I use ArcGIS quite a lot when planning out flights and I can see the utility in being able to import an ESRI shapefile into Mission Planner. It would allow some users to use a GPS such as a Trimble to shoot GCPs then use them as waypoints and camera trigger points in imagery missions. Is this something that is already incorporated into the MP code and I am just missing it? I guess that the SHP could be exported to a KML/KMZ overlay. With the SHP (from the GPS shots) the exact lat/long of a known ground landmark could be utilized as a GCP which could further enhance the accuracy of the resultant imagery.
Anyone else doing this?
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Being able to use shapefiles directly in MP would be extremely helpful. For flight planning, I create WPs from the MP survey grid tool, then import the text file into ArcGIS for fine-tuning the altitudes, then export again as a text file to reload into MP. It's a lot easier to make edits to the WPs in GIS, especially if you need to adjust the altitudes according to specific elevation contours or DSM heights. I need better resolution/accuracy than Google Earth terrain data, particularly for flying at very low altitudes in complex terrain. I know that there is a way to use custom map data in MP, but it's still far easier to edit in GIS (not necessarily ESRI software, but that's what I'm most familiar with). Since shapefiles are still such a widely used format, I also vote for including support to shapefiles in WGS 84.
Where's the LIKE button? M C you hit the nail directly on the head!!! Even if you aren't in an ESRI environment...and for 3D I very much prefer Global Mapper...you could edit your WPTs much better than with Google data. Having an ASTER or SRTM 1.5-arc-second DEM under your WPTs would be wonderful IMO. In fact, I already have a project where this would be very useful.
Thanks to Ken for bringing up this important issue. In my opinion, the problem is not specifically about supporting more file types but rather improving the flexibility of flight planning by incorporating complex topography. A simple workflow for developing flight plans in 3D is something on my to-do list. I'm not familiar with Global Mapper, but I'd be interested to explore all options (and the lower the cost, the better).
In Hawaii we have aerial IfSAR (and soon LiDAR)--much more reliable than global satellite datasets. This may be a topic for another thread, but I'm stoked to hear we're not the only ones dealing with the challenges of 3D flight planning.
M C go check out Global Mapper. Their 3D engine has ESRI beaten hands down. Simple and cheap (and I am NOT a GM pimp) and it WORKS! The best part...it's about 15% of the cost of ArcGIS and the 3D Analyst extension. It doesn't make the pretty maps that ESRI's stuff can produce, but it is very powerful. Bring in a DEM you make from your UAV-acquired imagery and classified point cloud then do a quick watershed analysis over a few square miles.
Global mapper is pretty sweet and the new version v15 has some sweet lidar tools.
If you're going to bring geospatial formats in, please use OGR/GDAL instead of implementing things one format at a time.
http://www.gdal.org/ogr/
I could actually agree with using OGR. I just figured that adding simple SHP support to the MP application would be easier. Having the ability to work in a file GDB in both ArcGIS and MP would be great. The problem with using a FGDB is that ESRI likes to change the file structure with every major release of ArcGIS so keeping up with it might be somewhat of a chore. The SHP format hasn't changed that I know of in years. I can still take a SHP from 2003 (ArcView 3.x) and bring it into a map using ArcGIS 10.x today. Try doing the same with a GDB feature class from ArcGIS 10.x in a 3.x environment. I promise it won't work. Now, if you take the FGDB feature class and export it to a SHP, it will work just fine in any version. Even software such as Global Mapper, which has support for the ESRI file and personal geodatabase formats, doesn't like the file GDB one bit. There seems to be a translation missing somewhere or some sort of interop module missing.
+1 to shapefile using WGS84 for projection.
Michael, if you have to add one more format aside from shapeflle, probably you should add spatialite (i.e spatial SQLite). It is "the new shapefile". It is favorite format for QGIS users. ESRI ArcGIS 10.2 supports spatialite now after resisting for a while.
http://www.gaia-gis.it/gaia-sins/
Spatialite is available, but I have yet to use it in anything I do...and I do LARGE datasets covering large portions of states for oil and gas leasing/exploration; these are always in FGDB format with relationships, domains, subtypes, representations and all the other bells and whistles. The FGDB is a good idea, but again, its structure is far too dynamic. Even reverse-engineered, some apps still have trouble translating it into a usable format. Take Global Mapper for instance. It has a direct support selection for the FGDB, but every time I have tried to bring in a feature class from the FGDB, the translate fails somewhere and the map gets nothing.
Can't tell you how cool it would be to be able to get into ArcGIS and set up a bunch of WGS84 SHPs for a mission using a polygon or two, then a set of WPTs based on 10-cm GPS shots taken on the ground (as GCPs) with a Trimble Pro XH or 6H receiver. Set up the basis for a mission in ArcMap then finish off the planning in MP. Upload the WPTs to APM...and go flying!
Just for the sake of clarity for everybody, what can org/gdal library do.
Here's a link (below) how to use QGIS for converting shapefile to KML and Using the Command-line Utility ogr2ogr to Convert Shapefiles to KML
http://www.townshipgis.com/resources/problems-and-workarounds/conve...
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