senseFly eBee - Mission Planning Using Elevation Data

Understanding aerial mapping with the eBee
area provides the simplest way to quickly create a flight plan. It can be modified
as described in section ‘The mission phase of a flight’ on page 22.
For more complex areas eMotion has the option of using polygonal-shaped mis-
sions areas. Begin by converting a rectangular area into a polygonal area by set-
ting the ‘Mission area’ type to ‘Polygonal’ in the ‘Mission planning’ tab or by right-
clicking on the area and selecting ‘Convert to polygon’.
A polygonal mission area is set slightly differently than a rectangular mission area:
• The edges of the rectangle now become vertices of the polygon. Left-click
on a vertex to drag and reposition the vertex.
• Left-click and drag anywhere on the edge of the polygon to create a new
vertex and reposition it.
• Right-click on vertex and select ‘Remove vertex’ to remove a vertex. Alter-
natively, hold down the ‘Ctrl’ button and left-click on a vertex to remove
it.
• Left-click and drag on the dark-grey area within the polygon to reposition
the entire polygon.
• Left-click and drag the circle on the corner of the light-grey rectangle sur-
rounding the polygon to rotate the direction of the resulting flight lines.
You may also set a polygonal mission area directly from a KML file containing a
polygon, such as those created by Google Earth
TM
. Simply click on the icon in
the ‘Mission planning’ tab, select ‘Load mission area from KML file’ and choose a
KML file that contains the desired polygon.
4.3 3D mission planning using elevation data
eMotion has the ability to take into account elevation data to set the altitude of
mission waypoints and the resulting flight lines of a mapping mission. This not
only improves the resulting ground resolution but also increases mission safety
61