360RTK camera add-on read me

Modified on Thu, 02 May 2024 at 08:39 AM

Quick start

Please note, that the following steps should remind you on the certain steps but do not replace reading the whole manual of the device and the camera carefully.

Field work

Go outside
Put camera into antenna-housing and be sure the selfie stick is well screwed into the camera to avoid damages.
Connect the USB cable of the GNSS receiver to your smartphone using the OTG USB adapter. The GNSS device is now powered and on.
Start the Logging App (RTKcamera or SW-Maps) and establish a connection to your Ntrip Broadcaster. Check if you have a FIX solution and be sure “logging” is turned on.
Start the camera app (GoPro, Insta, Ricoh, …)
Connect to your camera using Bluetooth/WLAN.
Start taking photos respecting the capture strategy if you need to create 3d photogrammetry models (overlap, eg. each 3meters a photo)
Every now and then, check the REDcatch app whether an RTK fix is still available
After work stop logging of the REDcatch app and disconnect from NTRIP caster
Disassemble the device and put everything back to housing. TAKE care of the exposed LENSES of your camera!

Office

Transfer the photos from camera to your local hard drive.
Transfer the logfile from RTK App on your Smartphone to the same folder.
The logfiles are located on … / Android / Documents / SmartphoneRTK / …
Use REDtoolbox to geotag the images using the RTK information from the logfile.
The images are either geotagged and EXIF/XMP data updated, or a separate *.txt file is generated which can be imported into photogrammetry software.

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1) Assembling

For Insta360 and Ricoh Theta, place the camera inside the housing and fix it with the selfie stick.
For the GoPro Max, fix the camera with the Fixing screw of GoPro. A ¼” nut is available for the selfie stick

To use the full power of your device, you need two Apps on your Smartphone.

The first App is from the camera manufacturer like GoPro or Insta. => Trigger
The second is ours, responsible for RTK corrections and the logging.

So important to know: With this setup there is NO CONNECTION between the camera and the RTK Antenna in the field. The one App is logging, the other is taking the pictures.

2) Setting up RTK connection and Log the path

The aim is to communicate with the GNSS module via the USB wire cable and log the NMEA.txt file containing the RTK coordinates.

There are two Apps available:

a) The RTKcamera app is responsible for the Ntrip connection and the logging. You will need to enter IP address and port of your NTRIP broadcaster and your login credentials.

Please refer to this document to RTK camera - USER MANUAL ** read me **

And/Or watch this YouTube video: https://youtu.be/JpkSg_D47iQ

b) SW-Maps, which is recommended for Samsung and Android 14 devices:

Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=np.com.softwel.swmaps

How to connect: https://redcatch.freshdesk.com/en/support/solutions/articles/103000283224-logging-sw-maps

3) Taking photos

The photos are taken with the respective camera app of the camera manufacturers via WLAN/Bluetooth.

Insta: Insta360
Ricoh: Ricoh Theta
GoPro: GoPro Quik

IMPORTANT for IR-REMOTE control users: Please connect to your camera each time BEFORE recording images. This will update the internal clock of your 360 cameras. If you trigger the camera using the Smartphone App the clock synchronisation is done anyway.

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Camera specific settings

Insta360

Please download the Insta360app from the Google Play store and follow the app instructions to connect the camera to your smartphone.

For photogrammetry purposes we recommend HDR-Foto. However, it’s up to you using the best settings for your actual light and environment conditions.

!!! Camera internal clock syncing: Especially for Insta360 camera, you need to connect your Smartphone with the camera BEFORE recording images. This will update the internal clock of the camera. If not, a geotagging will fail and RTK data can not be used for geotagging.

Camera Internet connection troubleshooting: When you are connected to the Insta360 Camera with Wi-Fi, it might happen that no internet connection is available. But we will need internet to receive RTK correction data. In this case, enable proxy mode in the settings of the app to still get internet access.

Export images to PC:

Download the software Insta360 Studio from the Insta website.

Connect the camera to your PC
Open the Software „Insta360 Studio” on your PC
Select the images, choose the path and click on the yellow button “Start export”

The Insta360 Studio creates for each image an extra folder. Move all images into one folder.

Ricoh Theta Z1

Please download the Ricoh Theta app from the Google Play store and follow the app instructions to connect the camera to your smartphone.

We are using the following camera settings. However, it’s up to you using the best settings for your actual light and environment conditions.

Export images to PC: Switch on the camera and connect it to your PC with a USB cable. The camera is detected as a mass-storage device (Drive letter). Copy the images in your desired local hard disc folder.