Skycatch wants to make it easy for DJI drone operators to process high-resolution maps and create 3D models. The company announced the launch of COMMANDER, an iOS flight app designed for DJI drones.
“Outline the area you want to map, tap to take off, and COMMANDER will take care of the rest. In-app instructions will be there to guide you every step of the way,” the Skycatch team wrote in a blog post. “Never again worry about where should I put waypoints, how high and how fast should I fly, what overlap do I need? We’ve tested a large variety of drones and cameras extensively and have built-in algorithms that guarantee the best ground resolution and consistently perfect maps from every flight.”
According to the company, the app is specifically designed for construction, mining and energy industries. Skycatch chose to partner with DJI because it maintains 70% of the US$2 billion consumer drone market. The COMMANDER app was also built using DJI’s SDK.
“The goal of DJI’s SDK has always been to facilitate the creation of a robust ecosystem of apps, such as COMMANDER,” said Darren Liccardo, vice president of engineering, systems and applications for DJI. “Professionals know best what the use case is for our aerial platforms in their specific vertical sectors. Skycatch’s developers have made optimal use of our open APIs with their innovative mapping and modeling application.”
The app features in-app guidance, location search and stay-in-area flight routing, live video feed, multiple flight support, flight statistics, automatic drone detection, system checks, and flight monitoring. In addition, the data gets sent to the Skycatch Dashboard, which is designed to help businesses make decisions by giving them the ability to calculate assets, plan logistics and obtain process reports.
“Collaboration is essential in helping industry professionals evolve with technology,” said Christian Sanz, CEO of Skycatch. “COMMANDER opens the doors of aerial data capture so any project manager can become a drone pilot and any job site can benefit from new data sets and improved workflows.”
