A practical workflow for planning, exporting, and flying autonomous survey missions — from drawing the site boundary to landing at the end of the grid.
The DJI Mini 4 Pro supports waypoint missions natively — but DJI provides no mission planning software for it. There's no SDK access, no mapping grid tool, no automatic overlap calculation. WaypointOS fills that gap.
You draw a boundary, set your camera and overlap parameters, and WaypointOS generates camera-correct flight lines and exports a DJI-compatible KMZ file. You transfer that file to your RC 2 controller, load it in DJI Fly, and the drone flies the grid automatically — taking photos at the right intervals to achieve the overlap you specified.
It's free, runs locally (no account, no cloud, no data leaving your machine), and works on Windows and macOS.
Do these before leaving for site — not at the field.
In DJI Fly — Safety settings
⚠Obstacle avoidance must be set before the mission runs. If it's set to Off, the drone cannot sense obstacles during autonomous flight. Set to Brake or Bypass.
Open DJI Fly → System Settings → Safety tab
Set Obstacle Avoidance Action to Brake (survey, heritage sites) or Bypass (open fields with no obstacles)
Set Return to Home altitude to at least 30m above the tallest obstacle at the site — set to Optimal for automatic
Do NOT set obstacle avoidance to Off for autonomous missions
RC 2 controller
Controller charged to 100%
DJI Fly app up to date
Waypoint mission KMZ already loaded (prep at home, not at site)
Screen brightness set to maximum for outdoor use
Aircraft
All batteries fully charged — 3 recommended for a full day survey
Gimbal guard removed
SD card formatted in the drone (not on computer), minimum V30 speed rating
Correct ND filter fitted for expected conditions
Props checked — no chips or cracks
02 Building the mission
IN WAYPOINT OS
1
Create a new project
Open WaypointOS → New Project. Give it a name (use the site name) and select DJI Mini 4 Pro from the drone library. The app auto-loads the correct sensor dimensions, focal length (24mm equiv.), and resolution (48MP) — no manual entry needed.
2
Find your site on the map
Use the geocoding search bar to jump to your site, or navigate manually on the satellite tile view. Toggle satellite/street view as needed. Zoom in until you can clearly see the site boundary.
Tip: prep your polygon at home using Google Earth or OS Maps to know your boundary before you're in the field.
3
Draw the boundary polygon
Click to place boundary points around your survey area. Close the polygon by clicking back on the first point. Flight lines generate automatically inside the polygon with a serpentine (lawnmower) pattern. Use vertex snap handles to refine the boundary edge by edge.
Add an overshoot buffer for full edge coverage — especially important at the corners of heritage sites where you need complete overlap.
4
Set altitude and overlap
Altitude, frontal overlap, and side overlap update the flight lines in real time as you adjust. Watch the photo count and GSD (ground sampling distance) update live. See the settings reference below for recommended values by mission type.
5
Check mission splitting
WaypointOS warns when you approach the RC 2's waypoint limit (~99 waypoints per KMZ). For large sites, it will offer to split the mission into multiple KMZ files — each sized for a single battery run. Accept this for any site that needs more than one battery.
Each split file becomes a separate mission. Fly them in sequence — the grid is designed to continue where the previous file ended.
03 Camera & flight settings
RECOMMENDED VALUES
Settings for the Mini 4 Pro on heritage photogrammetry surveys. Adjust altitude based on required GSD — lower means finer detail but more images and longer flight time.
Parameter
Heritage Survey
Detail Pass
Why
Altitude
50–80m
25–40m
Lower = finer GSD, more images, longer flight
Frontal overlap
80%
85%
Higher for complex or uneven terrain
Side overlap
75%
80%
Minimum 70% for reliable 3DGS reconstruction
Speed
6–8 m/s
4–5 m/s
Slower = sharper frames at trigger moment
GSD at 50m
~1.5 cm/px
—
Mini 4 Pro 24mm equivalent, 48MP
Shutter speed
1/1000s min
1/1000s min
Freeze motion — no blur on moving drone
ISO
100–200
100
Keep noise low for clean reconstruction
Photo format
JPEG + RAW
JPEG
RAW for archival, JPEG for fast processing
White balance
Sunny / Cloudy
Sunny / Cloudy
Never Auto — consistent colour across frames
ND filter selection
For video capture during or around the mission, apply the 180° rule: shutter speed = 2 × frame rate. At 25fps use 1/50s, requiring ND filters in daylight.
Bright overcast
ND16
Typical Dartmoor overcast — most common condition
Thin cloud / hazy
ND64
Partial sun, variable light
Direct sun
ND256
Clear sky, midday sun
Photogrammetry stills
None
Use 1/1000s+ shutter, ISO 100 — no ND needed
⚠White balance: Never leave it on Auto during a survey. Auto WB shifts between frames and breaks colour consistency — COLMAP and 3DGS trainers expect uniform colour across the dataset. Set to Sunny or Cloudy before takeoff and don't touch it.
04 Export & KMZ transfer
GETTING IT ONTO THE RC 2
WaypointOS exports a .kmz file — a DJI-compatible mission file. It needs to be placed in a specific location on the RC 2's internal storage so DJI Fly can find it.
⚠Data cable required. Use a USB-C data transfer cable — not a charge-only cable. Charge-only cables will not show the controller as a storage device on your computer.
Windows
USB File Transfer
Connect RC 2 to PC via USB-C data cable
Swipe down on RC 2 → tap USB connected → select File Transfer
RC 2 appears as a drive in File Explorer
Navigate to: DJI RC 2 → Internal Shared Storage → Android → data → dji.go.v5 → files → waypoint
Open any folder with random characters inside
Replace or copy the .kmz file into that folder — rename to match the existing file if needed
Safely eject and disconnect
macOS
Android File Transfer
Install Android File Transfer or OpenMTP (OpenMTP recommended)
Connect RC 2 to Mac via USB-C data cable
Swipe down on RC 2 → select File Transfer mode
OpenMTP shows RC 2 internal storage
Navigate same path as Windows above
Copy .kmz into the waypoint subfolder
Alternatively — AirDrop the KMZ to an iOS device and load from there
◉At home, not at site. Do the KMZ transfer before you leave. Plugging a laptop into the controller at a remote Dartmoor site while the wind picks up is a bad experience. Arrive with the mission already on the controller.
Loading the mission in DJI Fly
1
Open DJI Fly — go to map view
Power on aircraft and connect to RC 2. Open DJI Fly → tap the map to enter map view.
2
Tap the Waypoint Flight icon
Tap the Waypoint icon on the left side of the camera view. Saved missions appear in the list — select your KMZ.
3
Review the mission on map
The flight lines should appear overlaid on the satellite map. Verify the grid covers your intended area and the altitude looks correct before you start.
If the mission doesn't appear, check the file is in the correct waypoint folder path and wasn't renamed incorrectly.
05 Flying the mission
AT THE SITE
Pre-takeoff at site
Place landing pad — protects gimbal on rough or long grass
Check wind speed with anemometer — Mini 4 Pro rated to ~29 km/h (Beaufort 5). Check gusts, not just average
Confirm NOTAM and airspace — check before driving to site, recheck if delayed
Set camera settings manually — white balance, shutter speed, ISO (see table above)
Take off and hover at 5m — verify gimbal, camera feed, and signal strength before starting mission
During the mission
Keep the drone in visual line of sight at all times — walk the boundary if needed
Monitor battery percentage — the mission will warn you, but watch it yourself
Watch for unexpected obstacles — obstacle avoidance is on but you are the pilot in command
Check SD card is recording — glance at the recording indicator periodically
You can pause or abort the mission at any time with the pause button — the drone will hold position
Signal loss behaviour
Configure Signal Loss Action in DJI Fly safety settings before flying. Options: Return to Home, Hover, or Continue. For survey missions, Return to Home is safest — set RTH altitude above the tallest obstacle at the site before takeoff.
After landing — data backup
Eject SD card — copy to laptop immediately, before any processing
Copy SD card to backup SSD — never leave site with data on one card only
Check frame count matches expected photo count from WaypointOS
Quick check of a few frames for sharpness and exposure before packing down
◉Multiple batteries: If the mission was split into multiple KMZ files, load the next file after swapping the battery. The drone will fly the continuation of the grid automatically.
06 Quick reference
AT A GLANCE
Frontal overlap
80%
Survey · 85% for detail pass
Side overlap
75%
Survey · 80% for detail pass
Survey altitude
50–80m
Lower for finer GSD
Detail pass
25–40m
Complex terrain, ruins
Flight speed
6–8 m/s
4–5 for detail
Min shutter
1/1000s
Prevents motion blur
ISO
100
200 max for low light
White balance
Fixed
Never Auto during survey
Max wind
29 km/h
Beaufort 5 — check gusts
GSD at 50m
~1.5cm
24mm · 48MP sensor
Waypoint limit
~99
Per KMZ · WaypointOS auto-splits
KMZ path RC 2
…/dji.go.v5/files/waypoint/
Internal storage · data cable required
⚠UK legal reminder: Flyer ID, Operator ID on aircraft, A2 CofC, and commercial insurance are required before flying any commercial survey mission. NOTAM check before every flight. You are the pilot in command — WaypointOS and DJI Fly automate the path, not the responsibility.
