The Most Efficient Mapping Configuration
Height
The height of the drone should be set in AGL (above Ground Level) Mode. This ensures consistent quality over the whole mapping mission. Above takeoff point can be used if AGL mode is not available. For flat/gentle rolling terrain this mode is fine. But for major changes in terrain with steep hills, take off from the lowest point of the farm. Potentially relocating mapping the farm in sections to ensure you do not exceed the 400ft AGL max height.
Set mapping height to 120M (400FT)
Terrain Follow Mode
The terrain setting should be set to AGL (above ground level). This means the drone follows the contours of the terrain. Allowing every photo to have the same resolution, therefore improving consistency. If the terrain is relatively flat or even, with little variation, then the above takeoff altitude mode will be suitable. Front and side image overlaps may have to be increased to ensure processing is sucsessfull.
Set Terrain Follow Mode To AGL (above ground level)
Drone Mapping Configuration
The drone must capture data in a specific manner to ensure successful pasture measurement
Configuration Setup Tutorial Video DJI Enterprise Drones
Frontal Overlap
The frontal overlap is how much the drone overlaps the last photo in front. So each image captured has an overlap over the last image captured. For measuring pasture, we fly at a high height, so we do not require a far frontal overlap. Therefore we set our frontal overlap to 60%
Set front image capture overlap to 60%
Side Overlap
Exactly the same concept as the frontal overlap, except this is how much the image overlaps to the images captured from both sides. Again we can reduce this figure from the standard because of our mapping height. Therfore we set our side overlap to 60%
Set side image capture overlap to 60%
Capture Mode
There are two options. Timed interval image capture and distance interval capture. Timed interval only captures an image every set amount of time. usually 3 seconds. This works fine but can create issues in AGL terrain following mode when the drone has to slow down to climb up terrain, taking to many photos in one location which has a tendency to cause processing failures. Distance interval capture mode only captures images after a set distance has been travelled. This does capture more images over a mapping mission, but it leads to more reliable data collection and less processing issues.
Set Image capture mode to Distance Based Interval
Large Areas
If you are mapping large areas over 500 Hectares, we suggest mapping areas individually. This is because the time taken to map such a large area, increases the variation in ambient lighting from the start to the finish. This can result in skewed data, therefore affecting results. Break into multiple mapping missions, each no larger than 400ha, each with their own ground sampling test plots.