so I bought my Inspire as soon as it launched. Still haven't flown it having decided to wait for my second remote then wait for prop locks then wait come more for a reliable app update then a bit more for a firmware update that I can trust.
My frustrations are coming to a head as I still find myself waiting for the promised high capacity batteries.

Worst of all, I can fly my phantom with groundstation functionality but am frustated that the Inspire, a much more extensive product has no groundstatiin support or features just more unfulfilled promises by DJI. I can't help feeling I have pumped my cash into a a prototype or some sort of kickstarted project.

anyone have any ideas or insights on ground station.....or am I completely missing something? It's a non-issue in the forum but dji need to deliver soon....my fear is that it won't be made available ever and that it will only work with some sort of pro-versions of the Inspire!

Ground station on the Phantom 2 is an interesting addition but far from essential. My understanding is that Ground Station will eventually become available (as was the case with the Phantom). Personally I am much more interested in Home Lock being made available in IOC for the Inspire 1.

If Ground Station for the Inspire does not allow full control (e.g. stopping when you want to, operating the camera etc) then it will be a somewhat pointless gimmick in my view.

I guess the reason that there is little about Ground Station is that it really isn't that necessary. The Inspire is much larger than the Phantom and you can see it much further away. For me the Inspire is so much fun to fly that I am not really that bothered about fully automated flight. The map display is much larger on the iPad and you can draw out a course and then fly that whilst retaining full control.

My advice is to stop fretting and get your Inspire into the air... You will love it! I have 31 flights under my belt with virtually no issues at all.

it's not that I am fretting. I have a commercial interest in these things and my Phantom is doing lots for me, I guess I'm just frustrated at the ongoing delays particularly with the hardware, the app/firmware issues just exaccerbate that.

I think autonomous flight is an important area of development for these drones. Being able to plot a detailed route whilst seperately controlling the camera OR being able to preprogram a flight which can then be replicated exactly at another point in time is what I want to do and this was part of the allure with the Inspire 1.

That said, I accept all your points!

Looking forward to this feature.......

Yeah, I'd love to see ground station soon, too. But this doesn't stop me from flying, practising and having fun.
Come on... fly the lady!!!

I think autonomous flight is an important area of development for these drones. Being able to plot a detailed route whilst desperately controlling the camera...

I agree 100% with you. It comes down to it being safer. If I have already pre-programmed my route of flight then I don't need to worry as much about the aircraft flying into a tree or a building while I'm rotating the camera. Yesterday, I was shooting a rather large home and wanted to start on one side and make a nice arc or half circle around the front of the house and end up in the same position relative to the home but on the other side of it while keeping the camera focused on the front center of the home. It's impossible because I can't move the camera softly to my right to keep it pointing at the exact same thing and keep the aircraft flying the correct distance and turn from the house.  At first I thought that "free" mode on the camera would at least lock the camera pointing at the same point which would achieve this goal. However, I can't see any reason at all to use "free" mode. In fact, I'm going to start a thread to see what people do with it. Maybe I'm an idiot and just don't use it correctly. Okay, enough ranting. I love the Inspire! DJI just shouldn't advertise it will do certain things and include in their selling video when it doesn't do it.

brianmlevy@me.c Posted at 2015-3-16 00:42
Ground station on the Phantom 2 is an interesting addition but far from essential. My understanding  ...

I am too waiting for groundstation. I just hate it when people don't need an option so they just label it as not necessary. These drones have endless ways they are used so don't think because you just shoot video with it, someone else shouldn't  be able to do more. I use my phantom to monitor engineering projects and make 3d terrain models. This is (almost) only possible with autonomous flight. While the phantom does a terrific job, just think about the possibilities the inspire has: more range, more agile, faster and a better camera. While a more stable firmware is much more important, groundstation should never be abandoned as an option for the inspire 1.

very well said and exactly what I was thinking in my first response! these birds will be used to find new commercial ways and like any equipment it needs to versatile by design and intention. Hence my original thought, if Groundstation is served alongside the Phantom Vision 2, then why is not provided out of the box with inspire 1 which is a positioned higher in the market? it's like spending a ball of money on an M3 BMW because it's more fun to drive then finding it has no SAT NAV...you would assume it comes as standard at that end of the market!

so many commercial applications that can be investigated and uncovered if autonomous flight is part of the Inspire package.

I also am eagerly waiting for Ground Station capability and Home Lock to be implemented in the DJI Pilot app.  I have two questions for the group:

1) What is the "Guides" feature on the map page of the Inspire Pilot app used for?  This is the second icon on the left side of the map screen.  After touching it you can draw/scribble all over your map screen.  I suspect it is just a way to make notes to oneself on the screen before or during a flight - e.g., you can draw an arrow pointing at tree, then write "Bird's Nest" next to arrow.  

However, there is a DJI Pilot app tutorial video on this website where the young lady from DJI indicates this that you can "draw a flight path and the then hit auto-takeoff and the Inspire will execute it!!!"  Uh, don't think so.  Bad information, maybe that's what the original intent was, but there's no way to set an altitude and how would the Inspire get from the home point to the flight path you drew on the screen?  This feature and icon are not discussed in the latest operating manual for the Inspire.  Also, after you draw on the screen, a button appears in the lower right of the map screen that let's you "clear guides" and it will erase all your screen scribbles.

Does anyone have a clear understanding of the full purpose of this "Guides" feature on the Pilot app map screen?

2) How do you post a New Thread on this forum.  I've attempted to post several new threads, but after clicking on "Save Draft" I see no way to actually "Post" what I've written to the forum so everyone can see it.  If I click on my login name at the top of the screen, then click on Posts, these posts show up, but I cannot find them in forum searches - even a week later - and I think I am the only one that can see them.  Can somebody please tell me what I need to do make my posts visible to all forum users and have them indexed by the forum search function?

Thanks!

On the "Videos" page for the DJI Inspire 1: http://www.dji.com/product/inspire-1/video
The second video is titled:  DJI Inspire 1 Tutorial "Pilot App"
At 8:03 into the video the narrator states the following regarding the DJI Pilot App map page:  "Clicking on the second icon to the left allows you to draw an autonomous route.  To start the route, click the auto takeoff icon."  A few seconds later, she adds:  "To clear the program route, click 'clear guides'."   HOLY CRAP - REALLY????!!

Question:  Is this completely erroneous information, or does the DJI Inspire 1 Pilot app now have autonomous route capability?  If so, how exactly does this work?  How do you set altitude for the autonomous route?  If you draw a circle around the Inspire 1 (as shown in the video), how does the Inspire 1 navigate from it home position on the ground to the circle route on the screen - in what initial direction and at what altitude?  What happens when the route is completed?  Inquiring minds want to know!

brianmlevy@me.c Posted at 2015-3-16 00:42
Ground station on the Phantom 2 is an interesting addition but far from essential. My understanding  ...

If all you want is Home Lock, just add an additional item for your flight checks to reset the IOC on commencement of you flight.  For example if you set your IOC with teh aircraft facing away from you if you need to bring the aircraft back any time during the flight and you dont k now your orienation, simply put it into the ioc mode pull back on the right stick and it will return on that heading it was set at.

Try it in the simulator its basically just the same and very effective in regaining orientation of teh aircraft or at least being able to bring it back on course to then you can flip back into GPS mode.

Anyone know when DJI will be offering "GROUND STATION" feature for IOS and for the Inspire 1?

slabella@consul Posted at 2015-4-24 20:29
Anyone know when DJI will be offering "GROUND STATION" feature for IOS and for the Inspire 1?

Nobody knows nothing as they(DJI) don't communicate and if they do they make things up to shut us up.:@

I just noticed that all the way back in March, SkySight said the following in this thread, and never got an answer:

I can't see any reason at all to use "free" mode. In fact, I'm going to start a thread to see what people do with it. Maybe I'm an idiot and just don't use it correctly.

I don't recall seeing that thread, but let me add some insight.  I already posted a New User thread about this topic, but I'll discuss it here too.

The normal mode everyone is used to is Follow mode.  In Follow mode, the camera rotates with the Inspire.  In single-user mode if you want to do a pan, you typically rotate the Inspire in order to do it.  The gimbal smooths out the move, but the camera ends up generally following the turn.

This is not always what you want, however.  Consider flying the Inspire along a jagged sea coast and wanting the camera to always point inland.  You COULD point the Inspire inland and fly sideways, but since you need to use a sideways move and then a forward or backward move to follow the coast, doing it smoothly would be quite a challenge.  This is the kind of application where Free mode can be helpful.

Here's how I recently shot something similar.  First, in Follow mode, rotate the Inspire to face inland.  The camera goes with it.  Frame up the shot as you want it to look.  Now switch to Free mode and rotate the Inspire to face along the coastline (the Inspire is now facing at right angles to the camera, which is still pointing inland, just as you set it).  Start moving the Inspire forward along the coastline, doing slight left and right rotations to follow it, but maintaining the same forward momentum.  The camera will maintain its shot inland and will not twist and turn with the Inspire as it follows the serpentine coast.  This is likely to give you a much smoother and more visually pleasing motion.

You can also switch from Follow to Free and back again, and that can be helpful sometimes too.  Engage Free mode and rotate the Inspire until the camera is at right angles, or facing backward, or pointing it however you want with relation to the aircraft.  Now switch back to Follow mode.  The camera will once again rotate along with the Inspire, but instead of facing front, it is facing wherever you put it while in Free mode.  And it will continue to smooth out the rotational moves so they look good.

The other and more obvious use of Free mode is if you're in a dual-controller configuration, with a separate pilot and camera operator.  Switching to Free mode allows the camera operator complete control over the camera, regardless of the moves being made by the aircraft.

Keep in mind that if you are new to this, it is easy to become disoriented when the camera is not facing the same way as the aircraft, and that's potentially dangerous.  You can instantly get it pointing straight ahead again using the realignment mode (if you're displaying the camera alignment modes in the app, it's the far-right one - tap it once and the camera will snap to forward-facing).  Lots of practice is needed to develop ongoing situational awareness.  The map display can also help with this a lot.  Start slow, practice a lot, and don't get in over your head.