The Coastal Ecosystem Mapping and Media Viability Project

10.

During the Fieldwork

Pre-flight A pre-flight checklist was created by Distant Imagery Solutions to ensure the safe flying conditions and that all equipment was in working order. DJI recommends the operating temperature for the phantom 2/3 to be within -10°C ~ 50°C, and an infrared thermometer was used to check the temperature of the drone to make sure there was no sudden change in temperature in the motors before and after each flight. Before each drone flight, the height of the flight, the area covered, and the overlap between pictures taken by the drone can be defined in a mission planner application (Figure 8). The location (latitude, longitude, and elevation) at which each image is taken by the drone’s camera is also recorded during the flight. Before all the missions were flown all GCPs were planned, placed and recorded with a GPS. We did so using a combination of discussions from the pre field trip meetings and comparing Google maps imagery within the mission planner app to the physical area during the field mission. According to recommendations (Figure 6) the placement of the GCPs had to be in ridged configurations, but due to limitations on-site (water, tree placement, obstacles, etc.) this was not always possible, much trial and error went into the mission placement and GCPs placement to find the right balance between mission placement and coverage of the camera (Figure 7).

Figure 7. Onsite planning of missions and GCPs

The Coastal Ecosystem Mapping and Media Viability Project

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