Simulated camera views from Google Earth or Google Maps?

[racin06]

My company is an environmental consulting firm. We have recently rolled out drone services. We have project site which is an industrial facility with a subsurface chlorinated solvent-contaminated groundwater plume. There are residential properties adjacent to and extend three blocks away from the industrial facility that may be impacted by this plume (potential vapor intrusion). Our first drone mission for this project is to just shoot some high-resolution photos with the P4 Pro of the industrial facility and the adjacent residential properties. This area is approximately 144 acres. We will then stitch the photos together and print on our large plotter. This photo doesn't need any geo-referencing at this time.

We will not be flying over the residential homes and streets because we would need the FAA waiver to fly over human beings, which as you all know, is very difficult to obtain from the FAA. The challenge is that I want to be certain that the P4 Pro's camera has a wide enough focal length to capture this 144 acre area from at or under 400 ft. AGL. Of course, the lower the altitude, the better. Yes, we could simply drive to the site with the drone, but the location is 100 miles from our office, and this drone mission won't happen until March. So, is there anything available that simulates the field of view from a P4 Pro at various altitudes AGL?

 

[barefootbeachcombing]

I don't know the answer to the question in the last line of your post (although I doubt that's avaiable), but just a clarification on what you said at the beginning of your last paragraph. You might be able to contact Pictometry to see if you could purchase high resolution oblique images from them of the area.

You need a waiver from the FAA to fly over people who are not protected in a building or a vehicle. You don't need authorization to fly over residential houses. 14 CFR 107.39 - Operation over human beings.

And as far as a waiver to actually fly over people, this type of waiver is not necessarily "difficult to obtain", you just need to provide them with the appropriate safety procedures that you are going to employ if you undertake the flight.

 

[racin06]

I don't know the answer to the question in the last line of your post (although I doubt that's avaiable), but just a clarification on what you said at the beginning of your last paragraph. You might be able to contact Pictometry to see if you could purchase high resolution oblique images from them of the area.

You need a waiver from the FAA to fly over people who are not protected in a building or a vehicle. You don't need authorization to fly over residential houses. 14 CFR 107.39 - Operation over human beings.

And as far as a waiver to actually fly over people, this type of waiver is not necessarily "difficult to obtain", you just need to provide them with the appropriate safety procedures that you are going to employ if you undertake the flight.

Thanks. Yes, I understand 107.39, but in order to meet the requirement, I would have to insure that all residents remain in their homes AND that there were no moving vehicles on the streets during the drone flight. Both of those conditions aren't going to happen. So, I would technically need the waiver.

 

[sar104]

The field of view of the P4P is 84°, and so the ground length, w, imaged as a function of altitude, h, is simply given by

w = 2htan(84/2) = 1.80h
​

where w has the same units as h. You can draw circles of radius w/2 in Google Earth to approximate those views.

 

[racin06]

Thank you, sar104!

 

[doktorinjh]

I measured a footprint of approximately 575' x 380' from a Phantom 4 Pro at 400'.

 

[sar104]

I measured a footprint of approximately 575' x 380' from a Phantom 4 Pro at 400'.

That's close to expected, with a diagonal of √(575² + 380²) = 690 ft. From the FOV calculation above one would predict a diagonal length of 1.8 x 400 = 720 ft, suggesting that they are throwing away some of the sensor area with geometric correction.

 

[brizey]

My company is an environmental consulting firm. We have recently rolled out drone services. We have project site which is an industrial facility with a subsurface chlorinated solvent-contaminated groundwater plume. There are residential properties adjacent to and extend three blocks away from the industrial facility that may be impacted by this plume (potential vapor intrusion). Our first drone mission for this project is to just shoot some high-resolution photos with the P4 Pro of the industrial facility and the adjacent residential properties. This area is approximately 144 acres. We will then stitch the photos together and print on our large plotter. This photo doesn't need any geo-referencing at this time.

We will not be flying over the residential homes and streets because we would need the FAA waiver to fly over human beings, which as you all know, is very difficult to obtain from the FAA. The challenge is that I want to be certain that the P4 Pro's camera has a wide enough focal length to capture this 144 acre area from at or under 400 ft. AGL. Of course, the lower the altitude, the better. Yes, we could simply drive to the site with the drone, but the location is 100 miles from our office, and this drone mission won't happen until March. So, is there anything available that simulates the field of view from a P4 Pro at various altitudes AGL?

Are you wanting to see something like this around the 40-second mark? Also this has a full GIS stack integrated with points from the local 911 office, It's all custom built.

Also integrating my stitching into it some time down the road.