GPS overlay for scouting

Agriculture General Ag Questions/Troubleshooting
1

Good Morning Pix4D Community,

Have a question regarding GPS overlay on maps generated in Fields. I spoke with Nathan Stein last week regarding this and wanted to weigh in with the community on how they can properly scout reflectance maps on foot using some form of GPS overlay from the maps generated. I know phone GPS is not very reliable, and have customers asking about how they can accurately locate areas of interest on the maps I generate to properly assess findings.

How are maps accessible to GPS generated (from the reports created) and what would be the most ideal equipment to use with them?

Let me know if anyone has any ideas, or can point me in the right direction. Thank you!

2

Hi,
A method I have used is taking the geoTif output from Pix4D and loading it into either QGIS or ArcGIS, then creating a large map layout of your project/scene. It can be much larger than you could physically print on a plotter, so maybe 10’ x 10’ that way your high resolution image can be near full resolution. You can also add on any additional map elements like property lines, irrigation lines, .etc and then export the map as a geoPDF. I then use Avenza Maps as a way to view the high resolution geoPDF on my mobile device and my current location shows as a blue dot on the map. The user can drop additional pins etc that can be exported from Avenza into other geospatial software as well.

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Aaron,

I will look into this, and thank you very much for answering my question. How accurate is your mobile GPS? We also use another platform that is cloud based with GPS overlay function. THe only problem is the accuracy is terrible on the actual positioning making it near impossible to pinpoint where you are in the field when using this.

I am assuming your mobile device is your cell phone?

I will look into Avenza, and work on getting some training on QGIS, as this is definately my weakness in knowledge base for what our department is trying to do. If you have any other tips or advice, I am all ears.

Thanks again!

JKH

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Hi Jhogan,

Thank you for contacting us through the community. My colleague Aaron will get back to you shortly to tell you the accuracy of his mobile device. I want to give you more ideas about this topic. As you might know, using Pix4Dfields, you get the coordinates of a specific area. You need to right-click on your area of interest and you will get them. You can use these coordinates in any GPS device depending on which accuracy do you expect from your project. Maybe this document can give you more ideas, I find it very interesting. I talked to Nathan, he also suggested Avenza for you to give it a try. Some users use Maverick as well.Parrotfields can also be an option. Please let us know about your experience with that.

Kind regards,

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@Fernanda_Bosmediano Hello,
Is there a way to use that coordinate found by right clicking as an annotation - something that does not disappear?

My use case is that when I create my map, I do not have to rediscover the location and re-mark every area of interest.

E.g. When within a forest, there is often very poor or no mobile reception but I can still quickly access the downloaded image file or annotations on that mobile. I then can use a precision GPS device or my mobile to navigate to the area of interest.

Thank you.

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@michaelctaylor1 Hi,

Thanks for sharing that interesting application.

Yes, you can create an annotation, and then you will get the coordinates and they will stay there on the map. You can have a look at this article: https://support.pix4d.com/hc/en-us/articles/360045667212

annotations
annotations1909×802 148 KB

Do you think this can help you in your case? If not please let me know why not.

Thanks

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