Weed mapping for spot spraying

[Pawel]

Does anyone do weed mapping at scale (as a service) for spot spraying?

Will you like to share your workflow, hardware and software setups?

Any comment and advice will be highly appreciated.

 

[jaja6009]

I do not offer this service, but I did do a capstone on a similar use case.
I obtained my Pix4D certification for Pix4Dfields and they have several exercises that pertain to this.

The course taught how to use either a multispectral camera or RGB camera to create outputs.
Either could be used to help spot weeds since they will have a different spectral output as compared to the other vegeation.

In the one exercise an RGB camera was used with a TGI index to easily spot weeds in that particular use case, but results will vary depending on what you are looking for and where it is.

THe course then offered how to take the outputs to create a prescription map that can be uploaded to a terrestrial or UAV for the spot spraying.

If you are going to offer the spot spraying service, you will have to operate under Part 137 and this will entail another hurdle as well as meeting any and all state specific regulations and certifications for applying herbicides.

 

[Pawel]

I do not offer this service, but I did do a capstone on a similar use case.
I obtained my Pix4D certification for Pix4Dfields and they have several exercises that pertain to this.

The course taught how to use either a multispectral camera or RGB camera to create outputs.
Either could be used to help spot weeds since they will have a different spectral output as compared to the other vegeation.

In the one exercise an RGB camera was used with a TGI index to easily spot weeds in that particular use case, but results will vary depending on what you are looking for and where it is.

THe course then offered how to take the outputs to create a prescription map that can be uploaded to a terrestrial or UAV for the spot spraying.

If you are going to offer the spot spraying service, you will have to operate under Part 137 and this will entail another hurdle as well as meeting any and all state specific regulations and certifications for applying herbicides.

@jaja6009 ,
thanks.

 

[AMann]

I’m interested in this as well, particularly in multispectral vegetation surveys. Currently using a Mavic 2 Pro that was modified to do multispectral photography, but am interested in the Mavic 3 Multispectral RTK model. Does anyone here use this? If so, what subscription costs are required to do autonomous flights for mapping and for taking images? I assume the resulting image files are open source, or are they in a DJI proprietary format?

 

[jaja6009]

I’m interested in this as well, particularly in multispectral vegetation surveys. Currently using a Mavic 2 Pro that was modified to do multispectral photography, but am interested in the Mavic 3 Multispectral RTK model. Does anyone here use this? If so, what subscription costs are required to do autonomous flights for mapping and for taking images? I assume the resulting image files are open source, or are they in a DJI proprietary format?

To collect images, it is similar to mapping with RGB. You just need an app to plan your grid missions. Pilot 2 works as well as Pix4d Capture Pro and probably some others.

The images saved are RGB, Green, Near Infrared, Red, Red Edge and are not closed source meaning other software can process them.

ODM, Pix4D, Pix4D Fields and Agisoft are some of your processing choices. There are others that I am not familiar with.

Pix4D Fields has a paid certification class and test that will teach you Pix4Dfields and it comes with plenty of datasets to process and learn.


If you really want to get into Precision Ag, there standalone cameras have way more to offer but cost much more and you will then need a larger aircraft to use them.

The Mavic 3M uses a Sun sensor, but some of the other cameras may use a Sun sensor and a calibration panel.

LV_Forestry on the dedicated DJI forum is an expert end user and can answer any question you may have.

Below look at the and number, you can see for each position an image was taken, five images were taken.

As a bonus, the Mavic 3M with an RTK module will create the same accurate mapping outputs with its RGB camera as the Mavic 3 Enterprise. It has Time Sync.

 

[jaja6009]

I’m interested in this as well, particularly in multispectral vegetation surveys. Currently using a Mavic 2 Pro that was modified to do multispectral photography, but am interested in the Mavic 3 Multispectral RTK model. Does anyone here use this? If so, what subscription costs are required to do autonomous flights for mapping and for taking images? I assume the resulting image files are open source, or are they in a DJI proprietary format?

Right now on the Mavic sister site, there is a Mavic 3 M for sale at a good price. The forum member has a decent history so it seems legit.

 

[AMann]

To collect images, it is similar to mapping with RGB. You just need an app to plan your grid missions. Pilot 2 works as well as Pix4d Capture Pro and probably some others.

The images saved are RGB, Green, Near Infrared, Red, Red Edge and are not closed source meaning other software can process them.

ODM, Pix4D, Pix4D Fields and Agisoft are some of your processing choices. There are others that I am not familiar with.

Pix4D Fields has a paid certification class and test that will teach you Pix4Dfields and it comes with plenty of datasets to process and learn.


If you really want to get into Precision Ag, there standalone cameras have way more to offer but cost much more and you will then need a larger aircraft to use them.

The Mavic 3M uses a Sun sensor, but some of the other cameras may use a Sun sensor and a calibration panel.

LV_Forestry on the dedicated DJI forum is an expert end user and can answer any question you may have.

Below look at the and number, you can see for each position an image was taken, five images were taken.

As a bonus, the Mavic 3M with an RTK module will create the same accurate mapping outputs with its RGB camera as the Mavic 3 Enterprise. It has Time Sync.

View attachment 4630

View attachment 4631

Hey, thanks for the information! As I mentioned,
I am studying about GIS at school, which uses ESRI’s ArcGIS that can do mapping and NDVI image processing with it. It’s a very pricey program, but we get it with a student license. I like that DJI has a multispectral system, I’ll have to look into it more.

Thanks also for the reference to that Mavic 3M for sale on the other website, unfortunately I’m not in the position to purchase one just yet.