Joe · Oct 3, 2019

Thanks for the info Morten. Be watching for your update after you get a chance to give it a try.

Northwood Mediaworks · Oct 3, 2019

MortenVR said:
..And the app is now available, and does indeed seem very promising. the spark is supported, and can be chosen as vehicle. The learning curve seems a bit steep, but tutorials are included. Oh, and as a final thing, it is free, for non-commercial flying. I will try flying with it this weekend if weather allows for it.

This is interesting, please report back!

MortenVR · Oct 5, 2019

So, I had the spark in the air today. Some wind, but within it’s capabilities.
I made a mission in dronelink which took about 4 minutes, a simple grid coverage of about 200m2 which took circa 5 minutes to fly, with a 80% front overlap, and 70% to the sides. Besides adjust the downward angle from the default 90degr to 84degr all default options seemed fine.
I have to learn something about the camera, because the first missionflight resulted in 125 very dark pictures. The 2nd flight gave 125 pictures but with better light, although some of the pictures (about 30% had a blueish tint). On monday I will try to run them through Agisoft Metashape and see what happens. I fear that the colour differesation will make it hard to align all pictures.
But so far, I am impressed, and will further explore Dronelink with the spark.

MortenVR · Oct 7, 2019

So did a test flight again yesterday, I made a double grid in Dronelink, covering about 3900m2. The mission took about 7-8 min, flying 15m agl. shooting 171 pictures, with 80% front overlap and 60% side overlap.

dronetest - 3D model by movr

sketchfab.com

The result is not bad at all. Next time I wil try the same, but with gcp, measured with GPS (Leica/Trimble) or Totalstation.

Dronelink so far works really well, but I find the learning curve somewhat steep.

werewolfk501 · Oct 7, 2019

The app is down again. At least for me...

Northwood Mediaworks · Oct 7, 2019

I installed and have planned one mission, but I must say the interface is rather messy and complicated. I need to spend some time learning to understand what I am looking at. I guess after playing with Litchi this could be part of my confusion.

werewolfk501 · Oct 7, 2019

Did you log in?
I cant find where to register

MortenVR · Oct 7, 2019

Northwood Mediaworks said:
I installed and have planned one mission, but I must say the interface is rather messy and complicated. I need to spend some time learning to understand what I am looking at. I guess after playing with Litchi this could be part of my confusion.

I agree, i have not tried litchi, as I didnt know it worked with the spark.
I have only tried the grid for mapping, but to be honest, I cant make an orbit to add to the grid. It does seem fiddly and complicated.

MortenVR · Oct 7, 2019

werewolfk501 said:
Did you log in?
I cant find where to register

Yes I logged in. The log in works across platforms, so I plan on the pc, and fly via the app.

BobMiles · Oct 19, 2019

I have to warn about the Dronelink app.. Try it in an open location first!
I made a mission, previewed it and it looked fine. Then, out on the field, the drone would start the mission, climb, and then just went crazy. It was yawing randomly and went of in different directions. I don't know what exactly caused this, manual controls and hover were totally fine...
Anybody had similar experiences?

djmatt · Oct 16, 2020

MortenVR said:
I bought the app for iOS, I will test it, probably next weekend (if the weather allows for it). I havent tried litchi as it appears that it cant fly grids and double grids.

please let me know how it works out? [email protected]

NOLADG · Oct 16, 2020

djmatt said:
please let me know how it works out? [email protected]

Do you realize you pulled up a thread from a year ago?

djmatt · Oct 17, 2020

NOLADG said:
Do you realize you pulled up a thread from a year ago?

right, thanks I saw it, I guess. I'm in a quandary as to where to start. I'm new to dji and would like the most effective photogrammetry program for the spark. Any advice for me?