Adding and fully processing a new flight consists of five steps as follows:

1. Selecting the flight images
   
2. Selecting processing preferences
   
3. Pre-processing
   
4. Geo referencing (applicable only when selected geo referencing method requires manual GCP marking on images or manual monument marking)
   
5. Model generation
   

Once all steps are done, there should be a viewable model for you to look at and start further analytical functions upon. 

In this article we will discuss the first 3 steps.  Steps 4 and 5 will be discussed in different articles. 

To start the process of adding a new flight, from the main map select the site you want to work with. In our case, we will select the Test site, which is empty.

To add a new flight, select the +Add/Add flight option as shown in the figure above to add a new flight.  This will open the “Upload Flight Data” dialog shown below.

Selecting the flight images

Additionally, after adding a set of images, you may upload more images from the same or from a different folder.   Every time images are added, the ROI bounding box is reset to include all images. You may change the size and shape of the bounding box to exclude images outside it. This can be used simply to limit the size of the project to an area that you are interested in, or to remove images that can cause issues with the linkage such as images that are totally over a body of water. See an example of a changes bounding box below.

Selecting the processing  preferences

The dialog below allows you to select the processing preferences. 

In the Flight Details section, select the flight date and add any comments you want.  Camera model is extracted from images.  Additionally, you may specify here if images were taken with RTK drone as shown below.

In certain cases where the detected camera has a rolling shutter, the system will require you to specify if the images were taken in motion.  Meaning that the images were taken while the drone was moving.  In this case the system will do a correction to compensate for the rolling shutter effect. 

The Geo Referencing section will have different selection options based on several factors, including drone type, first flight or additional flights, availability of GCP (Ground Control Points).  Regardless of what appears in the screen shot above, here is a list of all possible options and when they would appear:

For flights taken using Non-RTK drones, and this is the first flight for the site

1. Drone GPS & Manual GCP markup
   
2. Drone GPS & AI assisted GCP markup
3. Automodel based on drone GPS  
   

1. RTK data & Manual GCP markup
   
2. RTK data & AI assisted GCP markup
3. Automodel based on RTK data only
   

For additional flights taken using Non-RTK drones

1. Automatic geo-referencing based on previous flight
   
2. Automatic geo-referencing based on manual monument marking
   
3. Drone GPS & Manual GCP markup
   
4. Drone GPS & AI assisted GCP markup
5.  Automodel based on drone GPS 
   

1. Automatic geo-referencing based on previous flight
   
2. Automatic geo-referencing based on manual monument marking
   
3. RTK data & Manual GCP markup
   
4. RTK data & AI assisted GCP markup
5. Automodel based on RTK data only
   

The most interesting option here is the capability to geo-reference a flight based on a previous flight and without the need to mark GCP’s in it.   This option can be used only if the flight before this one was geo-referenced. This option uses a very powerful Datumate algorithm to find common tie points between images from this flight and the flight before it.  And based on that it will geo-reference the new model.

Once proper options are selected, press the “Continue” button, which will take you to the pre-processing step.

Model Pre-Processing

The two steps will take place one after the other automatically, except that you must keep the upload wizard open while in the upload process.    See screen shots below.

Once the linkage process is done, and depending on the geo referencing preference selection when flight was defined, the next step could be either manual GCP Marking, AI assisted GCP marking,  or an automatic model generation. 

1. If the upload is interrupted because of an internet failure, you will get the message below telling you that there is a problem with your internet connection.
   
   
   Once your internet connection is restored, you can hit the "Try again" button and the upload will pick up where it left off.
   
   
2. If you close the internet browser intentionally or by mistake,  then the next time you open the site you will be given the option to resume the upload as shown in the message below. 
   
   
   
   Here, you may select to discard the interrupted upload and start a new one or you may resume the upload by clicking the Yes button.  Also, you may select not to resume the upload by hitting the No button, which will give you the option to review other instances.  To resume the upload after reviewing other instances, you will need to exit the site and enter it again, and then you will be given the option to resume the upload again.  Pay attention that if you decide to add a new flight after hitting the No button, the interrupted flight upload that was saved will be automatically discarded.