Aerial Survey

[wat17]

Sorry if this has been done before. I usually reside over in the Vision forum.

Anyway is anyone using a Gopro, Phantom 2, 3d gimble, and waypoints for larger aerial surveys? The likes of farms etc. I was thinking with the gimble pointed straight down you could get decent photos to be mosaic together with appropriate software.

My questions are. Is anyone doing this?

What software did you use? Obviously fish eye will be a problem. The likes of Pix4d seem to support Gopros, however at $10,000 I would like to start somewhere a bit smaller.

 

[DroneRookie]

Yes. Using same setup, pointed straight down, narrow. I then batch defish all the images in Adobe Bridge and piece them together with Adobe Photoshop's Photomerge feature.

 

[Helveticus]

Thought about the same (photo mapping some areas in much higher res than Google earth).

Ground station may be helpful as you could program your Phantom on a "zigzag" track that covers a large area, at the same time you set the camera to auto shot a picture every few seconds.

Then, for stitching the images together, I'd use Autopano Pro or Giga (best stitching software I know of) : http://www.kolor.com/en

 

[wat17]

Yeah Autopano seems the way to go. Well recommended.

 

[termin]

Can Autopano use GPS information to stitch the images together?
I´ve tried Agisoft Photoscan with long/lat information imbedded in the exif file from GoPro images (imported from flytrex csv file) to accurately create a large survey image. However this process can be time consuming so a quicker way to do it would be nice.

 

[poostik]

This is interesting... What is the frequency of the pics you take and how exactly do you fly the property? I'll look into the software options but am curious about some of the other pieces to the puzzle.

If you've done this, can you link some examples of the finished product?

 

[wkf94025]

Also interested in best practices in this space, for vineyard management. Please keep those tips and techniques coming.

Kelly

 

[wat17]

Personally I am only floating the idea at the moment. No testing done yet.

 

[WillH]

p3 or p4?


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[TrassigSurveys]

Been using a P2 for mapping this year; partially retiring it next month in favor of a larger platform for all but the smallest projects. 7-8 months of use, and it's getting retired; that's pretty rapid life cycle. The transit I learned surveying with was 15+ years old.

Pix4D is a nice package, well-supported, and monthly rental (I haven't needed the software every month as the business builds) or yearly for the cost of 10 months (probably this fall/winter I'll take that option). P4D takes the fisheye out easily.

I use GCPs in lieu of geotagging images.

 

[WillH]

I heard you can use Adobe Lightroom for stiching and removal of fisheye.


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[WillH]

Also the new linear mode on the GoPro Hero 5 removes the fisheye effect. I think.


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[Andy Ritchie]

Hey guys, I am looking to get my licence next year at some point and because I live in an agricultural area I have been wondering about this photomapping that a lot of folk seem to be doing. I am flying a P2 with a gopro hero3+ and I also have a couple of 650's with Xiaomi Yi cameras but I would likely be using the P2 for something like this.
Can someone perhaps explain to me how I would be able to set a flight pattern for the P2 so that I could get all the area recorded?
What software is out there to use to set the flight pattern onto the P2 so that it will make the flight autonomously? I have Litchi on my tablet and phone but can't get it to work with my P2 for some reason, I don't switch on the WiFi on the camera because I have been told not to do that as it may interfere with the signal for the P2!
I hope that someone can help me with this!?

Regards,

Andy.