App for automatically creating survey lines and then recording video instead of taking still photos

[Malalako]

I've seen a few threads where a similar thing has been asked - but thought I'd try again and see if there are more suggestions or any new apps.

I need an app where I can select an area on the map and it will automatically create survey lines (and you can set height, overlap, speed etc) just as if you were capturing images for photogrammetry. But instead of still photos I want to record video. The purpose for this flight is so I can select a river on the map and then get a video capturing the entire river so I can count animals in the water. And then I want to do this at different heights (trying to figure out which height is best to see animals). I know I could use something like Litchi but I would have to set the waypoints manually and I don't want to do that - I want to select the area and then have the app create survey lines so I know for sure that every section of the river will be covered (and the same area will be covered even when I fly at different heights!).

So far the only app I have found to do this is Drone Harmony but I'm having a lot of trouble getting that to work (there is an issue where it wont connect to the drone). Anyone know of another app I can use for this?

 

[BigAl07]

Litchi should work fine for this. Create a Waypoint Mission, assign the camera angel, and assign to "Start Record on mission launch" (this is on by default) and you're good to go. You use your finger to draw the river and let the App create the waypoints easily. One thing I like to do is make all flights round trip and the last waypoint it at or very near my launch point.

We use litchi for similar work but not for counting animals but similar flight missions.

 

[Malalako]

Oh ok great. I was under the impression you had to manually create each waypoint with Litchi but I guess not. I think I'll have to give it a try (although I've now got Drone Harmony working again so I might see how that ends up working). Thanks for the response

 

[BigAl07]

Good luck and let us know how it works out either way.

 

[guest909]

Oh ok great. I was under the impression you had to manually create each waypoint with Litchi but I guess not. I think I'll have to give it a try (although I've now got Drone Harmony working again so I might see how that ends up working). Thanks for the response

Hi Malalako,
We are glad to hear that you got DH working now.
If you don't mind, could you let us know how you resolved your issue. Just in case if it was something we could add to our FAQ or even fix in the code base.
Thanks a lot!
DH Team

 

[Malalako]

Hi DH
I've sent an email Long story short ... I don't know how I fixed it. It just seemed to start randomly connecting again.

 

[guest909]

Hi DH
I've sent an email Long story short ... I don't know how I fixed it. It just seemed to start randomly connecting again.

Hi Malalako,

Thanks for your email and we're happy to read that the connection problem has been resolved. It's a pity we could not find the exact cause, but thanks again for the very detailed report!

Best,

DH Team