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Reviews on Precision Hawk Software and Drone.io

CAS

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Esteemed colleagues of the sky,

We're considering purchasing the Precision Hawk system and becoming a member of Drone.io. Has anyone had any good/bad/other experiences with these two entities that they'd be willing to share? Anything you maybe wished you knew before starting with them?

Thanks in advance for the insight!

Safe Flight,
Ceres Aerial Team
 
Drone.io platform for securing business is great if you want to bid yourself down to the bottom. It works like this, A client post a job, sets a budget, "usually ridiculously low" and then drone pilots get to submit their own bid. It's Craigs List for Drone Pilots.
 
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PrecisionFlight is quite basic GS for iOS/Android. Very similar to DJI GS Pro.

PrecisionFlight Pro is based on UgCS and intended for professional who have to fly in challenged conditions - mountains, rough terrain, no internet etc.
 
PrecisionFlight Pro is build on top of UgCS.

Compare:

PrecisionFlight Pro | UAV Tracking & Flight Planner for Professionals

Ground Station Software | UgCS PC Mission Planning

So this software was tested by thousands o
PrecisionFlight is quite basic GS for iOS/Android. Very similar to DJI GS Pro.

PrecisionFlight Pro is based on UgCS and intended for professional who have to fly in challenged conditions - mountains, rough terrain, no internet etc.

Alexey,

Thank you for replying! Do you find the products they produce to be useful/user friendly? How long does the analyzation usually take until you receive the end product? Anything you wish you had from them that you don't?

Thanks,
Ceres Aerial Team
 
Do you find the products they produce to be useful/user friendly?

Hi, I'm CTO of SPH Engineering, developer of UgCS. So I can't be considered as independent adviser :).

PrecisionFlight Pro is more complex software comparing to the DJI GS Pro or DroneDeploy app. But is allows to fly in conditions where no other software will work. Also it has powerful GIS functions - it cat import DEM (digital elevation model), geotiff files, KML, etc.

From our experience learning curve takes 1-3 days depending on previous experience.

As PrecisionFlight Pro is based on UgCS, you can use our video courses - UgCS Tutorials & Webinars - YouTube
 
How long does the analyzation usually take until you receive the end product?

PrecisionFlight Pro is flight planning software/Ground Control station. It has additional module called Mapper, but it is quite basic. It can stitch orthophoto map and generate DEM using your photos right in the field (without Internet etc), but competitors like Pix4D are still much more powerful.

I don't know much about other software provided by Precision Hawk.
 
Alexey,

Thanks a ton for your input and information; great data points to consider! Currently performing test flights with both PH and DD, and your analysis is spot on! Out of curiosity, what viewing programs do you usually use for the DEM, Geotiff, kml, etc. files?

Safe Flight,
CAS Team
 
I have been using UgCS for almost 2 years now, great software. A definite learning curve at first. Don't plan on downloading it and using it for a job the next day or you may hate life.

Helpful tip: get a small travel router to use for linking your laptop to your drone, instead of using a wifi hotspot on a phone, and download terrain data in advance for flying without internet.

@Alexey when are you guys going to finally add some corridor mission planning tools? :p
 
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Helpful tip: get a small travel router to use for linking your laptop to your drone, instead of using a wifi hotspot on a phone

Huh? I haven't used UgCS so this statement caught my attention. Please explain how you are connecting a laptop to say a P4P via wifi? Or, do you mean something else?
 
Huh? I haven't used UgCS so this statement caught my attention. Please explain how you are connecting a laptop to say a P4P via wifi? Or, do you mean something else?

Other drones might use a different setup, but for DJI aircraft you need to have your controller's phone/tablet on the same network as your laptop. That's how you monitor your flight telemetry on your laptop and upload your flight plans. You could launch, fly and land all just by using your laptop, I prefer manual landings and manual takeoffs in tight spots/high winds but you have the capability for a fully automated flight controlled by laptop.

I love flight planning on a laptop with a mouse instead of on a tiny touch screen.
 
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Huh? I haven't used UgCS so this statement caught my attention. Please explain how you are connecting a laptop to say a P4P via wifi? Or, do you mean something else?

Your controller phone/tablet is running the UgCS app and when on the same network as a laptop running the computer version of UgCS it links them. That's how your aircraft gets linked to a PC.
 
Your controller phone/tablet is running the UgCS app and when on the same network as a laptop running the computer version of UgCS it links them. That's how your aircraft gets linked to a PC.
Okay, a wifi connection to your smart device makes perfect sense. The wifi connection from laptop to drone was confusing as it ain't happening without the smart device intermediary.
Thanks for the clarification!
 
Hi,

.. what viewing programs do you usually use for the DEM, Geotiff, kml, etc. files?

KML files can be viewed using Google Earth desktop.

Geotiff of small sizes can be viewed by Google Earth too.

DEM can be loaded to almost any professional GIS software.

All these types of files can be imported into Precision Flight Pro/UgCS.

Import of KML is useful because very often professionals use this format to agree boundaries of survey areas etc with customers. To not re-draw all the route manually, it is possible to load KML as photogrammetry/area scan area or simple linear route. Also you can load KML as simple visual marks on the map.

DEM is especially important because of PFPro/UgCS takes in account elevation data when it traces routes. UgCS can build route for photogrammetry/area scan in terrain following mode when it will add intermediate waypoints automatically to have constant AGL.

And finally Geotiff allows you to have actual map for flights planning.
 
A definite learning curve at first. Don't plan on downloading it and using it for a job the next day or you may hate life.

100% agree. UgCS assumes little bit :cool: more serious approach.

Also we usually recommend to prepare missions in the office and fly it in simulator, especially when you will fly new type of mission or will work in new conditions. It allows you to safe a lot of time and money.

If you use DJI drones, they can be switched to simulation mode. Connect DJI drone to UgCS as usual and then activate simulation mode in UgCS for DJI android app. After that is it possible to fly mission almost as in reality.

How to use DJI simulator with UgCS
 
Drone.io platform for securing business is great if you want to bid yourself down to the bottom. It works like this, A client post a job, sets a budget, "usually ridiculously low" and then drone pilots get to submit their own bid. It's Craigs List for Drone Pilots.
Never got a successful bid on Drone.io in 3 years. I don't bother with it.
 

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