In all fairness, it is a startup and prolly don't have a PR dept to edit and check / polish everything they say and this is after all a forum for discussion. So give em a break and just maybe they will produce some magic
Autonomous Waypoint Navigation and Camera Control with the FreeSkies Copilot
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GadgetGuy
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Agreed. I am intrigued, but the 60 yard elevation limitation in the Apple 3D Maps makes it difficult, if not impossible, to get the key frames you want and need, and preview the flight properly, and that apparently now won't ever be fixed in the Basic version, even though they originally implied that it would be, and said we should buy it now, before the price goes up after that is fixed by using different maps.
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I can't imagine myself flying in the heart of a city as they seem to illustrate and 3d out in the boonies seems unlikely
GadgetGuy
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The inability to frame any shot at less than 60 meters above ground, even where 3D Apple maps exist, is a major limitation for anyone seriously wanting to set up autonomous flight in urban areas for real estate and construction and inspections. Also, not sure why iOS 9 is required, as the Apple 3D Maps were available long before iOS 9.
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I downloaded the basic app as soon as it came up on the App Store. So far I'm impressed, although the app still has a way to go. The folks at FreeSkies were super responsive to questions and issues.
Over all impression/comments:
The app requires the latest DEVELOPER firmware, which means you have to sign up as a developer to gain access to V1.5.0011. That will change as the app matures and DJI releases the firmware packages. My bird flies with no issues on that firmware in both DJI GO and Copilot.
The app is designed to fly with Apple's 3D maps, which are limited in the areas they cover. Freeskies is aware of this and tell me they have a solution, but it will require some time as a lot of rewriting has to be done. For now the app works well even in 2D areas.
The app DOES allow you to plot waypoints on a map and the app will fly the bird to those waypoints perfectly. In a perfect world you would use the 3D maps to set altitude, camera pitch angle, heading, etc. when creating keyframes.
Right now when doing a 2D mission all you can do is set waypoint location and altitude. You then fly the app in C Mode with lets you control camera pitch and yaw. I'm sure letting us set camera pitch and bird heading when creating 2D missions is coming.
It's a new app, but pretty impressive for a brand new basic flight control package.
I think it is well worth the $40.00 bucks as I finally have a way to design a mission on the ground, launch the mission and let the bird fly itself while all I do is control the camera, which is what I assumed I would get from DJI in the first place.
In short:
The App is almost there.
The price is more than reasonable.
The developers are super nice and very responsive.
I recommend it.
Over all impression/comments:
The app requires the latest DEVELOPER firmware, which means you have to sign up as a developer to gain access to V1.5.0011. That will change as the app matures and DJI releases the firmware packages. My bird flies with no issues on that firmware in both DJI GO and Copilot.
The app is designed to fly with Apple's 3D maps, which are limited in the areas they cover. Freeskies is aware of this and tell me they have a solution, but it will require some time as a lot of rewriting has to be done. For now the app works well even in 2D areas.
The app DOES allow you to plot waypoints on a map and the app will fly the bird to those waypoints perfectly. In a perfect world you would use the 3D maps to set altitude, camera pitch angle, heading, etc. when creating keyframes.
Right now when doing a 2D mission all you can do is set waypoint location and altitude. You then fly the app in C Mode with lets you control camera pitch and yaw. I'm sure letting us set camera pitch and bird heading when creating 2D missions is coming.
It's a new app, but pretty impressive for a brand new basic flight control package.
I think it is well worth the $40.00 bucks as I finally have a way to design a mission on the ground, launch the mission and let the bird fly itself while all I do is control the camera, which is what I assumed I would get from DJI in the first place.
In short:
The App is almost there.
The price is more than reasonable.
The developers are super nice and very responsive.
I recommend it.
Interested to know why the beta firmware is needed as other apps such as Litchi on Android and Autoflight Logic on iOS function with the production firmware, any ideas?
GadgetGuy
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And yet you can do that and more with better control on a free app.. But good to see some people are enjoying this failure of an app... I beta tested the app and can tell you the app is worth at best .99 Cents.
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We can't speak for the others, but Autopilot uses a custom flight controller (see key features) that is not usually affected by many of the breaking/non-backward-compatible changes that DJI continues to make to their SDK.
We are always open to suggestions and improvement. If you have a few ideas or feature requests, please email to [email protected]. We are also continuously updating our video tutorials and Flight School, so make sure to check back often.
GadgetGuy
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Perhaps you missed the part where they wrote that the Basic $50 version will always use Apple 3D Maps, and only their Enterprise version (completely different app with a much more expensive price) will use a different set of maps!
GadgetGuy
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I think its fair to make a comparison against one of the more fully featured 3rd party apps out there. I honestly wish the Copilot team much success, but from what I've seen it totally misses the mark for all but one (super defensive, I might add) person in here.
Exactly my thoughts.. Most likely someone that knows the app developers or sponsored by them. BTW have you tried an app called Airnest?? It's currently under beta..
I am currently in the beta test for Airnest. It is deceptively simple but so far seems to work really well. Point mode is pretty awesome. You park the P3 somewhere in the air, then when you move your iPad around it moves the gimbal and yaws the craft to mimic those movements. It's like having a portable window. Path mode also works really well.
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