Today I just discovered DroneDeploy. It is a site for producing mapping from drone photography. Mavic users can program their ac to take photos automatically. I took a few random lines of photos with a Spark over my house this morning using the intervalometer function set at 3 seconds and with camera facing down, then threw them into the DroneDeploy software. It took  a couple of hours to process but it eventually came up with a 2D map, an elevation map, a plant health map (whatever that is), and most impressively a 3 D model.

I am not sure if I can share this link. Please let me know if you can see it. If not I am sure there is a way to share the result. I know the result is poor but for a first attempt, with a few random shots, not knowing what to expect, the results show the potential of the site.

This sounds quite interesting, although, that link requires a login.. Might have to give it a shot and see for myself.

Sounds like it's redundant when there's Google Earth/maps

OK found link to share. Try this link

DJT_MVSP.  If the above link works, click on 3D model and you will see the difference from google

The new link worked for me.  This is very impressive.  I've been aware of mapping using drones before and to know the Spark is capable of being used to produce this map data is awesome.  Thanks for doing this and sharing the results.  I'm impressed!

cool app. thanks for sharing.

Thanks MikB, it’s only a pity that dji don’t have dji ground station up to date to allow spark users to avail of its functions, maybe soon .

Thanks for info, just starting to build a house , will give this App a try!,

Looks pretty decent already.
I bet you can make great models with this.

Yes I have learned a lot from just one flight. Made many mistakes. Can't wait to get some  experience with it under my belt.

Nice find - thanks for sharing!

Thanks for sharing! I didn´t know that you can just use a set of pictures, thanks!

(From 3D view I think your house need some repairs )

"I think your house need some repairs"
Actually I have just moved from a 350 year old farmhouse into a 3.5 year old bungalow so it is in pretty good nick. The problem was I flew too high and did not take any angled shots so there was little vertical coverage  ... but I AM learning

Hot diggity this is neato. Shame my house is in the middle of three different no-no zones. I'll have to find somewhere to give this a go.

I managed a second attempt at modelling my house. This time I included some none vertical shots and if you look under the balcony, you can see it has worked rather well. The roof however looks as if it has caved in! I think this is because I flew lower and the uniformity of the tiles confused the software when stitching detail. Another thought also occurred to me. The EXIF data from the dji camera only contains heights relative to the home point. If you stop to change batteries perhaps you will always have to start your flight from the same home point (only guessing here). Hey ho still learning. If anyone else is playing with this I would be neat to share experiences. Here (I think) is the link.

Thanks for sharing.  Have you tried this with Quickshot-Circle mode?  That would be a better fit for the images required for some other tools for creating 3D from 2D camera images.

Thanks for the suggestion - I will give it a try. If only Spark did waypoints.

I wonder if you could place a marker on the ground (brick, flag, etc.) at the ends of each anticipated line of flight and then use the Tapfly mode to select the end marker and have the Spark fly to that point. Then manually turn it and repeat for the next line.  Might save some flight time and keep each flight line as parallel as possible.  Naturally you'd need to measure out where to put the markers and that would take additional non-flight time.   Just an idea.*Edit* This idea may not work if the Spark uses the camera to guide it to the target, which it won't see once the camera is pointing down to start mapping. You may not be able to adjust the gimbal pitch while in Tapfly.  I'm just not sure.

Great! Thanks for sharing. I don't know Spark can do that, as I know only phantom 3 or bigger can.

Lee Moon Posted at 2018-1-18 16:09
I wonder if you could place a marker on the ground (brick, flag, etc.) at the ends of each anticipated line of flight and then use the Tapfly mode to select the end marker and have the Spark fly to that point. Then manually turn it and repeat for the next line.  Might save some flight time and keep each flight line as parallel as possible.  Naturally you'd need to measure out where to put the markers and that would take additional non-flight time.   Just an idea.*Edit* This idea may not work if the Spark uses the camera to guide it to the target, which it won't see once the camera is pointing down to start mapping. You may not be able to adjust the gimbal pitch while in Tapfly.  I'm just not sure.

An interesting idea. Actually the lines don't have to be parallel. The only criteria is that that area is covered with each shot overlapping the adjacent shots. However parallel lines are probably the most efficient and certain way of doing that.

The higher spec DJI models have a dronedeploy app where you select an area and simply press the button and the rest is automatic. I understand it uses the DJI waypoint facility. I can only afford the Spark so that is why I am experimenting. It is good fun though.

awesome thanks for the post

Faboo Posted at 2018-10-13 06:21
awesome thanks for the post

FYI waypoints are working brilliantly now using Litchi