My 'Go' Screen is giving me the finger! Why?

StumbleBee · Aug 25, 2015

A week ago I installed the latest P3P firmware (batteries, bird, and controller) and now I have an icon on the left side of the screen, just above the 'Home' icon, which is a hand with a finger extended. I received no advice as to what it is or how to use it. I went back and read every line of the downloaded instruction manual and found nothing.
When I click on it I can draw a free hand blue line on my Google map, but I have no idea what that means or how it is used. Before I take any chances trying to figure it out on my own I thought I'd post it. Anyone?

msinger · Aug 25, 2015

It's just a drawing tool.

StumbleBee · Aug 25, 2015

msinger said:
It's just a drawing tool.

Sooo...I can use it to make squiggles? That's a lot of real estate and computing power just to make lines. What would be the benefit?

msinger · Aug 25, 2015

I see no benefit to using it. Then again, I don't use all of the features in the DJI GO app.

StumbleBee · Aug 25, 2015

msinger said:
I see no benefit to using it. Then again, I don't use all of the features in the DJI GO app.

Too bad. I was hoping I might have gotten some beta version of geofencing, or Waypoint flight planning.

FWIW: Why the heck would DJI add a feature and not tell us about it? I have the owner's manual dated August, 2015 and can find no mention of the new feature. Can someone point me to something I've missed?

StumbleBee · Aug 25, 2015

PhantomHelp, what a great resource your "Must Haves" list is! Happy to give it a free plug!

TeeDubbDizzle · Aug 25, 2015

It can be a helpful tool to give you a flight path should you fly out of sight. For example, I drew the line on that map view and followed it from one friends house to another. Lots of room out here in west Texas. 4k feet one way. Gave me something to follow.

StumbleBee · Aug 25, 2015

TeeDubbDizzle said:
It can be a helpful tool to give you a flight path should you fly out of sight. For example, I drew the line on that map view and followed it from one friends house to another. Lots of room out here in west Texas. 4k feet one way. Gave me something to follow.

I suppose you could do that if your Google map was so small that the entire flight could not be seen on one screen. For us in New England things are much closer together and there's more stuff that can result in a bad day flying if you're not careful.

rmfa · Aug 25, 2015

You can use it to preplan your flight and direction. Its actually pretty nice for that.

RedHotPoker · Aug 25, 2015

While in Map View, you will see a small square above the camera view. That is the eraser for the blue line you draw on the map. ;-)

Another feature to play with. It's like Etchasketch without the knobs...

RedHotPoker

acherman · Aug 25, 2015

StumbleBee said:
FWIW: Why the heck would DJI add a feature and not tell us about it? I have the owner's manual dated August, 2015 and can find no mention of the new feature. Can someone point me to something I've missed?

While it might not be in the manuals, it's not new. It's been there since day 1 of the Pilot app. You can see it referenced in some of the early review videos. As far as I know, it's supposed to be so you can draw a path on the map and try to fly it manually. Seems pointless to me, though.