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AZedu

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Hi, I'm a lecturer in a University's UAS program. Currently we have DJI Mavic Mini's for students to learn the basics, and Phantom 4 Pro V2's for photogrammetry.
I want to diversify, and not put all of our eggs in a DJI basket, so to speak.
I'd like to buy a few Autel Evo 2' Pro's for this purpose, but I've heard different stories about how well they work.
We have Drone Deploy for the DJI's, but it isn't compatible. I'd appreciate any suggestions you may have.
 
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Hi, I'm a lecturer in a University's UAS program. Currently we have DJI Mavic Mini's for students to learn the basics, and Phantom 4 Pro V2's for photogrammetry.
I want to diversify, and not put all of our eggs in a DJI basket, so to speak.
I'd like to buy a few Autel Evo 2' Pro's for this purpose, but I've heard different stories about how well they work.
We have Drone Deploy for the DJI's, but it isn't compatible. I'd appreciate any suggestions you may have.
Hey AZedu, I'm guessing that's Arizona EDU - I'm in charge of our UAS Drone Application Certificate program for my university in Missouri. My (our) inventory consists of (1) DJI Spark, (1) DJI M2 Zoom, (1) Mavic Air, and (1) Autel Evo V1. I started my own side business last year (CW3Drones LLc) and purchased my Autel Evo II 8k.

Unfortunately, I have not yet done anything with photogrammetry as it isn't yet a focus within the certificate...yet. I would be interested to learn which mapping applications you discover work best with the Evo series as that will be another avenue we will expand into soon. I'll pose the question to my mastermind group and let you know if anything comes up.
~
EM
 
Hello from Britain. Posted a similar response in another thread about photogrammetry. Try the old-school techniques with WGS84 logged GCP's using any drone that can undertake waypoint mapping flights (EVO 1 / EVO 2 line with the Autel EXPLORER app). Alternatively: manually fly your GCP marked site with a 70-80% overlap using the rule of thirds grid lines on your flight screen to guide you with a mapping zig-zag flight path.

Photogrammetry software is prohibitively expensive for private individuals and it is possible to produce highly accurate orthomosaics of features and sites of interest using freeware alternatives (see other post for suggestions). If you mark your GCP co-ordinates using a mil-spec GPS: accuracy shouldn't be an issue. RTK drones aren't that accurate. A total station returns +/- 1.5mm accuracy over 1500m: the Phantom 4 RTK delivers +/- 3.65cm linear measurement horizontal accuracy. GCP's properly logged will return far more accurate results even with manual flight orthomosaic mapping stitches.
 
Hello from Britain. Posted a similar response in another thread about photogrammetry. Try the old-school techniques with WGS84 logged GCP's using any drone that can undertake waypoint mapping flights (EVO 1 / EVO 2 line with the Autel EXPLORER app). Alternatively: manually fly your GCP marked site with a 70-80% overlap using the rule of thirds grid lines on your flight screen to guide you with a mapping zig-zag flight path. Have used a Nano+ for landscape and high resolution specific feature orthomosaics with GCP's.

Photogrammetry software is prohibitively expensive for private individuals and it is possible to produce highly accurate orthomosaics of features and sites of interest using freeware alternatives (see other post for suggestions). If you mark your GCP co-ordinates using a mil-spec GPS: accuracy shouldn't be an issue. RTK drones aren't that accurate. A good, well calibrated total station returns +/- 1.5mm accuracy over 1500m: the Phantom 4 RTK delivers up to +/- 3.65cm linear measurement horizontal accuracy, which, compared to the total station, is terrible. Manually set GCP's properly logged will return far more accurate results even with manual flight orthomosaic mapping stitches.
 

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Hi, I'm a lecturer in a University's UAS program. Currently we have DJI Mavic Mini's for students to learn the basics, and Phantom 4 Pro V2's for photogrammetry.
I want to diversify, and not put all of our eggs in a DJI basket, so to speak.
I'd like to buy a few Autel Evo 2' Pro's for this purpose, but I've heard different stories about how well they work.
We have Drone Deploy for the DJI's, but it isn't compatible. I'd appreciate any suggestions you may have.
[Uodate] I’ve started into photogrammetry

Since responding to your post awhile back, I’ve eased into photogrammetry by using WebODM. This FOSS is simple enough to use and generates some very good results. Moreover, there are lots of tutorials on YouTube that experienced users have shared to explain the tool.

I just purchased a set of GCPs because I thought I needed them (and I got a good price $69.00) and learned that I don’t need them in built up areas. Unless I’m in a field or in developed land parcel and need survey grade accuracy (construction, cut and fill, etc.) GCPs aren’t very useful.

So, my next purchase will be a mil spec gps. I don’t see myself investing in an RTK enabled Drone or GNSS Base Station with a subscription service at this point.

Anyways-I just wanted to share that WebODM is an inexpensive option for classroom use, and it is operating systems agnostic.

Cheers!
 

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