I don’t know if this is the right way to do it, but in my “review process of the YI360” I bumped up against an error in the app.
The relevant part in that post:
BUT the darn YI360 doesn’t have an image interval setting! Pressing the button on the camera I have the distinct impression it can handle about one image every second (maybe even faster when I have my new micro SD card?)
[snip]
And I tried the Mapillary app… and it sees the camera! It even says ‘beep’ taking a picture: yay!… but only one, then I get this:
When I press OK, I can take another (and get the same error again, etc). After connecting the camera to the PC again, it really did take a picture!
I don’t mind the red screen (preview), but:
Mapillary team: can you ignore the error for the “YI 360” (*)
*) ‘YI 360’ is the exact name the Mapillary app identifies the camera with, maybe you can add an exception?
on (error) {
…if (cam_ID != ‘YI 360’) {
… …do_error();
…}
}
PS: If there is a way to do some tests, maybe a way to give you more detailed info about the error, let me know…
I take it the YI 360 uses the OSC protocol, but it seems like it doesn’t follow it to 100%. We have seen similar issues with other cameras where we have special treatment. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to the YI360 but I’ll ask around if someone can lend me one for testing.
You say it doesn’t have interval setting. One thing you can try is “distance based” capture in the Mapillary app settings. Instead of “start taking photos every 2 seconds”, we send a “take photo now” command every X meters. Worth a try.
It was now (indeed) set at taking a picture every 1s (default)
I’ll try your tip, one never knows…
Also, since no one else brought this up at your end, how harmful could it be to update the (iOS) app including the “if YI360, then ignore errors after “take photo now” command”? I’m sure I won’t complain
PS: the error given “an error” is a bit vage, wouldn’t it be useful to include more detailed info? That could help you with this (and an other future) error? I often include something vage, like “error D1” Useless for my customer, but extremely valuable when they call me to complain something doesn’t work, then I can search in my code where the code “D1” is generated…
PS2: I’m quite “tech savvy”. So If there is a way for me to help you with debugging somehow, let me know (I sent a support mail also, it contains mail, phone number etc)
I agree that the help messages should be more informative, that’s something I should improve!
I don’t think we can do much though until I get my hands on a camera to see what’s wrong with it, apart from making the error message more descriptive (if possible).
Just did the test:
The moment I start walking the error appears (shown in the first post).
A moment later I hear the YI360 do a beep (the signal that a picture is taken; I also sense a bit of lag by pressing the button on the camera, so this is normal I guess).
No more beeps, I need to click ‘Ok’, then It’ll take an other image (and… etc.)
(Same as with manual image taking).
I expect the app simply stops all work until the error screen is gone (which sounds logical )
I found a 360 photographer near Malmö and sent him a mail if he could maybe help…
Otherwise, if you are unable to get your hands on a YI360 camera, I would be willing to send you mine (I do want it back offcourse ) Could that be an option?
The amazing thing is, I got in touch with him! And he owns a YI360 ! Luckily his English is better than my Swedish and amazingly enough he discovered Mapillary a few days ago. I asked him to create an forum account also… we’ll see… I hope.
PS: he also owns a Insta360 Pro! I asked him to upload a few of his images… curious how wel they perform on Mapillary
Yes thats me Michael Wall in Trelleborg
I can upload some pictures taken with the Insta pro later this week. Right now i am working on a documentary project that takes all my time.
Maby i can come in to Anders someday next week and talk to him live?
I have tried to disassemble the the YI360 , but I seriously run the risk of damaging the case (further) and I don’t want that… so I’ve decided to not go for that approach. An other option for an “automated button pusher” are troublesome… the fix from the mapillary app is not only ideal, but also becoming my only solution…
Otherwise I likely only can use the “frame grab option”… but that is only ideal for driving the car… for walking/cycling the “interval image option” has quite a bit more quality and is much faster for processing…
@Anders could @mickewall help getting the YI360 to work with the Mapillary app?
Otherwise, I would be willing to send you mine (and when you’re done, send it back naturally ) how long would you think you would be needing it?
I am certain that the YI would be a very good camera for Mapillary when your app could communicate well with the camera!
Also the high resolution and good movie interval settings are perfect for car mounts!
Then the only down sides would be: no onboard GPS and no onboard stitching at the highest resolution. But when I have created a good workflow those downsides are quite well managable.
(And offcourse I am willing to share the knowledge I am gaining)
PS: I still think you could add: if (camera_id == ‘YI 360’) { do ignore error; return true; }
Regarding stitching, that could be a problem that I need the computer vision team to investigate how much work it would be to support this. Does it support stitching for some (lower) photo resolutions?
You mention “movie interval settings”. We don’t have movie support in the app currently, but it’s something I want to investigate at some point.
In short, what do you want the app to support?
Just controlling the camera?
Transferring the photos to the app and let the app add GPS data etc?
3a. And then upload the images to Mapillary?
3.b. Or simply transfer them to your computer?
Never know what future wishes I come up with, but:
At this point I would just love it when the app would ignore the error (shown in the first post) and would just shoot images at an interval!
PS: it’s been a while, the interval setting is 1, 2, 2.5, 3 + seconds for the external camera, correct? I can manage sub second imagery … if it would be possible to set that in increments of .1 second I could squeeze out all the max images/second out of the camera But first things first…
AD: I think the camera can handle one image every 1.5 to 1.8 seconds… when one want one image every 5 meters; 2 seconds per image means at most 9 km/h, 1.5 seconds between the images would mean I could cycle up to 12 km/h… but maybe I need 1.6 (it’s very hard to figure out max speed so it’s an estimate) But that’s question/request number distant second
