Empty Recap Projects

[trioux]

I have constructed several projects in Recap without any issues. However, more recently when I setup a project, the photos uploaded for processing and I believe that they are processed, but that data that is returned to me is a photo with only one of the uploaded photos, a report that is empty of anything but the camera and number of photos, the DEM_scale.png, the DEM_unit_scale.png , and the Overlap_scale.png. There is no georeferenced image, point file, etc.  Having processed the photos twice, the 1st time converting to NJ State Plane US Feet and the 2nd time to UTM 18, the 1st time 1 only received the photo that I'm attaching and the report.

Once the report is downloaded and then opened online it tells me that the average ground sampling distance is 0.00in 0.00ft and that the Area Covered is 0.00 ha/0.00 sq miles, etc.  This is a screenshot of the report. The same exact photos were built by different software into a georeferenced tif without any issues.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Tim

[barmanr]

Hi @trioux ,

This means that the Ortho map generation has failed hence you get no values for GSD in your report. May I know what were the outputs you received? For example, were the RCS and RCM generated fine?

If you can provide me the project name, I can take a look at the logs at the backend for your project and see where it errored out.

Also, you mentioned you tried using the state plane and UTM. So did it fail only for the State plane and have no issues with the UTM version?

Thanking You.

Warmest Regards,

[trioux]

Rishov, 

The projects are named WMC_DOCK_ROAD and Dock_Rd_Small and were the same exact photos. The WMC_DOC_ROAD project was processed in 34 minutes and 11 seconds and the Dock_Rd_Small project was processed in 37 minutes and 53 seconds.

The WMC_DOCK_ROAD project was set to output as the NJ State Plane and the Dock_Rd_Small was set to output as UTM. The Dock_RD_Small project was a second attempt at having the photos processes to determine if it was an issue with the photo file coordinates being converted from WGS to State Plane.  Both projects/attempts to process these photos produced no useable information.

I didn't recieve a RCS or RCM, a georeferenced tif, colored tif, point file, etc. Other than the single photo, which was one of the 300 plus photos, the scale photos, and the report, the only other thing that I received for each project was a file "stylesheet.css".

This isn't the first time that this happened.  

Thank you for responding right away. I need to find out what is wrong and have it corrected or on my end correct it right away.

Tim

[barmanr]

Hi @trioux ,

Thank You for the information.

I took a look at your projects. I see that both the projects are using precise type GPS that means you have enabled PPK/RTK option during project creation. The projects have failed at a process whereby if the images are indeed not PPK/RTK enabled, then they will error out. If you run these projects without setting them as PPK/RTK then they should pass. Are your images indeed PPK/RTK enabled?

The PPK/RTK option during project creation is for images that are indeed PPK/RTK enabled. If not then it will error out as there is no way to know from the image GPS info alone if they are precise GPS or regular GPS.

However, if your images are indeed PPK/RTK enabled then perhaps you can share one of the projects with me and I can validate directly with the engine. But from experience and the location of the error, it's due to the reason I mentioned above.

Thanking You.

Warmest Regards,

Rishov

[trioux]

Yes, they are definitely RTK. Although I didn't need to have the accuracy of having ground control points and therefore didnt collect them, the photos were taken with the use of a DJI's Phantom 4 RTK drone using RTK

I'll run them again without that selection and see what happens.  As si said, another software processed them with no issues.

[trioux]

Rishov,

How do you want for me to share the project with you? 

Tim

[barmanr]

Hi @trioux,

I have sent you a PM with a one-drive link where you can upload your images. After I download them I will remove the link.

Also one question: Were you able to get a result using the images as PPK/RTK via this drone using ReCap Photo before for other sets? Or maybe other drone PPK/RTK enabled images as well? Just need to narrow down if it is a specific type of case or specific form in which the GPS info is available. 

I have tried various PPK/RTK enabled sets and they run fine so let's see. I will also run the regular GPS way once I receive the images to confirm the initial assumption first.

Warmest Regards,

[trioux]

Rishov,

So from the WMC_Attempt_3 project where I didn't select the PPK/RTK, I received 4 tif files for the georeferenced tif.

One of the files shows 1/2 of the site, one shows about an 1/8 of the site, one file is empty and the last file shows a triangular photo.

There is still nothing useful. 

Beyond the fact that there is nothing useful, I've paid 3 times to have these processed and haven't received anything for the money.

What were you able to determine from looking at the projects?

[barmanr]

Hi @trioux ,

I ran without the PPK/RTK option and the project ran fine. I got the rcm mesh, the rcs point cloud, the 4 piece ortho map tiles, the single-piece Ortho elevation, and the fbx file.

Regarding your question on the Orthomaps, this is how the Orthomap is generated if the resolution is high when using the Auto GSD option. So all 4 tiles are individually geolocated and when put together in other applications they will all line up geolocated for example in AutoCAD or Civil3D. The single blank tif that you got is also actually valid as there might be a few pixels that were bounded by that fourth tile.

If you want to lower the resolution of the ortho map to get a single piece Orthomap then you would need to increase your GSD during Project creation. With the auto GSD feature, the current GSD is 2.35cm/0.077121ft based on the report.

I will include all the outputs I got in the same location I shared with you. 

With regards to the PPK RTK option, I will be running it now as we know that the standard GPS works. 

Warmest Regards,

[trioux]

Rishov,

I was able to open the new data, but the project.rcp file indicates that everything is flat. Even the houses are at similar elevations as the terrain. This is incorrect.

What did you learn after running the project with the use of the PPK/RTK setting?

Tim

[barmanr]

Hi Tim,

I took a look at the RCP and you are right the houses are all flat with the terrain. Also, the mesh itself is flat so this brings up a few questions on distortion and the lens used. I am not sure at the moment what has caused this to happen to this particular set. I am trying out different tests to eliminate variables. I am trying with UTM to see if this is a State Plane issue or a US Foot issue. 

Could you help me out with a few questions I have: Were these images processed to remove the distortion of any kind before processing? What is the lens used on the Drone? Also were you able to get a proper mesh and point cloud from other applications as you mentioned?

Regarding the PPK/RTK issue, It also failed for me at the same location that shows that PPK/RTK might not have been enabled for the images. I tried with State Plane as well as standard LL84. So regarding this issue as well, could you please verify regarding the images being RTK? Also, did you try previously using other datasets from this drone with ReCap Photo with or without RTK? Just trying to figure out if it is dataset-specific.

I will escalate this case and log an issue on our side but if it is dataset-specific which so far it looks like as other sets with PPK/RTK enabled are working, it will take some time to investigate for this set. I will keep you updated on anything I find.

Sorry for the inconvenience caused.

Warmest Regards,

[trioux]

Rishov,

The drone is a DJI Phantom 4 RTK; it has their standard camera and lens.

As far as I know there is no distortion correction being done in the software while capturing the images.

The drone was flying with an RTK signal.

With respect to the other software, yes, MapsMadeEasy.com was able to make a tif, a point file, etc without any issues. The files that they sent me, including the text file with the points are to large to attach to this.

As I previously indicated, I have previously processed photos with no issues. But the last 5 – 6 attempts have had this issue.

[barmanr]

Hi @trioux ,

Thanks for the information.

The last 5 - 6 attempts have been using the same dataset you have shared with me right?

Since I tried this directly with the engine and the houses come out flat for this dataset even for standard GPS, we will have to investigate further and see if we can provide a possible fix. I have logged a case for this issue and I will keep you updated accordingly.

Any clues pertaining to this will be helpful since it is dataset specific.

Warmest Regards,