Collecting data modules

Check the right people are present and/or have consented to drones being flown on their Country.

Map the area to be surveyed with Traditional Owners, including areas that can be flown over and areas that cannot be flown over.

Discuss, agree on and note down any other rules for drone use in the area to be surveyed.

Prepare physical elements of drone for flight on the ground (batteries, camera, etc).

Turn on and equip drone.

Connect to smartphone or tablet.

Take off.

Hover at eye level.

Fly forward, backward, left and right.

Land drone.

Turn off and disassemble drone.

Launch drone and fly to 10m in air.

Fly drone away from you.

Turn drone around to point back at where you are.

Take a selfie photo of yourself.

Turn drone around to point away from you.

Fly drone back to home base.

Land drone.

Take gimble cover off drone camera and check that it is working.

Launch drone and fly to above tree height.

Fly drone in figure eights, with yourself and your spotter keeping drone in line-of-sight.

Use the map in the drone control app to position yourself.

Take a clear photo or video of area with the drone camera.

Fly the drone using the map to get back to home base.

Test the automatic bring to home function.

Land drone.

Do pre-flight checks (memory card inserted, gimbal cover off, camera working, batteries charged, propellers & batteries connected).

Choose launch spot away from trees and other obstacles.

Connect app to drone and controller.

Launch drone.

Navigate to survey area and manually fly over area of interest or do walking transect taking photos and/or video.

Monitor the flight and surrounds and manage the drone if issues arise.

Bring drone ‘home’.

Land safely.

Remove SD card from drone.

Insert SD card into computer and transfer drone photos to appropriate folder.

Choose an appropriate area at the monitoring site which will show change in healthy country values, can be accessed for management actions, and is maximum 40 hectares in size (30 minutes flying at 70 metres using 3 batteries).

Turn on smart controller and choose ‘Mission Flight’.

Choose ‘create a route’.

Choose ‘mapping’.

Zoom into desired area and tap screen

Choose your Mavic model.

Adjust settings (e.g. altitude, speed).

Select the recently created survey and open.

Press ‘run’ when all checks have been done

Monitor the flight and manage the drone if issues arise.

Pause flight midway and resume flight.

Bring drone ‘home’ and change batteries mid-flight as needed.

Choose an appropriate area at the monitoring site which will show change in healthy country values, can be accessed for management actions, and is maximum 40 hectares in size (30 minutes flying at 70 metres using 3 batteries).

Open computer and open drone deploy website (add link) and login or register if haven’t done already.

On drone deploy website, create a new survey area and name it Open drone deploy app on smartphone.

Make sure the recently created survey is synced with phone.

Select the recently created survey and open.

Open advanced settings and select ‘available offline’.

Turn smartphone on airplane mode and check the survey is still accessible.

On country, start mission.

Monitor the flight and manage the drone if issues arise.

Pause flight midway and resume flight.

Bring drone ‘home’ and change batteries mid-flight as needed.

Choose an appropriate area at the monitoring site which will show change in healthy country values, can be accessed for management actions, and is maximum 40 hectares in size (30 minutes flying at 70 metres using 3 batteries).

Make sure phone or tablet with installed software (Pix4dCapture or Pix4d Capture Pro) is connected to remote controller.

Open Pix4d Capture and login or register if haven’t done already.

Hit the ‘New Plan’ icon and choose generic missions then ‘grid’. Click next.

Adapt grid size and angle of survey path on map using touch screen.

Check and change settings, such as drone brand, flight height, front & side overlap and drone speed).

When all settings and drone are checked, start mission by clicking on its blue button at bottom of screen.

Monitor the flight and manage the drone if issues arise.

Pause flight midway and resume flight.

Bring drone ‘home’ and change batteries mid-flight as needed.

Transfer drone data from SD card in drone to computer.

Upload survey photos into appropriate folder on computer.

Create orthophoto layer [TBC]

Check the right people have consented to camera traps being installed on their country.

Agree on areas that should and should not have camera traps.

Drive around country with Traditional Owners to identify places to install camera traps.

Agree on the purpose of monitoring, choose whether the camera will be set on motion sensor or timelapse, and decide on when the cameras will be set out and when they will be retrieved.

Mark the monitoring sites on hardcopy and online maps.

Charge batteries for cameras.

Put batteries in cameras.

Check the SD memory cars is empty.

Put SD memory card in camera.

Turn on cameras.

Set date, time, type of monitoring, timing of data collection.

Turn off cameras until it is time to install them on country.

Turn on cameras.

Check batteries are charged.

Check date, time, type of monitoring, timing of data collection all set correctly.

Install camera at the chosen site by tying the camera to a large tree (more than 20cm in diameter) or using a star picket.

Check the camera is taking photos by doing the ‘walk test’.

Put pink tape on the tree to mark where the camera is.

Record site of camera with GPS or cybertracker to pick it up in the future.

Come back in five weeks to pick up the cameras and download the photos.

The following skills are relevant if the camera is being used for motion detection:

Make sure the camera is 0.7m from the ground/base of the tree.

Pull out grass or other plants from in front of the camera because the camera will take a photo of them if they move in the wind.

Set up a bait station two metres away from the camera and make sure the camera is facing the bait station.

Put peanut butter, honey, and oats in the bait container.

Put a rock behind the camera so it is pointing at the bait station.

Check the right people have consented to video cameras being used to interview Elders on their Country.

Agree on areas that should and should not be used to interview Elders.

Agree on who the right people are that should be interviewed.

Understand the purpose of interviews for site surveying.

Understand research ethics and processes for Free and Prior Informed Consent, including understanding procedures to protect interviewees’ confidentiality, secure data access and storage, and voluntary participation.

Install and turn on video camera.

Check there are batteries for adequate power to cover the full recording.

Safely charge and store lithium batteries.

Set date, time, mode of recording/resolution, microphone, and background noise setting.

Set up tripod correctly (e.g. horizon and level, distance to interviewee).

Set up lapel microphone on interviewee.

Check lighting and focus of the video.

Understand and practice active listening.

Understand basic interview techniques, including asking simple questions to build the confidence of the interviewee and the benefits of golden silences.

Understand and practice preset and impromptu questions.

Determine interview length and time management (take care not to fatigue interviewees).

Prepare a story board by linking the purpose of the survey to the story that the ranger wants to tell.

Determine appropriate length of the video story.

Draft narrative for the video story.

Capture footage for the different parts of the story board.

Content to come.