Hi everyone,

I'm hoping someone can help me out, I've have bring trying to contact DJI support for 4 days and all I get we have a heavy call volume at this time, please call back later....GOODBYE!! I like the drone but the company doesn't deserve our money because they are beyond horrible with there customers..

But yeah, back to my issue... I have volunteer my service to a school in Central America film the school with it's students.. Now I've been there before (El Salvador) but never really took my phantom 3 nor the inspire 1 for many reasons which I have not call airline to see if I can stransport it.. I should have check if GPS signal is avail in that country. Does anyone know if GPS signal is avail in Central America? I've never have seen a navigation on any vehicles there so I'm wondering if it's because there no satellite avail for that country.
Any help will be apretiated, thanks in advance..

Satellites orbit the Earth and cover 100% of the Earths surface.

Hi, noahny. There are GPS signals all over the world because there are satellites at different orbits around the earth. If you can see the sky, you can get GPS signals. But you must remember that more sky you can see, more satellites your drone can receive.  Good luck.

Gerry1124 Posted at 2015-8-12 10:42
Satellites orbit the Earth and cover 100% of the Earths surface.

nop on the poles cover is almost non, more the 60 degrees or so.

I flew my Phantom 2V+ all over Guatemala in April (next door to El Salvador) and had no GPS issues.

Worked perfectly: http://youtu.be/f505crhIjY0

Have a great trip!

imcoosen Posted at 2015-8-12 20:05
nop on the poles cover is almost non, more the 60 degrees or so.

You CAN pick up GPS satellites at the North and South poles.  Just not as many of them, so my statement is correct.  They DO cover 100% of the Earths surface.

imcoosen,
re: northern areas - the Inspire, I believe, uses both GPS and GLONASS, which pushes the northern boundries of the geolocating system.  The expanding polar coverage is an active area of research for most of the polar countries.  For GPS, things are largely useless beyond 81 degrees, but GLONASS expands this somewhat (although I'm not able to get an accurate number at this time).  See the below article that summarizes the challenges with polar geolocation:
http://mycoordinates.org/challen ... tion-in-the-arctic/

The concept illustrated by a drawing in the below article - perhaps a bit more accessible:
http://beebom.com/2015/05/what-i ... -different-from-gps

I have had no problems flying my inspire close to 60N, but haven't had the opportunity to try further than this.

I've heard from some phantom 2 (GPS only, I believe) owners that they have had no problem flying at 65N
With the addition of GLONASS, I imagine the Inspire may reach 70N.  If the sattelite signal drops off, you can always fly in atti mode - just hope that you don't loose connection with your remote control while flying north....

Has anyone out there flown close to (or beyond) 70 N (or S) ?

bdmartens Posted at 2015-8-12 22:53
imcoosen,
re: northern areas - the Inspire, I believe, uses both GPS and GLONASS, which pushes the  ...

thank you for updating my knowledge, the last time I did look in to it, was years back 95 or so. And electronics get better, and I think the live time of a satellite is between 7,5-15 years so I should have guessed.So I have been thinking about the northern countries, and the precision of the inspire up there any good?

I got GPS lock in Ayangue, Ecuador, Mar del Plata and Buenos Aires, Argentina.  you should be just fine.  

Abe Posted at 2015-8-12 20:56
I flew my Phantom 2V+ all over Guatemala in April (next door to El Salvador) and had no GPS issues. ...

Thank you so much.. did you have any issues with airline and security taking it to guatemala? I'm glad you said guatemala cause this is more guatemala then el salvador is one of those locations where no border and one foot forward u in el salvador and one foot back is guatemala..

Yes you should get GPS signal everywhere unless on the polar caps like someone said or if you have obstacles between you and the skyview such as roof or trees or lots of clouds (Maybe)

noahny Posted at 2015-8-13 04:46
Thank you so much.. did you have any issues with airline and security taking it to guatemala? I'm  ...

Noahny,

I checked it as baggage in a Microraptor Pro hard case and put a TSA lock on it. When I arrived in Guatemala, the lock was missing, the Phantom's gimbal lock had been removed and they had put the aircraft back into the case in an awkward manner. Everything worked fine, however, no damage, other than my $20 Tumi lock was gone.

On the way back to the US, the same happened again, though there was no lock to steal this time. But again the gimbal lock had been removed and the aircraft stuffed back into the carrying case in a sloppy manner.

You can count on them opening the case and inspecting your Inspire if you check it. Though they probably won't cause any damage, they are pretty sloppy in how they handle it. If possible, you may want to bring it as carry-on luggage.

Regards,

--Abe

Abe Posted at 2015-8-13 09:45
Noahny,

I checked it as baggage in a Microraptor Pro hard case and put a TSA lock on it. When I ar ...

That's what I'm hoping I can bring it as carry on item.. I'm so afraid it will be stolen.. I've had electronics stolen before and as you may already know the airline is not responsible if its stolen. I know the hard case it comes in is to big for a carry on.  I'm actually extremely afraid to loose it all, I have over 8000.00 dollars in that case with 6 TB48, TB47 controllers, inspire 1, hub charger, etc.. I wonder if I can insure all his in case someone steals it.

Cheers, thanks for the input!

noahny Posted at 2015-8-13 11:37
That's what I'm hoping I can bring it as carry on item.. I'm so afraid it will be stolen.. I've ha ...

You may need to check regulations, but I believe you can only bring two TB48s on the plane with you, although you can bring as many TB47s as you want. Also, there have been many reports on this forum, including from DJI's Tahoe_Ed, that say you can carry on the Inspire case and it fits in the overhead compartment.

Thank you all the help, was very helpful and it work. To bad no offline mapping is avail with the DJI go app but maybe in the future.

The accuracy of accuracy GLONASS over GPS
In terms of accuracy, both have a different perception. It can be used best on high latitudes (north or south), where GPS signals cannot be reached. Talking about the accuracy, GLONASS is much preferable than GPS due to its orbital position. So even when you are at a place where GPS does not work properly. GLONASS will track you accurately and sometimes vice-versa.


In low latitude, GPS performs better and gives much better accuracy than the GLONASS, because of its high coverage over the globe. But putting them into use together both Global Navigation Satellite System and GPS gives a much accurate result than using individually, which are used in cities where getting the position of the person gets difficult due to high rise buildings. Here GPS and Global Navigation Satellite System together perform very well.

Source - https://www.ytechb.com/what-is-glonass/

GPS lock should not be an issue as everyone said, however you should check with the consulate, as I remember seeing a you tube video where the drone was not allowed into the country and had to stay in lockup and was returned upon exiting the country. I know it was in Central America, but don't remember which country it was. Might have been Costa Rica. As said elsewhere you can carry only 2 spare batteries in the cabin with you but MUST be protected against short circuits by insulating tape wrapped around the connectors and having the batteries in LiPo safe bags. I was also told that one battery can travel with the craft, as long as it is IN the craft and not loose. I would love to find out how a commercial pilot travels for work with only 3 batteries, unless each crew member carries 2, hoefully a large crew OL.