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Anzu Raptor and Pix4D Mapper

I'm having trouble with RTK accuracy or gimbal alignment

Updated today

Since full integrations have not been completed, there are some tweaks needed for Pix4D to support Raptor images where the photo metadata doesn't align with the default fields Pix4D is looking for. This article is a work-in-progress.

Here are the steps to pull out the exif metadata from Anzu Raptor images on a Windows PC:

  1. First, download Exiftool https://exiftool.org/

  2. Run command prompt - "CMD.exe"

  3. Change Directories into the exiftool folder

    1. CD "C:\Users\Name\Desktop\exiftool-12.92_64"

  4. This command exports everything:

    1. exiftool -r -all -csv -n "PHOTOFOLDER" > "PHOTOFOLDER/metadata.csv"

    2. For example:

    3. exiftool -r -all -csv -n "H:\DCIM\CAM_202508181227_005" > "H:\DCIM\CAM_202508181227_005/metadata.csv"

  5. This is specific for the fields needed in Pix4D Mapper to address the RTK GPS accuracy and gimbal orientation (Omega, Phi, Kappa) values.

    1. exiftool -r -GPSLatitude -GPSLongitude -GPSAltitude -FlightPitchDegree -FlightRollDegree -FlightYawDegree -RtkStdLat -RtkStdLon -RtkStdHgt -csv -n "FOLDER" > "FOLDER\metadata.csv"

    2. For example:

    3. exiftool -r -GPSLatitude -GPSLongitude -GPSAltitude -FlightPitchDegree -FlightRollDegree -FlightYawDegree -RtkStdLat -RtkStdLon -RtkStdHgt -csv -n "H:\DCIM\CAM_202508181227_005" > "H:\DCIM\CAM_202508181227_005/metadata.csv"

  6. Open the newly created metadata .csv file.

  7. Trim the Sourcefile column so it's only displaying the filename.

    1. Find & Replace all is the easiest method. Find all "H:\DCIM\" and replace with nothing "".

    2. It should now show as CAM_20240704010251_0001_V.JPG, not C:/Users/Desktop/Photos/CAM_202407040101_024/CAM_20240704010251_0001_V.JPG

  8. See additional formatting conversions below (this will depend on the software).

Pix4D is looking for Omega, Phi, Kappa values but their documentation indicates it should also take Pitch, Roll, and Yaw values and make the necessary conversions as long as it's in the expected format.

Here are the metadata columns Pix4Dmapper is looking for:

imagename,latitude [decimal degrees],longitude [decimal degrees],altitude [meter],omega [degrees], phi [degrees], kappa [degrees]

Here are the default metadata columns the Anzu Raptor is reporting:

-GPSLatitude -GPSLongitude -GPSAltitude -GimbalPitchDegree -GimbalRollDegree -GimbalYawDegree -RtkStdLat -RtkStdLon -RtkStdHgt

  • Sourcefile - imagename

  • latitude [decimal degrees] - GPSLatitude

  • longitude [decimal degrees] - GPSLongitude

  • altitude [meter] - GPSAltitude

  • Omega - GimbalPitchDegree + 90 degrees as it's reversed (Straight down nadir should be 0 degrees).

  • Phi - GimbalRollDegree - Zeroed out (based on Pix4D docs)

  • Kappa - GimbalYawDegree - Easterly headings will be 0-180 degrees, Westerly headings will be 0 to -180 degress (90 = East, -90=West, for eg.). These need normalized into the standard 0-360 heading degrees.

  • Accuracy Vert - RtkStdHgt

  • Accuracy Horz - RtkStdLat/RtkStdLon averaged together.

Pix will also want the column headers to match what it's expecting internally (Row A vs. Row B in the screenshot below), so delete the unused rows/columns once complete so it only the necessary info remains.

Many users reference using Python scripts to accomplish this more easily, and even make the PRY > OPK conversions themselves, but that'll require programming experience. This is using some simple Excel formulas:

The final CSV imported into Pix4Dmapper should look like this:

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