Maps Made Easy is proud to release the Map Pilot app for iOS.
The Map Pilot app helps you create and fly the optimal flight path to create great maps using the Maps Made Easy map processing service. Creating high resolution aerial maps with your DJI flying camera is just a few clicks away. Mapping has never been easier.

Define the area, select the level of detail, and go.

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After months of beta testing and listening to the feature requests of our testers, we have developed the go-to application for taking real mapping data.



Supported Drones

• Phantom 3 Standard
• Inspire 1 Pro
• Phantom 3 Professional
• Phantom 3 Advanced
• Inpsire 1
• Matrice 100
  

Features

• Multi-Flight Coordination
• Multi-Battery Management
• Basemap Caching for Offline Operations
• Save Missions
• Refly Saved Missions
• Accurate Job Size Estimates
• Fullest Possible Use of Each Battery
• Appropriate Camera Triggering
• Overlap Management
• Speed Management
• Auto Land
• Live Video Preview (large and small)
• Signal Quality Warning
• Line of Sight Indicator
• Automatically Captures Elevation Reference Image (Ground Image)
• Natural Landing Assistance
• Live Map View
  

Easily upload the images to Maps Made Easy for processing or use your own image stitching software.

Compatible with the same supported devices as the DJI Go app. Requires iOS 8 or 9.

For more details or support, please check out the Map Pilot for DJI suppport page.



Automaticallly resume where the last battery left off.


Natural landing assistance.


Flexible settings.


Known bloggers can contact us for promotional codes.

PM me for a code and ill make a youtube video and boost your morale

Hi guys,

Just to confirm, I couldn't find it in the Google store. Not there yet right? If not, when is it going to be?


Thanks.

Paniza Posted at 2015-10-16 16:32
Hi guys,

Just to confirm, I couldn't find it in the Google store. Not there yet right? If not, when ...

The Map Pilot for iOS app is only available through the iOS AppStore.

Willie Wonka Posted at 2015-10-16 14:25
PM me for a code and ill make a youtube video and boost your morale

We can't PM... We'd love to have you make a video though. Email us at the address on our site.

I've been using the beta version of this... I love it.  It allows me to plan my flight, press the upload, and start the flight plan, exactly as expected.   My only glitch so far has been that I set the camera to 16:9 instead of 4:3, and Map Pilot flew expecting the 4:3 images.  The final map had some holes in it, but now that I know what to expect, I'll make sure its set for 4:3.    Great software.

Android version?

munnecke@gmail. Posted at 2015-10-22 18:00
I've been using the beta version of this... I love it.  It allows me to plan my flight, press the up ...

It should be automatically be set to 4000 x 3000.  Please let us know if that is not the case. Switching back and forth between the Go app and Map Pilot will cause issues since the camera settings are only set when the "Create New Map" screen is opened.

Not having the camera set at the correct resolution will certainly affect things as well since our imaging spacing is making assumptions based on how the camera settings were defined when the screen opened.

Holes in the map are almost always caused by lack of overlap.  Lack of overlaps can be caused by not having your remote pointed at the aircraft to maintain a strong connection or, more commonly, attempting to map higher terrain from the takeoff point.

Until we add terrain awareness, the aircraft doesn't know how far away the ground is under it. If you fly towards a 25 m tall hill and the camera triggering is based on being 50 m above ground, your overlap will go from a usable 60% to an unusable 30%. Any time you are taking mapping data without terrain awareness, it is always best to start at or near the high point.

More discussion: http://support.dronesmadeeasy.co ... erlap-?locale=en-us

ag0n Posted at 2015-10-22 19:19
Android version?

We are not currently planning on developing one. It basically requires and full rewrite of the application. There is no way to covert an app. It has to be rewritten in a different language for a different operating system. It essentially doubles the cost of development to offer both. We would rather focus on providing a great app for one operating system than an OK one for two.

Hi, what can I do with the finished map please? download and print it etc?

a.brown854@ntlw Posted at 2015-10-23 07:34
Hi, what can I do with the finished map please? download and print it etc?

You can use the images captured by Map Pilot in any photo stitching software.

Using Maps Made Easy:
You can download GeoTiff, JPG, DEM, KMZ or 3D model.
You can print it easily from the JPG file. We have seen some really nice wall sized prints.
You can easily embed the maps and models in your website, blog or share on Facebook.
You can use the relative elevation map to see surface detail that isn't apparent in the imagery.
You can measure distances, areas and volumes in our web-based interface.

See this site for the full list:
https://www.mapsmadeeasy.com/maps/new/

I'll be darned if I can find it in iTunes!!!!

rodger Posted at 2015-11-1 10:53
I'll be darned if I can find it in iTunes!!!!

I found it.

What shutter speeds are used? Won't the images get blurred when the drone moves?

What shutter speeds are used? Won't the images get blurred when the drone moves?

Swedrone Posted at 2015-11-1 23:13
What shutter speeds are used? Won't the images get blurred when the drone moves?

A certain amount of "ground smear" is acceptable in aerial mapping. Generally, it is best to keep your ground smear, or the distance covered during and exposure period, less than the ground resolution.

Example: you are moving at 10 m/s and take and 1/10 exposure. The ground smear would be a meter. A meter of ground smear is terrible and won't work. However, if your exposure is 1/1000 the ground smear will only be a centimeter which is pretty good.

But yes, there can be issues with drone motion which is why we recommend that all mapping be done as close to solar noon as possible to maximize light availability.  

At higher latitudes light availability can be an issue at solar noon to so further steps must be taken to limit ground smear. Reducing aircraft speed and decreasing the exposure compensation value will reduce the amount of ground covered and decrease exposure times.

The DJI cameras, while good, cannot work miracles and require a certain amount of light to get a good image at F2.8.

Another note: In low light, TAKE YOUR FILTERS OFF! We get a lot of jobs with people complaining about ground smear but then they tell us they had a huge ND filter on there.

I'm confused. I see the iOS app is $9.99. Is this a one-time purchase and I can map as much as I like? Your website at: https://www.mapsmadeeasy.com/pricing seems to be a "pay per use" pricing.

nightrider1383@ Posted at 2015-11-2 12:36
I'm confused. I see the iOS app is $9.99. Is this a one-time purchase and I can map as much as I lik ...

The app is for data collection and can be used as much as you like. The pay-as-you-go pricing is just for the processing of the imagery. All jobs posted to the Maps Made Easy site that are less than 52 DJI camera images are free.

MapsMadeEasy Posted at 2015-11-4 12:44
The app is for data collection and can be used as much as you like. The pay-as-you-go pricing is j ...

Thanks for the information. Regarding the promotional code you mentioned in your OP, who/what is considered a "known blogger". I downloaded your app on my iPad Mini (Order ID: MHBWLFG70J ) and would like to take any discounts available while I demo and try and find a market here in my area.
Thanks in advance!

nightrider1383@ Posted at 2015-11-5 06:00
Thanks for the information. Regarding the promotional code you mentioned in your OP, who/what is c ...

A "known blogger" would be someone who has an existing blog with a built in readership like droneblog.com or something like that. The promo codes are only good for a few weeks as limited by the App Store and are intended to be distributed to press or tech previewers.

MapsMadeEasy Posted at 2015-11-6 01:51
A "known blogger" would be someone who has an existing blog with a built in readership like droneb ...

Thanks for explaining. I ran the Maps Made Easy today. Flew great.
Only issue so far was uploading the photos from Safari Browser (On a Mac).
Everything uploads, except 2 photos. Tried to reupload again, same thing.

Now it seems to be uploading everything using Firefox on Windows Virtual Machine.
Not sure if Safari has compatibility issue. But so far it's working great. It's processing now!

MapsMadeEasy Posted at 2015-11-2 16:09
A certain amount of "ground smear" is acceptable in aerial mapping. Generally, it is best to keep  ...

Ok thank´s for clarifying things

It works OK. Unfortunately 80% of my "Offline Map" was processed.

For example, I attached the screenshot of the offline map. You will see the baseball park is completely covered (before): https://www.dropbox.com/s/m6gwtcr0fg7v4k8/IMG_0034.PNG?dl=0
Here is the final processed project (after):
https://www.mapsmadeeasy.com/maps/public/69db87ed2f02441fb27788f9cd014812

Here is the actual picture, showing it was over the bottom-right (in the lake area), just to prove the Phantom 3 was over that area, so should be no reason whyit wasn't stitched in the final processed mapping:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3cswekj8owa3gvq/DJI_0433.JPG?dl=0

As you can see, the right-side of the baseball park is cut off, rendering this processed images useless. Also, the top-left corner is chopped off as well.
I selected the extra 3D vertical, which doesn't look anything like the 3D sample. My processed 3D is a flat image 3D. Not a textured 3D like the sample, not sure why that is.
Also found a bug where if you are running a 2 battery mission, but only complete 1 battery, you cannot start another survey unless you delete the offline map associated to the 2 battery flight.

I've created a support ticket and hope someone responds. It's a great concept, but doesn't seem ready for primetime.

Can you use this app to fly a path and shoot video rather than stills?

intonet Posted at 2015-11-14 08:39
Can you use this app to fly a path and shoot video rather than stills?

Map Pilot's operation and the output of the Maps Made Easy processing system is really two separate topics.

If you use Map Pilot to collect data it can be processed on any platform.

Maps Made Easy does some trimming along the edges of the stitched area to get rid of the badly warped parts that occur when you only have images from one side of the object. It is always best to include slightly more than you need in order to make sure you get  the data you need.

Areas that are inside the envelope of the flight path will always turn out the best and anything outside that risks getting trimmed out depending on quality.

The title for the checkbox for full 3D processing says that it is not for use with nadir images, which is what Map Pilot takes. You can use Map Pilot to collect better full 3D modeling data by manually adjusting the gimbal position to your desired position (usually 45 degrees) after the point directly over the takeoff point has been reached.

intonet Posted at 2015-11-14 08:39
Can you use this app to fly a path and shoot video rather than stills?

Not at this time. We have had a lot of requests for it but since it is a bit outside of the scope of mapping it will likely be saved for a separate app.

MapsMadeEasy Posted at 2015-11-15 16:27
Map Pilot's operation and the output of the Maps Made Easy processing system is really two separate ...

I submitted a request via email and also this forum, regarding 10-20% of my stitched project not working. Check post #23 above. Any idea?

Hi MapsMadeEasy
Have been using the app this weekend for the first time,  it's very good,  I do need to get better image quality though for my projects,  the app seems to only take jpegs, overriding anything that I set in DJI Go App,  is this right,  can I not take RAW images at all?  Is it likely to be implemented soon if not?
Thanks Ian

nightrider1383@ Posted at 2015-11-13 07:00
It works OK. Unfortunately 80% of my "Offline Map" was processed.

For example, I attached the scre ...

Hi Nightrider,
This mapping game can be confounding at times. It looks to me what has happened from looking at your images (plan & capture) that the plan has a left a gap on that right hand side where you really could have used another flight run. This a function of the way the planning app works whereas it uses the specified overlap to calculate the distance between the runs and if the next run is outside the area of interest it doesn't plan it. Once you know this it's not a big deal because you get to preview the flight paths on the app before saving or flying them. Always check that you have flight paths on or outside the boundaries of your actual areas of interest and you will not have this problem again.

MapsMadeEasy Posted at 2015-11-16 07:28
Not at this time. We have had a lot of requests for it but since it is a bit outside of the scope  ...

Hey MME,
Video is an increasingly useful tool for mapping especially in 3D, it generates amazingly dense point clouds!
I know a few pros that are using that now.

nightrider1383@ Posted at 2015-11-17 10:45
I submitted a request via email and also this forum, regarding 10-20% of my stitched project not w ...

Both of your support tickets were answered quickly after the were received. It is important to make sure that our email address is whitelisted in your spam filter.

ianellerby Posted at 2015-11-29 12:40
Hi MapsMadeEasy
Have been using the app this weekend for the first time,  it's very good,  I do need ...

RAW images take too long to write to the SD card and slow the aircraft down.  Also, our Maps Made Easy doesn't process the RAW files. The difference in quality is not worth the tradeoff for aircraft speed and upload bandwidth once we resample the images to texture the 3D models.

If you need more detail, we suggest flying lower and slower.

mike.wildlight Posted at 2015-11-29 17:12
Hey MME,
Video is an increasingly useful tool for mapping especially in 3D, it generates amazingly ...

It is our opinion that rolling shutter video is not appropriate to use for 3D reconstruction. Between variations in the spot size on the ground due to the rolling shutter, increased compression, increased sensor noise, and increased upload bandwidth requirements, we will be sticking with single frame processing for Maps Made Easy. We are considering adding a video capture option but it isn't a high priority since it can be achieved with other apps.

Where can I find a manual?

milbear Posted at 2015-12-15 21:42
Where can I find a manual?

http://support.dronesmadeeasy.co ... 6-Map-Pilot-for-DJI

whats the cost?

Michael M Posted at 2015-12-16 11:34
whats the cost?

The app is $9.99 on the Apple AppStore.

Do you have a trial? Only way I would sink 10$ and I'm sure others feel the same way

Michael M Posted at 2015-12-22 07:49
Do you have a trial? Only way I would sink 10$ and I'm sure others feel the same way

Considering what I have invested into flying so far, $10 is minuscule if mapping is what you want to do....

rasit Posted at 2015-12-21 20:05
Considering what I have invested into flying so far, $10 is minuscule if mapping is what you want  ...

True, but there are hundreds of phantom apps, each 10$  
Are you going to buy all of them or the ones that you know work?