Inspector 5 introduces new ways to export, and share data collected with the Elios 3. Learn how to export and share flights and their data to view in Inspector 5 or for use in other 3rd party software solutions.
Table of contents
Data for viewing in Inspector 5
To share datasets to be accessible in Inspector 5, the data needs to be exported in the appropriate format.
Data can be shared and/or archived using local/portable drives, as well as cloud storage solutions. When using cloud storage solutions, it is recommended to download the data locally when importing and accessing in Inspector 5.
NB: Zip the workspace before sharing/archiving when using cloud based storage solutions. It is important to maintain folder structure and file naming. Some cloud platforms can apply name changes to files and folders, which will cause issues when trying to access in Inspector. Zipping can help prevent such changes.
It is critical to maintain the complete folder structure along with folder and file naming when archiving and sharing projects to be viewable in Inspector 5. Any changes should be done through the Inspector 5 user interface, and not in Windows file explorer.
For more information on the file structure: Inspector 5 User Manual
How to export flights to view in Inspector 5
Use the Export tab to select and export the needed data in the appropriate format to open in Inspector 5.
- Open Inspector 5 and select the workspace that contains data to be exported.
- Click the Export tab in the left sidebar.
- 1. Select the destination folder.
NB: Do not select the current workspace location as the destination folder.
- 2. Select data to export.
- Select the appropriate checkboxes. It is possible to export the full workspace, assets, inspections, as well as individual flights. As selections are made, the Total size to export / available space will be updated.
- Click Export.
- The destination folder will contain the selected data in a format that can be accessed with Inspector 5.
How to open/import shared flight folders with Inspector 5
Once the folder has been shared, there are two options to access the data in Inspector. (1) It can be opened as its own workspace, or (2) imported into an existing workspace.
- Open as workspace:
- Open Inspector 5.
- Click the dropdown menu and click Create workspace.
- Browse to the shared folder, and click Create.
- Open the new workspace to access the shared data.
- Import into existing workspace:
- Open Inspector 5 and select the workspace to import data into.
- Click the Import tab in the left sidebar and Inspector 5 tab along the top bar.
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- Click Browse to select the folder containing data to import.
- Refine the selection with the checkboxes and click Import.
- After import, the selected data will be visible from the Assets tab.
- Use the Move function to move the data to a specific Asset as needed.
Exporting data for third party software
It is possible to export specific data (point clouds, videos, etc.) for easier sharing when only certain files from flights are needed. The exported data will be grouped per flight, making it easier when sharing with end-users not using Inspector. It is also possible to extract the necessary files for processing in FARO Connect, along with extracting images from the captured video for processing in photogrammetry software such as PIX4Dmapper.
Warning: The exported data can't be re-imported in Inspector. To archive, use the Workspace export menu instead.
How to export flight data
It is possible to select and export specific flight data from each flight using the export icon on the right side toolbar.
- Open Inspector 5 and select the workspace with data to share.
- Open the Inspection or flight.
- Select the Export icon in the right sidebar. By default, all flights within a selected inspection will be selected.
- Select the type of data to export. It is possible to select:
- POIs (.jpeg)
- Videos (.MOV)
- Thermal video (.mp4)
- FlyAware maps (.las)
- Trajectory (.csv)
- LiDAR raw data (.json - .bag)
- UT data (.csv)
- Click Export.
The exported data will be grouped per flight.
Photogrammetry / Pix4D
Use the PIX4D tab to export images from the captured video to process in PIX4D or other photogrammetry software.
- Open Inspector 5 and navigate to the flight.
- Select the Export icon from the right side toolbar.
- Select the PIX4D tab.
- Select the start and stop time as needed. The default setting includes the entire video.
- Select the Frame rate - Number of frames extracted per second. Total shows the number of frames to be extracted for the Frame rate selected.
- Export PIX4D project - Toggle to export a .p4d project file of all the frames extracted ready for opening in PIX4Dmapper.
- Export project templates - Toggle to export the project using a selected PIX4D template.
- Select the Fast or Robust processing template.
- Click Export frames to export and save the data.
FARO Connect
Use the FARO tab to extract the files necessary for processing flights in FARO connect.
How to export:
Open Inspector 5 and navigate to the needed flight.
Inspector 5 Flight view.
- Click the Export tab in the right sidebar.
- Select the FARO tab.
- Click the Export button.
- In the Windows file explorer window, select/create the folder to copy the files to.
These files can be imported into FARO connect for processing, for more information on this process: FARO Connect for Elios 3 Online Training (light version).
Please refer to the Inspector 5 User manual for more information on each of these processes.