Re-imagined survey / mission planning interface

[bbasso]

Borrowing some ideas from mobile and desktop, it would be nice to have a mission planning interface that resembles other graphical editing software like Photoshop and similar....

Key ideas: -Mission edit items on the left bar essentially switch your mode - Waypoint, Polygon, Survey, Measure, and other popular one-click actions -Context-specific toolbars pop up depending on mode (survey toolbar shown) -Exiting a mode just involves clicking a new mode on the left bar

Survey Specific Ideas: -Survey is initiated by either a) drawing a polygon and clicking Survey, or just clicking Survey -If no polygon defined, a box of max flight time (as defined in aircraft.xml) is drawn -Manipulation of the polygon recalculates the survey -The polygon can be scaled on an edge, or moved entirely by center dragging -Simple survey toolbar just asks for an aircraft, camera, and mission (slider) choice (based on aircraft.xml and camera.xml params and limits) -Advanced mode populates mroe options below--eg, ability to edit the aircraft velocity limits, camera focal length under Camera, mission start location under Mission, etc.

[ReMapHI]

It would be really useful to have an interface that was more like Google Earth, with the ability to turn layers on and off via checkboxes and a 3D view that can be tilted so that you can visualize the terrain variability under the flightlines. Mavinci Desktop is a great example to follow

[ReMapHI]

I should also add that we have experience using another commercial grade flight planning software for manned aircraft surveys. It allows us to feed in a DSM, then the software calculates variable line width, distance between camera exposures, and minor altitude changes that guarantee the most efficient mission plan with respect to the sensor capabilities and consistent GSD on the ground over variable terrain. At some point it would be awesome for all of us in the DIY community to have the same capability. It's certainly been done and seems to work quite well. Maybe we can help with the details.

[iskess]

I just wanted to point out a few bugs with Grid v2 which you are probably already aware of.

• The map tool icons are missing.
• There is now way to rotate the grid. I only can move it, or skew its shape.
• There is no way to add custom aircraft.
• There is no way to edit the camera settings without closing down the tool and opening up Grid v1, then reopening Grid v2.
• The Display Boundary checkbox is not working
• If you use the "Box" tool and forget that you are in that mode, then click/drag somewhere on the map, you will loose al your work without the option of undue. You could make the Box tool automatic reset to Pan after its been used, or include a CTRL+Z feature.
• No way to choose which corner of the grid the flight starts in, like V1 has.

Thank you

[bbasso]

@iskess Thanks for the list! I think @meee 's goal is to work out all the features in v1 then move them over to v2. I think if those who do mapping can generally agree on the interface ideas in v2 than we can move forward with migrating features over there. Would be interested to hear from @tristannovak as well since he's actually helping on the development.

[tristannovak]

@bbasso I am uninvitedly helping with development... Just trying to not step on any toes... I originally was only trying to add the features my users were requesting, although I am more than willing to try and help with anything the MP community would like to have added/changed. My knowledge of how the community uses MP is still limited(along with the majority of how MP code is structured), so my ideas might not aline with others. That's why I have only been working on the little things.

As for V1 vs V2, I have been looking at them like this:

V1 is for the people that want complete control over every aspect, but still have Survey automatically do the repetitive things...

V2 is more automated, deciding what settings are best for the equipment to be used, with minimal input from the user...

I hadn't really thought of V1 as being a testing ground for V2 features.

I really like the ideas in the image that @bbasso first posted. From a programming aspect, I think it would be a HUGE amount of work(I'm not saying its not worth it though).

I am going to start working on a single photo planner, which I had hoped would be a floating tool in FlightPlanner(like in your image), I will let you know how it develops. Reasoning: Some of my users would benefit from the ability to stage(see the footprint) a single photo of a small area.