Autopilot Beta Test

[Joel Zieve]

Autoflight Logic, I have a few misc. questions about the newest release 2.1...

1. When will the flight school be updated to reflect the changes? In the change log, links to the new/changed section in the flight school would be awesome!
2. For the screen recorder. Turning it on is easy, but I can't seem to turn it off. Nor does it save anything in the camera roll. I'm using an iPad Mini 2 with IOS9. Any idea what I'm doing wrong?
3. Where is compass calibration status on flight dashboard?
4. This I've been meaning to ask for a while as it's not part of 2.1: What are the colors meaning on the dashboard? Red, green, orange, etc; blue is ready to engage (the only one I've figured out so far).
5. How do you turn on gimbal yaw ennobled? I'm using the app on an Inspire. The setting is set to match gimbal direction. I think I understand what this will do (yaw the Inspire to match the gimbal direction). I LOVE that idea as the legs will stay out of the way.
6. How do I use split screen multi-tasking? Is this even available with the iPad 2 Mini?

Thank you so much!

 

[Hangar]

When will the flight school be updated to reflect the changes? In the change log, links to the new/changed section in the flight school would be awesome!

It was updated the same day it was released (Oct 20). There is a last updated indicator at the top of Flight School that shows this as well.

For the screen recorder. Turning it on is easy, but I can't seem to turn it off. Nor does it save anything in the camera roll. I'm using an iPad Mini 2 with IOS9. Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

When screen recording is enabled, there is an option in the More menu to stop screen recording. When you press it, it should pop up a dialog showing the video that was captured, with a button in the top right that lets you save it to your camera roll. If you cancel out of this dialog it will discard the video.

Where is compass calibration status on flight dashboard?

The status message bar (colored bar at the bottom above the Start Engage Sequence / Disengage button) shows it while you are actually performing calibration. For example, if you are in the Flight Dashboard, and then flip the RC mode switch 5 times, it will indicate that you need to rotate horizontally, then vertically, etc.

This I've been meaning to ask for a while as it's not part of 2.1: What are the colors meaning on the dashboard? Red, green, orange, etc; blue is ready to engage (the only one I've figured out so far).

If you look in the recorded flight logs, the color reflects what we refer to as the Flight Director Status Disposition. Red = Danger, Orange = Warning, Green = Normal, Blue = Info. Status messages like "Below the Hard Deck" indicator dangerous things, so the Disposition is Red / Danger.

How do you turn on gimbal yaw ennobled? I'm using the app on an Inspire. The setting is set to match gimbal direction. I think I understand what this will do (yaw the Inspire to match the gimbal direction). I LOVE that idea as the legs will stay out of the way.

There is a Gimbal Parameter setting called "Yaw Enabled if Available" which is on by default. If you use this in conjunction with the Movement Parameter Settings called "Heading if Gimbal Yaw Enabled", you can achieve what you are asking for. This is also discussed here.

How do I use split screen multi-tasking? Is this even available with the iPad 2 Mini?

Apple only enables split-screen on the iPad Air 2.

 

[egoldy]

All --

I just finished and released the new video on Autopilot's Cruise mode:

Let me know what you think:

Thanks,

Eric

 

[Joel Zieve]

When screen recording is enabled, there is an option in the More menu to stop screen recording. When you press it, it should pop up a dialog showing the video that was captured, with a button in the top right that lets you save it to your camera roll. If you cancel out of this dialog it will discard the video.

I never get this popup screen that you discuss. How can I show this to you so you can help debug it?

If you look in the recorded flight logs, the color reflects what we refer to as the Flight Director Status Disposition. Red = Danger, Orange = Warning, Green = Normal, Blue = Info. Status messages like "Below the Hard Deck" indicator dangerous things, so the Disposition is Red / Danger.

I guess part of my confusion with this is I frequently see red, when there's no apparent danger. For example just hovering 15 feet up in focus mode. I guess I need to pay more attention to the messages in the red and then get back to you.

Thanks for your other answers too - I may follow up the next time I have time to re-check on these things. Thank you!

 

[Joel Zieve]

There is a Gimbal Parameter setting called "Yaw Enabled if Available" which is on by default. If you use this in conjunction with the Movement Parameter Settings called "Heading if Gimbal Yaw Enabled", you can achieve what you are asking for. This is also discussed here.

OK, this is the only thing I'm still having a challenge with. BTW, the screen recording does work now, but I never got that popup the first time I tried it.

As a reminder: Inspire 1, all updated FW, iPad 2 Mini. See the image or the two settings that I have. In focus mode, the gimbal maintains focus just fine, but the Inspire does not yaw to keep the camera at the nose. Any idea what I'm doing wrong with this? Thanks!

 

[lake_flyer]

@Autoflight Logic

I'm very disappointed with the latest beta showing google maps instead of apple maps (which was the main reason for me to buy an ipad mini2 in the first place. I used to be very happy with Autopilot on the iPad with apple maps.
Google maps in most of our country is at least 8 years old. Not usable for preflight planning at all. You have to be at the site to see the big trees that grew for 8 years and skyscrapers or wind turbines, power lines etc. that have been put there, even more than 6 years ago. Since the Netherlands is one of the most populated countries in the world we want to be able to rely on good satellite maps for pre flight planning.

Even at the site, it is har;ly recognisable on google maps. Tried it yesterday and broke it off because I just couldn't find any POI on the map while standing right in front of it.

This is an example of the area I live, note, the harbour has been completely changed more than 6 years ago, with very large buildings. My house is 9 years old and still not on google maps. I took screenshots from the Mac OSX version, there is no difference with both maps on the ipad.


I have reverted back to the latest public version and glad the apple maps still work, I just hope they will keep working. I'm not upgrading anymore from now on.

 

[gregdd]

@Autoflight Logic

I'm very disappointed with the latest beta showing google maps instead of apple maps (which was the main reason for me to buy an ipad mini2 in the first place. I used to be very happy with Autopilot on the iPad with apple maps.
Google maps in most of our country is at least 8 years old. Not usable for preflight planning at all. You have to be at the site to see the big trees that grew for 8 years and skyscrapers or wind turbines, power lines etc. that have been put there, even more than 6 years ago. Since the Netherlands is one of the most populated countries in the world we want to be able to rely on good satellite maps for pre flight planning.

Even at the site, it is har;ly recognisable on google maps. Tried it yesterday and broke it off because I just couldn't find any POI on the map while standing right in front of it.

This is an example of the area I live, note, the harbour has been completely changed more than 6 years ago, with very large buildings. My house is 9 years old and still not on google maps. I took screenshots from the Mac OSX version, there is no difference with both maps on the ipad.
View attachment 4327 View attachment 4323 View attachment 4324 View attachment 4322

I have reverted back to the latest public version and glad the apple maps still work, I just hope they will keep working. I'm not upgrading anymore from now on.

Well for me I prefer Google maps for my area.

Also, one of the other reasons for switching was to enable people to Cache maps. Without the ability to Cache maps, the program is basically unusable for me 90% of the time because there is no cell coverage where I fly mostly.

EDIT: Btw as far as I knew we are still using Apple maps

 

[lake_flyer]

Well for me I prefer Google maps for my area.

Also, one of the other reasons for switching was to enable people to Cache maps. Without the ability to Cache maps, the program is basically unusable for me 90% of the time because there is no cell coverage where I fly mostly.

That's great for you than. I wished Google was a bit more up to date over here. 8-9 year old maps are not very usable. I'm not an apple fan at all, but their maps are at least ok, maybe only in the Netherlands? I can hardly believe that.

I can cache my apple maps, prior to my flights, while at home, without any problem by the way. My ipad2 has only wifi.

 

[gregdd]

That's great for you than. I wished Google was a bit more up to date over here. 8-9 year old maps are not very usable. I'm not an apple fan at all, but their maps are at least ok, maybe only in the Netherlands? I can hardly believe that.

I can cache my apple maps, prior to my flights, while at home, without any problem by the way. My ipad2 has only wifi.

BTW just saw a post that said Google Maps weren't coming until 2.2. On my iPad at least Autopilot is still using Apple maps

 

[gregdd]

While we are on the maps topic; i just did some testing and another benefit of google maps is that you can zoom in a lot further which is very beneficial when trying to grab waypoints esp on a small device.

I did notice that currently in Autopilot i am not able to zoom to the level that the native Apple Maps does. I also noticed that comparing those two apps at the same zoom level, the image in Autopilot is much degraded compared to Apple Maps app. I hope these issues will not carry over to the Google Maps implementation in Autopilot.

Also, currently when zooming in autopilot you can get to a point when it just shows squares and not satellite image and you have to zoom back out to get an image back.

One request (that i might have made before so excuse the repetition) is to be able to manually cache maps. In hiking apps they allow you to select an area that will be cached. Benefits would be that there is no guess work about what you are going to get, much quicker and also when using the scroll cache method, once when i had to reboot there was no cached maps after restarting.

BTW Lake_flyer I am not in the Netherlands, I am in Vancouver BC which is a city of about 4.5 Million and both Google maps and Apple maps have good coverage here.

 

[lake_flyer]

BTW just saw a post that said Google Maps weren't coming until 2.2. On my iPad at least Autopilot is still using Apple maps

This thread is about the beta. I was testing he latest beta when I discovered google maps being used instead of apple maps.

But again, I'm afraid google maps will have to update before I'm going to use it.
I guess an area like Amsterdam will be updated regularly as well by google, like all major cities. in the world. Vancouver is obviously a very major city.

Never mind, I'm glad I got the chance to see what is coming so I just refuse any upgrades for the time being.

Maybe, who knows, could it be possible in the future to choose the map you prefer, in the main settings? Now that would be cool.

 

[gregdd]

This thread is about the beta. I was testing he latest beta when I discovered google maps being used instead of apple maps.

But again, I'm afraid google maps will have to update before I'm going to use it.
I guess an area like Amsterdam will be updated regularly as well by google, like all major cities. in the world. Vancouver is obviously a very major city.

Never mind, I'm glad I got the chance to see what is coming so I just refuse any upgrades for the time being.

Maybe, who knows, could it be possible in the future to choose the map you prefer, in the main settings? Now that would be cool.

Well I am beta testing too but I dont have 2.2 yet. Am I missing something? What is your version number?

 

[Hangar]

In focus mode, the gimbal maintains focus just fine, but the Inspire does not yaw to keep the camera at the nose. Any idea what I'm doing wrong with this? Thanks!

Focus Mode is a Human Flight Control Mode which means Autopilot has not control over any of the movement, including the yaw. You may want to consider using Cruise Mode if this is what you want.

This thread is about the beta. I was testing he latest beta when I discovered google maps being used instead of apple maps.

No version of Autopilot uses Google Maps yet (the code has not been written). Are you sure you are talking about Autopilot or another app maybe?

As for the planned switch to Google Maps (in 2.2), we might consider leaving Apple Maps as an option, but it may have limited / less functionality than the Apple Maps, especially for Waypoint Mode.

 

[chip chipman]

Waypoints is planned for the 3.0, which is the next major released scheduled after the 2.2 update. 2.2 is going to bring Saved Flight Plans and a switch to Google Maps, both of which are critical for Waypoints to be functional.


We are working on a new feature that will bring this type of functionality, but not with the Inspire RC. Stay tuned.

Does this mean that Waypoints will not work with the Inspire 1?

 

[Hangar]

Does this mean that Waypoints will not work with the Inspire 1?

That part of the answer was referencing the beacon question (not Waypoints). Waypoints will be on the Inspire, don't worry.

 

[lake_flyer]

No version of Autopilot uses Google Maps yet (the code has not been written). Are you sure you are talk

Very strange, I was working with autopilot which I updated some days ago through the testflight app. I didn't pay attention to the version number actually. Definitely had google instead of apple maps in that version. I reverted back to the latest public version immediately after returning home. I'll try the beta again, see what happens.

 

[lake_flyer]

Just tried to reinstall the beta but Testflight says it's unavailable.
Edit: My fault probably, i have to click the link in the beta test invite from itunes.
Will do that.

 

[Hangar]

Just tried to reinstall the beta but Testflight says it's unavailable.
Edit: My fault probably, i have to click the link in the beta test invite from itunes.
Will do that.

I think Apple has expired the 2.1 beta since the 2.2 beta is in review right now. The goal is to release 2.2 to beta by next weekend.

 

[Hangar]

In addition to the Google Maps switch and Saved Flight Plans, 2.2 will bring an entirely new feature called Airspace. Airspace allows you to connect up to 8 devices which can then share both their location and/or the location of any connected aircraft. This creates many possibilities which we will document in an upcoming video on this feature, but we just wanted to give you guys a sneak preview. This video was shot with an Inspire in Follow Mode behind a Phantom 3, also in Follow Mode behind a car.

 

[gregdd]

In addition to the Google Maps switch and Saved Flight Plans, 2.2 will bring an entirely new feature called Airspace. Airspace allows you to connect up to 8 devices which can then share both their location and/or the location of any connected aircraft. This creates many possibilities which we will document in an upcoming video on this feature, but we just wanted to give you guys a sneak preview. This video was shot with an Inspire in Follow Mode behind a Phantom 3, also in Follow Mode behind a car.

Sounds pretty cool. I assume this will also give us the capability to have someone carrying a smartphone to be the follow target?