Am I The Only One Who Knows This???

Am I The Only One Who Knows This???

I have to ask; really, am I the only one who knows this??? My Mini 2 (as well as other DJI Drones) can shoot “Photospheres” just like the ones you see in Google Street View. I searched all over looking for information about this. It’s not documented in the user manual, it’s not on YouTube, and it’s not mentioned on any web site, and it’s not on the DJI Forum Web Site or in any DJI Tutorial…

A Photosphere is a Google Street View, but it’s from a stationary position. You can scroll all around, Left, Right, Up, and Down, and you can even Zoom into an area of particular interest.

But the Big Difference with my Mini 2’s Photospheres is that they are not at ground level, but from whatever altitude my Drone was flying at… And when you look down, you are not just looking down at the ground, at your feet, but from the sky, at altitude.

If you are not familiar with Google Street View, you need to bring up Google Maps or Google Earth on your computer or Tablet (a Phone’s screen is really too small…). On the lower right of the screen, you see various controls, a “bulls eye” to show your location, Plus and Minus Signs to enlarge or shrink the map, several small “squares” to choose the imagery (various photos from the area of the map, and a “Little Man” figure (Officially called the PegMan).

You Grab the PegMan and drag him over the map and your map will light up with blue lines indicating where the Google Car has driven and taken a moving street view. But, depending on your location, you may see Little Blue Circles. These indicate a Photosphere and if you drop your Pegman onto a Blue Circle, your computer screen with light up with a view of the location and you can scroll around as if you are there and turning in a circle, you can look up and see the tops of building, birds, planes, and clouds. You can look down and see the pavement, the grass, ground, and sidewalk, whatever the photographer was standing upon.

Here is a Screen Grab of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, USA. I grabbed the PegMan and Dragged him over to one of the Little Blue Circles and a Thumbnail photo will pop up and if you want to see that view, drop the Pegman…

Ok, now here are two Photospheres that I have published onto Google Maps, they are visible to anyone, anywhere in the world as a Little Blue Circle. BTW, the total time to create one is calculated in minutes…

This Photosphere is shot near my Home…

This Photosphere is taken over a Park where I frequently fly my Mini 2…

Have I wetted your appetite; if so, do you want to learn more about this feature, I need to hear from you so I know it is worth the time it takes to type it all up and test the instructions so I’m not wasting your time with erroneous instructions.

Also, if you already know about this, please chime in and let me know if it’s one of those secrets that everyone knows and few care about…

As I probably write too often, Inquiring Minds Want to Know…

5 Likes

I think it would be worth sharing the instructions then. It’s a neat feature and I’m sure many would be interested in learning how it’s done.

2 Likes

Really neat! Looks interesting.

I would definitely like to know. Right now I have a FPV and a P4P+ on the Phantom I can’t get the maps to even work though. The FPV I have to buy a new phone but would really like to know!

I think there might be a disconnect here. You cannot see a photosphere on the maps presented in the Fly App. The Fly App only downloads the maps, not the features, like street names, businesses, or any of the other features. A photosphere is the 360 degree, scrollable, photo hat gets loaded onto the Google Earth and Google Maps database and can only be viewed when you are viewing the maps directly on your computer or tablet, not through the Fly App. When you download the maps to your Fly App, it only gets the map and satellite imagery.