FAQS
Hello! How can we help?
GENERAL / GETTING STARTED
GeoNadir is all about working with drone operators and data scientists to capture and analyse nadir (looking directly down) photos of our most at-risk ecosystems. We provide a platform to host and share FAIR drone data (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) for environmental good.
It all depends on what you are planning to do with the drone, and how much you have to spend! Check out this video to learn more about different types of drones.
For the purpose of collecting mapping data, you need a drone that will ‘talk’ to the mapping mission planning apps, and tag the photos you take with location information (e.g. latitude, longitude, altitude). DJI has a great range of options, but stay away from the Mavic Mini at the moment as it’s not compatible with mapping apps. If you’re in Australia, visit our Education Partner She Maps for a great deal on DJI products.
That is extremely simple, just click HERE, scroll to the bottom of the page, and put your contact details in our form! We will keep you informed about our status every Wednesday.
We absolutely recommend you start with your drone’s instruction manual! There’s always some really useful stuff in there. Make sure that you also check your local regulations so that you keep safe and are flying legally. You may also need to register your drone, do a course, or even get a license to fly it, so please take the time to find out the rules in your country.
Try to find someone in your local area who will help you out for the first flight as it can be really nerve wracking! You can also watch this video to learn how the controls work when you are up and flying.
If you would like to create your own orthomosaics, 3D models, and learn how to create a map within a Geographic Information System, check out this drone mapping course from our Education Partner, She Maps.
As long as it’s a place that drones can fly to (safely and legally!), we will be covering it! For now, we have listed numerous terrestrial, aquatic, coastal, and marine ecosystems. It can be about coral reefs, agriculture, or urban areas. Join our mission, upload your data, and let us know what you think!
CAPTURING DATA
The best thing about mapping missions is that the drone and mapping apps do all the hard work! We use autonomous rather than manual flight (watch this video to learn the difference). So you’ll need to download a mapping mission planning app to help you – see the next question!
This will depend on the drone you are flying, and what you are using for the app platform (i.e. iOS, Android, or desktop). Then it often comes down to personal preference. We recommend checking out DroneDeploy (Android, iOS, desktop, DJI drones only), Pix4D Capture (Android, iOS, DJI plus other drones), or DJI GS Pro (iOS, DJI drones only. Don’t worry about paying – the free versions do the job!
Here’s some intro videos for each of those options to help get you started:
There is NO restriction on what drone you use. As long as it’s a drone that can take pictures with 80% sidelap and overlap (no matter using its own camera or an external camera attached below), and will geotag those images with latitude, longitude, altitude etc., GeoNadir will be happy for you to upload the images.
There’s a couple of factors in this one: 1. Make sure you know your legal maximum flying altitude (in Australia it’s 400ft / 120m); 2. Fly high enough to stay clear of obstacles (trees, powerlines etc.); 3. It depends on how much detail you need to see in your pictures
If you’d like to understand more about the relationship between flying height, level of image detail, and the amount of area you can cover check out this video.
If you’re just getting started mapping for GeoNadir, we recommend flying at 80m / 260ft – of course first checking your local rules and obstacles!
We like to keep things simple when you’re getting started – program for 80% overlap and 80% sidelap, just like we suggest 80m altitude. That way you only need to remember one number 🙂 As you get more experienced, if you’d like to understand more about the relationship between flying height, level of image detail, and the amount of area you can cover check out this video.
Please also choose the single grid rather than cross grid or perimeter.
Absolutely! Check out our co-founder Dr Karen Joyce’s top three tips for drone mapping that you don’t get with your drone license training.
UPLOADING DATA
It all depends on the size (i.e. MB) of each of the photos, how many you are trying to upload, and the speed of your internet. Things also go waaay faster if you make sure that you upload directly from your computer rather than from a server or other cloud storage. It takes us about four seconds per 20MB Phantom 4 Pro image uploading from the local drive. You can always continue working in another tab or window and just let it go in the background though. Or wander off for a cup of coffee or chocolate!
A dataset consists of the raw images captured by the drone and uploaded by each user, metadata of each image, an orthomosaic generated by the GeoNadir backend, and basic information of the whole dataset determined by the user (categories, tags, credits, etc). In the future, we will be adding more features to a dataset including DSM (digital surface model) and more. Join our mailing list and we will keep you updated.
It’s very easy. Once you log on to the GeoNadir platform, just click the ‘My datasets’ icon on the left hand panel. On the following screen click the “Upload” button, follow the steps on the screen, type in the basic information and select the images you want to publish. Ta-dah! Your dataset will be ready to go once finishing uploading.
Unfortunately, that is not possible. This is because we would like our users to utilise the data in our database to perform any analysis they want, therefore, we need to keep the data consistent over time. That is to say, a dataset represents images that are all taken at the same location in a single mission. However, if there is an upload error and you didn’t manage to upload the whole dataset at one time, please feel free to contact the team!
Unfortunately no. We only accept overlapping photographs at this time. The reason behind this is that drone images usually have higher resolution than frames in a video and allow us to generate orthomosaic maps with great detail.
Nope! We do that all for you. We are aware that producing an orthomosaic map or DSM can be time-consuming and require high computational power. It can be expensive as well. So all you need to do is upload your nadir data with high overlap and sidelap and let us take care of the preprocessing for you.
There are a few points that we would like to let you keep in mind before you start uploading.
- Make sure all the images have sufficient overlap and all are geotagged.
- Make sure all the images are captured within a single mission at the same area of interest.
- Make sure all images are from nadir angle (i.e. you might need to delete the takeoff and landing images taken by the drone since they usually point forwards rather than downwards). Please also remove any landscape ‘happy snaps’ before you upload.
- Make sure the images are collected through a mapping plan with proper overlap and sidelap (we recommend using 80% as default, but if you’re experienced with drone mapping, you can also use the percentage that fits your purpose to generate an orthomosaic map).
You can get more information in the “Capturing data” section.
You have to come up with a name for your dataset. We also recommend you choose any ecosystem categories that fit, and you can include up to 10 tags that you think shows some extinctive features in your dataset. Also writing a short description of your dataset would be highly appreciated. You could also give credits to your collaborators or drone pilot in case you didn’t capture the data all by yourself.
Please don’t upload them, but check out the tips above about capturing better data or simply get in touch with us! We are more than happy to help you out.
We haven’t yet found an upper limit (let us know!). But please take into consideration your internet condition, computer battery, etc. If the dataset is huge, it will take some time to upload. You can leave the webpage in a tab or leave the computer on overnight. Otherwise, happy uploading!
DOWNLOADING DATA
Thanks for your enthusiasm! We are about to commence beta testing for orthomosaic downloading. If you click ‘Be First In Line For Beta’ on our pricing page, we’ll let you know when this is available.
Go to the dataset and click the “Raw Image” tab on top. Right click, select “save image as,” then save it to the directory you want.
Please remember to give credit to those who captured the data and to GeoNadir for helping to make it available. You can do this in the acknowledgements section of a journal article or in any other place where you wish to present the data and your findings.
Unfortunately at the moment you can only download one image at a time. We are working on it. Stay tuned!
Thanks for asking! Acknowledging the work of others is super important to us. Every dataset has metadata associated with who captured the data, and others they wish to credit for assisting with data capture. Please mention the person who captured the data, as well as GeoNadir for helping to make it available in the acknowledgements section of a journal article, and in any other location where you use the data or present your findings.
Of course shoutouts on social media are always welcome too! #GeoNadir
TROUBLESHOOTING
Click the person icon in the bottom left corner of the GeoNadir platform screen. Select the “forget password” option in the middle of the “sign in” screen and type in your registered email. You will receive an email with further instructions on how to reset your password.
Please double check to see all the images are geotagged and were collected at the same location during one mapping mission. Any invalid images will show a warning next to the image name in the upload window.
Yes. Details like ‘dataset location’ are able to be modified.
On top of the platform’s homepage, there is a search bar where you can filter databases based on categories, or just type in the locations or keywords to see if there are any datasets that suit your interests.
The data point (orange dot) gets derived from the first photo uploaded in the dataset. If that photo is not part of the dataset or in a different location, the data point on the map will be inaccurate. Data accuracy is very important to use so please get in touch if you come across this issue.