If I want to use my drone for business purposes where I live I am not allowed to fly a drone for more than 100 meters, or 500 meters (depending on the type of certificate I get) from the pilot. Since the pilot holds the remote, I want to know if it is possible to set a maximum distance from the remote. The only option I found in the DJI GO 4 App to limit the distance is the distance from the homepoint, not from the remote. Perhaps there is an option I haven't seen yet.

This can also be useful for people who simply want to keep their drone a bit closer than the maximum distance it can fly by default. I don't like flying it out of line of sight, and on some days 300 meters already makes it a small thing which is harder to spot due to it's size.

I want to know if it is possible to set a maximum distance from the remote.

The short answer to your question is "no". However, if your mobile device has GPS built in -- as most phones and many tablets do -- then you can dynamically update your home point during the flight and I would assume that the Mavic will be able to fly within the radius of that updated home point.

So no, there's no way for the central location / home point to be automatically updated, but you can periodically change it "manually" as you're moving around.

DroneFlying Posted at 2017-4-25 11:20
I want to know if it is possible to set a maximum distance from the remote.

The Mavic doesn't know where the remote is at any given time so the short answer to your question is "no". However, if your mobile device has GPS built in -- as most phones and many tablets do -- then you can dynamically update your home point during the flight and I would assume that the Mavic will be able to fly within the radius of that updated home point.

When checking the flightlogs I can see the path of the drone in the app, but also the path of the controller. The last one is indeed because of GPS in my iPhone. Since it does record that it shouldn't be hard to add an option for a maximum distance to the remote or app (if the user has location settings for the app enabled).
Updating the homepoint every minute (assuming I'm walking and flying at the same time) is taking out all the fun. Plus, it's taking away attention from making beautiful shots and keeping an eye on the drone for safety.

dirkjan82 Posted at 2017-4-25 11:30
When checking the flightlogs I can see the path of the drone in the app, but also the path of the controller. The last one is indeed because of GPS in my iPhone. Since it does record that it shouldn't be hard to add an option for a maximum distance to the remote or app (if the user has location settings for the app enabled).
Updating the homepoint every minute (assuming I'm walking and flying at the same time) is taking out all the fun. Plus, it's taking away attention from making beautiful shots and keeping an eye on the drone for safety.

What you are talking about is essentially how Follow Me works. The problem with that is the feature appears to require a larger number of active sats than needed for just flying by itself, and lots of people are reporting problems with it working at all.

Ex Machina Posted at 2017-4-25 11:51
What you are talking about is essentially how Follow Me works. The problem with that is the feature appears to require a larger number of active sats than needed for just flying by itself, and lots of people are reporting problems with it working at all.

What you say about Follow Me is true, but what if I want to film/photograph something else than me? I want manual control rather than Follow Me, or I want to follow something else, but I also don't want the drone to fly to far away from myself.

But the question is answered. Although now two devices already use gps separately (Mavic and smartphone). All that's missing in the equation now is a connection between the two to see and set that distance. But it's not there, so perhaps in a future update or never at all.

dirkjan82 Posted at 2017-4-25 12:43
What you say about Follow Me is true, but what if I want to film/photograph something else than me? I want manual control rather than Follow Me, or I want to follow something else, but I also don't want the drone to fly to far away from myself.

But the question is answered. Although now two devices already use gps separately (Mavic and smartphone). All that's missing in the equation now is a connection between the two to see and set that distance. But it's not there, so perhaps in a future update or never at all.

Well, the connection part between the phone+RC and the Mavic's separate GPS was what I was talking about, not the other features of Follow Me. What appears to be problematic in that connection, at least for some phones, is the accuracy of GPS locks on the ground vs. up in the air.

However, for your purposes, it might be good enough. You could propose such a feature via the Go 4 app's Me/Feedback feature. Cheers!

You say updating the home point would be too much of a distraction, but wouldn't walking and flying require attention away from flying too? 100 meters isn't that far so you could just make sure you don't fly far, and if you need to fly far, take the second to update the home point? I think you can swipe left on the screen and press one button to set the home point too, it's a quick process. Designed to let you keep most focus on flying.