Unity3D with QGIS and GIMP

It has been a long time since I have posted anything on here. I now have my own commercial drone (and FAA license) with a nice camera, and I've integrated several open source projects so that I can create 3D models from imagery/video (photogrammetry).

So now I am looking to create a sort of unity experience so that I can showcase places I've visited in 3D, and embed them with the larger general area.  I think I will have a good amount of learning to do before I'm able to create transitions from 'high altitude' scenes to 'low altitude' scenes where vegetation might appear.  I don't think I want to try to "Place Mass Trees" with this large of an area.

I am calling the concept "ODT" or "Open Digital Twin" (Copyright OTT LLC 2019).

As you can see, the result is actually pretty nice.  You can obtain stereo DEMs (digital elevation models) from the USGS using WMS service calls.  I then created a Normal Map, and also used USGS WMS to fetch a high altitude imagery color map.

When creating the height map for unity, you'll need to ensure you are saving the map as "Raw Image File" with Planar mapping.

There is still plenty of work to be done, but I thought this might be a fun update to get me back in the blogging mode.  It's been too many years, and I've come a long way from the original work I did with Java & Hadoop.  Hopefully these GIS and 3D skills will couple nicely with my enterprise experience to bring 3D to the enterprise!

Parrot AR Drone 2.0

So I am starting a new hobby.  The Parrot AR Drone 2.0 is an awesome piece of equipment.

http://ardrone2.parrot.com/

Here are some interesting points.

• 720p Camera mounted to the front
• GPS Supported
• Linux 2.6
• MAVlink compatable for use with Qgroundcontrol
• Uses Wifi 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n standards for control and configuration
• And more...

I have only embarked on a single outdoor test flight.  And it was very successful.  Since then I have ordered the GPS module and the 2000mah batteries with balance changer for quick charges.  Once everything comes, I should be able to support continuous flight.

There are also a lot of mods that can be performed.  Camera mods, hull mods, transceiver mods, and more.

I have also started looking into an opensource solution on github called ardrone_automony. Linked here: https://github.com/AutonomyLab/ardrone_autonomy So far I have been successful at connecting to the drone and looking at settings, however I have not yet been able to issue commands.  Ultimately I would like to be able to map my joystick input.

Do you work with these types of devices? let me know your thoughts.

UPDATE!!!
I was able to configure both a Joystick and a Gamepad to control the AR Drone using the SDK from Parrot.   Once you get the code to compile and run in QT, it is quite easy to use with a little testing.

Also got the GPS working with qgroundcontrol.  this was really a cool experience and I have had many flights via GPS.  WARNING, pay attention to altitude settings and ensure the MAX altitude is configured on the drone before using the MAVlink GPS.  If your drone's max altitude is set to 3 M, then it doesnt matter that you may have 10 M in the GPS flight.