Okay... so I can map a traffic intersection.

Hey Tudor

Thanks for this. However, it does not take away from the fact that for me it sounds like a very daunting task.

One other thing I forgot to mention was - there is no cellular communications for miles around the game farm... Therefore I will have to plan the missions where my iPad can get it's hands on map data. And hopefully when I get to site, it would have remembered everything... At least I have an iPad model with a GPS on board.

Mapping an area that big is certainly daunting and may be better suited to a full sized aircraft. If that isn't an option, it can certainly be done with a drone but it will be a lot of work. You might want to look into getting a dual battery Matrice 100 setup that can fly for 35 minutes to cut down on battery swaps.

The lack of data shouldn't matter since you can save the missions and cache the basemaps up ahead of time. 

Thanks again for getting back so soon...

Just did a quick "what if" and found I can do about 45/48ha in 13/14 minutes with 180 pictures with 70% overlap at an altitude of 120m. Does this sound like a  workable solution on a 3000ha job - estimated 70 to 75 missions minimum?

13-14 minute flights make it pretty hard but it can certainly be done. Does it sound workable to you is the real question...

Depending on where you are working you could fly higher if allowed and the coverage rate goes up substantially. 

Now you're talking.

I have taken the overlap down to 60% and I can get 12/13 minutes and 62ha at 120m. Need to start the machine if I want to change the altitude and I am not really in the mood for that now. It is packed away and it is near dinner time.

It is a little difficult for me to visualize altitude, overlap and detail. Do you perhaps have a suggestion or two?

You don't need to be connected to the aircraft to estimate the area coverage using Map Pilot. You can just change the altitude/GSD on the slider.

Since the lens on the Inspire and P3s is of a fixed focal length and roughly a 94 degree field of view, the math is pretty simple. The higher you fly, the less detail you get. 

The width the camera can see is roughly 2 times the eight of the aircraft. The sensor is 4000 pixels wide. If you are flying at 50m, the spot width is about 100m which gets divided up by 4000. If you are flying at 100m that same 4000 pixels gets distributed over 200m. In both dimensions that makes the pixel on the ground (ground sample distance) 4 times larger. So every doubling will cover 4 times as much ground.

Hello again Tudor

When I did my "what if", I was not connected to the aircraft. I could only adjust the altitude of the app with the magnifying glass on the left of the screen to 120m and 5.2cm/px. I assumed that 120m came from the aircraft that was connected on a previous occasion, as the aircraft is set to 120m.

How can you get the app to adjust to an altitude of more than 120m?

What do you think the px resolution can be to still see something the size of a "bambi"... perhaps a small cow/calf relatively clearly?

Check out this link regarding extending the altitude range:

http://support.dronesmadeeasy.com/hc/en-us/articles/208139653-Extending-the-Minimum-and-Maximum-Altitude-Range

Picture "bambi" as if it was made out of cubes. Picture it with small cubes about 1cm on each side. Now picture it with cubes 10X that. And then 10X that. It just comes down to what you think you can do what you need to do with it while not collection too much data.

Many thanks Tudor

I guess the only way I would be able to visualize and get to grips with the pixels to "bambi" concept, is to some tests.  Perhaps a 1m x 500mm object placed on the ground and photographed at different altitudes would solve my problem. ;-)

Thanks again.