Fly a Panorama flight with ArcGIS Flight

Summary

Flying and creating 360-degree panorama photos is done with ArcGIS Flight's Panorama flight mode. This mode captures a complete view of the operating site and surrounding areas, including the area directly beneath the drone. This is an excellent tool to use for tracking project progression and generating marketing material.

Procedure

To perform a Panorama flight:

1. Update ArcGIS Flight to the newest version.
2. Open the app on the iPad. 
3. Select an existing project, or create a new one within your organization. 
4. Select Panorama from the project home screen.
5. Provide a name for your mission.
6. Type the address or city closest to the flight location. Use the map to zoom to the specific flight area.
7. Select Next in the bottom left corner to go to the Mission Settings menu.
8. Within the Mission Settings menu, use the following settings to customize your mission:
   • Terrain Follow
   • Flight Height
   • Some settings recommendations are as follows:
     • To reduce flight time and increase the number of images increase the Flight Height. 
     • Additional visual flight path settings can be accessed in the Advanced section at the bottom of the settings list.
     • Camera Projections can be enabled by tapping the settings button (gear icon) in the lower left corner of the map viewer. This displays the camera location and orientation of each photo to be taken during flight.
9. After finalizing the settings in the Flight Path menu tap FLY to go to the System Checks screen.
10. Make sure the iPad is connected to the drone. Check one last time for any potential obstacles above and on the flight path to the region of interest. When ready, slide the green bar below the checklist to the right to initiate take-off.
11. Use the in-flight view to monitor the progress of the mission, and maintain visual line-of-sight with the drone. Mission progress is indicated by the green bar at the bottom of the screen.
12. The Mission Complete screen displays when all imagery has been captured and the drone has landed. From the Mission Complete screen select Done to return to the project home screen.
13. For information on methods to import the captured imagery from your drone into ArcGIS Flight, refer to How To: Import images to Site Scan Flight and upload to Site Scan Manager.