Am I the only one tired of Naziware???

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Hey doods!

So last night I built a mission in Map Pilot (v4.0.7). I cached maps and the SRTM data in preparation for this morning's mapping job, which involved a survey crew laying out 20 GCP's at a cost of thousands of dollars. However, I get out on the job site this morning and I'm met with this error message:

1573069916389.png



Fortunately for all of us, I know how crazy our drone world is and keep a second iPad with LEGACY APPS installed for just such occasions. I had imported the missions last night via the Flights.plist file (a HUGE feature that is no longer supported in newer versions of Map Pilot) via LEGACY iTUNES to my other iPad, which is running a legacy version Map Pilot v2.9.2 (devoid of Naziware). Because of this forethought I was able to complete my missions without incident. I have learned that the only way to circumvent software "improvements" and "enhancements" is to have an exit strategy. As they say, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." That said...

I basically have 2 questions:

1) Why on Earth would Map Pilot not "register with DJI" while I was connected to the Internet for literally HOURS last night??? And instead wait until this morning when I'm out on the job site 20 miles from cell service????

2) Is this going to be a recurring issue? How often am I going to have to receive DJI's "blessing" to use the third-party software that I already bought and paid for?

What a screwed up world us UAV pilots are forced to endure. The silver lining is that those without the forethought of exit strategy probably toss their arms in the air and declare, "THAT's IT!!! I'M DONE!!!" This tends to thin the herd.

Am I the only one bitten by these "better connect to the Internet or you can't use our software" bugs???

D
 
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You are fortunate to be born with the ability to figure all that out. That is why you are successful. DJI could use you. LOL
That's what i thought at least he has the know how to do it the rest of us is stuck for now
 
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Thanx, guys. I appreciate the accolades.

I just received notice from Map Pilot tech support that that message should NOT stop me from flying my missions. They claim the fact that the app would NOT connect to the bird was just coincidence....hmmmm... I'm going to test that theory tomorrow morning.

D
 
Common sense and forethought, sorely lacking these days. How anyone could try to run a drone business without back up, or even back up of back up, is bound to fail. Murphy’s Law.
Good job.
 
Common sense and forethought, sorely lacking these days. How anyone could try to run a drone business without back up, or even back up of back up, is bound to fail. Murphy’s Law.
Good job.

Thank you, sir.

There's an old saying; "If the data isn't in 3 places, it doesn't exist." As soon as we're done, post-mission data (photos) is immediately checked for focus and exposure consistency. They are then organized into a folder in my laptop and then copied to my thumb drive and then my partner's thumb drive (if he's on the job with me). He then copies the folder to his laptop. As soon as he gets to his office the data goes on his desktop. As soon as I get home the data gets transferred to my desktop, which dons a DataCenter™ drive. And then copied to another DataCenter™ drive (used in my second desktop at my girlfriend's house). Thumb drive and laptop copies are eventually deleted, leaving behind 3 copies of the data forever.

For those not in the know, the WD DataCenter™ drives have a 10x file copy reliability rating over consumer drives. For anyone who does massive file migration, the DataCenter drives are a necessity.


1573144560600.png


So by the end of the day, the data (which is worth literally thousands of dollars) is in over half a dozen mass storage devices in 3-4 physical locations. At the end of each year, both of my DataCenter™ drives are archived and replaced.

Just last month a client contacted me for a video file I had shot 18 months ago. Somehow his file got deprecated. I just grabbed the archived file, uploaded it to the cloud and he was good to go.

All my pre-mission files (Flight.plist files and .kml files) are copied to my Google Drive, which then propagate out to FIVE machines, including my field laptop. So in the unlikely event that BOTH my iPads are either broken or stolen, I can populate my partner's iPads with the missions in the field in minutes. On some of our larger jobs, we've had over 30 missions!! So I find it maddening that later versions of Map Pilot no longer support access to the Flight.plist file. The "new" work flow is to copy each file individually, one-by-one from one iPad to the next via AirDrop. Compared to the ability to store and move a single file that contains ALL missions, this new work flow is idiotic. Map Pilot technicians cite that "Apple recommended hiding the .plist files." Well...you know what I say? *I* recommend you bring .plist file access BACK. F*** Apple. How about your CUSTOMER's needs!!!???

My partner also runs Map Pilot v2.9.2 on his iPads.

We always bring at least two P4P's with us, sometimes three (because sometimes we deploy two birds simultaneously).

It's a good work flow and has insured mission success many times. Our only failures (free repeats) occurred when we were first starting out. We learned quickly the 3 R's of mapping: Redundancy, redundancy, redundancy. <- irony HA!

D
 
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Thank you, sir.

There's an old saying; "If the data isn't in 3 places, it doesn't exist." As soon as we're done, post-mission data (photos) is immediately checked for focus and exposure consistency. They are then organized into a folder in my laptop and then copied to my thumb drive and then my partner's thumb drive (if he's on the job with me). He then copies the folder to his laptop. As soon as he gets to his office the data goes on his desktop. As soon as I get home the data gets transferred to my desktop, which dons a DataCenter™ drive. And then copied to another DataCenter™ drive (used in my second desktop at my girlfriend's house).

For those not in the know, the WD DataCenter™ drives have a 10x file copy reliability rating over consumer drives. For anyone who does massive file migration, the DataCenter drives are a necessity.

So by the end of the day, the data (which is worth literally thousands of dollars) is in over half a dozen mass storage devices in 3-4 physical locations. At the end of each year, both of my DataCenter™ drives are archived and replaced.

Just last month a client contacted me for a video file I had shot 18 months ago. Somehow his file got deprecated. I just grabbed the archived file, uploaded it to the cloud and he was good to go.

All my pre-mission files (Flight.plist files and .kml files) are copied to my Google Drive, which then propagate out to FIVE machines, including my field laptop. So in the unlikely event that BOTH my iPads are either broken or stolen, I can populate my partner's iPads with the missions. On some of our larger jobs, we've had over 30 missions!! So I find it maddening that later versions of Map Pilot no longer support access to the Flight.plist file. The "new" work flow is to copy each file individually, one-by-one from one iPad to the next via AirDrop. Compared to the ability to store and move a single file that contains ALL missions, this new work flow is idiotic. Map Pilot technicians cite that "Apple recommended hiding the .plist files. Well...you know what I say? F*** Apple. How about your CUSTOMER's needs!!!???

My partner also runs Map Pilot v2.9.2 on his iPads.

We always bring at least two P4P's with us, sometimes three (because sometimes we deploy two birds simultaneously).

It's a good work flow and has insured mission success many times. Our only failures (free repeats) occurred when we were first starting out. We learned quickly the 3 R's of mapping: Redundancy, redundancy, redundancy. <- irony HA!

D
Outstanding!
 
I see bumper stickers that say, knowledge I power. If you don't know how to use that power, you can blow yourself up. Lol
Wisdom is the ability to use that knowledge

The Bible says in the last days, there will be great knowledge, but people will lack wisdom.
 
I see bumper stickers that say, knowledge I power. If you don't know how to use that power, you can blow yourself up. Lol
Wisdom is the ability to use that knowledge

The Bible says in the last days, there will be great knowledge, but people will lack wisdom.
SO true! Pray that our children don’t pay for our leaders lack of it. Take a kid fishing or flying, you will be rewarded.
 
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1) Why on Earth would Map Pilot not "register with DJI" while I was connected to the Internet for literally HOURS last night??? And instead wait until this morning when I'm out on the job site 20 miles from cell service????
I believe it’s a case of software written by millennials who live in a bubble where they can’t conceive of a situation where you don’t have internet. ;)
 
My next UAV, should I decide to continue the hobby, will not be DJI. I will build my own, without Big Brother inside its brain. The parts are out there and many folks DiY their drones these days.
 
I believe it’s a case of software written by millennials who live in a bubble where they can’t conceive of a situation where you don’t have internet. ;)

A-men to that one. That said, subsequent tests netted that the message can be ignored. I just happen to have connection issues to the iPad at the time (something that happens occasionally and is easily remedied with a restart or cable re-orientation). After unplugging the cable TWICE, and re-orienting it once, I assumed that the error message was preventing flight. Lesson learned.

D
 
Hey doos!

UPDATE: Subsequent tests netted that the "Not Active with DJI" message can be ignored. On that day last week I just happen to have connection issues to the iPad (something that happens occasionally and is easily remedied with an RC restart or cable re-orientation). After unplugging the cable TWICE, and re-orienting it once, and NOT getting connected, I assumed that the error message was preventing flight. Turns out it was not. Just a terrible coincidence. Lesson learned.

D
 

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