[OSM-talk] a sample panoramic aerial image for 3D mapping made with the new DJI Spark quad-copter

[Oleksiy Muzalyev]

Hi Darafei,

I did something similar with DJI Phantom and an open source stack, but 
it seems the Pix4d software does the orthorectification & stitching 
better. I will probably give it a try in future. Long time processing 
issue could be solved by faster hardware.

A disadvantage of multi-rotors approach is that it's not scalable. For 
instance, I walked for three hours just to film with a quad-copter a two 
minutes video [1] and some still images of the mountain lake Lac de 
Lovenex for its Wikimedia category [2]. On the way back I was literally 
dropping from exhaustion.

I work now on a project of a long-range FPV fixed-wing RC aircraft. I 
build it around Vector autopilot [3]. An electric RC glider can stay in 
the air much longer, hours or even days (the world record is 81.5 hours 
[4]) instead of 20 - 40 minutes for a multi-copter.

A RC plane has got only on motor, one ESC, so it uses less energy, has 
less metallic parts, and it is cheaper to build. However, it takes time, 
3-4 years, to learn to pilot a fixed-wing plane well, especially 
landings in adverse weather conditions.

The idea is to build a reliable light RC plane which is capable to stay 
in the air for several hours, automatically fly along the way-points at 
a constant altitude for the aerial photography and videography, with a 
range of about 100 km, with as much DIY as possible to reduce the cost 
and make it repairable.

[1] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lac-de-Lovenex.webm
or on Youtube:
https://youtu.be/Jx5tRCKobSc

[2] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Lac_de_Lovenex

[3] http://www.eagletreesystems.com/

[4] https://youtu.be/8m4_NpTQn0E

Best regards,
Oleksiy

On 02.09.17 09:38, Darafei "Komяpa" Praliaskouski wrote:
> We're using DJI Mavic ($1000), Pix4D Capture application and Pix4D 
> ($300/mo) to get orthorectified imagery in Belarus. It takes 1 
> battery, 20 minutes of flight time and several hours processing to get 
> 1x1 km chunk in 6 cm/px.
>
> Sample: 
> https://cloud.pix4d.com/pro/project/169316?shareToken=9fda4c2a6fc64b938886d3f4fa477692 
>
>
> DSM and 3D is also generated.
>
> We upload it to OpenAerialMap. There are some issues in their pipeline 
> that make imagery not very crisp:
> https://github.com/hotosm/oam-dynamic-tiler/issues/49