The new Floor Plan view within DroneDeploy equips Construction, Property Management, and Energy customers with the ability to organize their interior 360 Walkthroughs and floor plans alongside maps and models on multi-level sites within DroneDeploy.
Floor Plan View at a glance:
- A clear view of interior 360 Walkthroughs overlaid on specific floor plans
- Organize captures, associated floor plans, and Issues by location on the project site
- Compare & Inspect 360 Walkthroughs on the same level over time
Creating new Levels and uploading corresponding floor plans and 360 Walkthroughs allows for seamless navigation from maps and models of the site exterior, to ground-based captures across multiple levels on the building interior.
Switching Views: Map, Model, and Floor Plan
We’ve moved our Map / Model toggle out of the sidebar to the bottom-center of the screen for easier access when interacting with media (and allowing for more frequent closure of the sidebar, freeing up screen space!)
The new Floor Plan view mode is a third option in the view switcher, located to the right of the Map and Model toggles. Selecting any of these toggles will navigate you to the same date on the chosen view mode.
Note: The 3D Model toggle is only accessible for dates on which you’ve flown a map - otherwise we don’t have the data necessary to create a 3D Model of your site.
Creating a Level
Levels can be added to a project from the Floor Plan view mode. Select ‘Upload a Floor Plan’, and you will be prompted to create and name a Level to which the overlay will be added.
Switching Levels
Once a Level has been added to your project, a Level selector will appear next to the view toggle. Selecting any of the levels in the selector will navigate you to that floor plan. While viewing your map, the selector will default to ‘Exterior’.
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Additional levels can be added via the ‘Manage Levels’ modal.
Uploading a Floor Plan to a Level
After creating a level, you will be prompted to upload the base floor plan for the level. Multiple overlays can be added to a level (think HVAC or MEP plans in addition to architectural), but at least one-floor plan must be uploaded before 360 Walkthroughs can be added to the level.
Note: You can upload floor plans directly from your projects in Procore, Autodesk BIM 360, or PlanGrid into DroneDeploy.
Once your floor plan is uploaded, you’ll be taken to the alignment screen. Here, you can choose which level you want to add the floor plan to (it will default to the level or map you viewed last), and choose your alignment points.
Adding Walkthroughs to Levels
Once a floor plan has been added to your level, you can start to upload 360 walkthroughs. 360 Walkthroughs can be added to levels during upload as part of the alignment step, or after upload by editing the location.
After uploading a 360 Walkthrough, select your destination Level from the ‘Add to Level’ dropdown in the alignment step. You can then align your walkthrough to the floor plan on that level, or to the Base Map if preferable.
Note: Careful alignment to the Base Map (or existing floor plans) is important for optimal viewing!
If you have existing walkthroughs in DroneDeploy that you would like to add to a level, you’ll first want to create the level in Floor Plan view mode, and upload the associated floor plan.
Then, simply select the Walkthrough in the sidebar, click the three dots to the right of the name, and choose ‘Edit Location’. This will take to to the alignment page, where you can choose the level that you’d like to move your walkthrough to, and align to the floor plan.
After hitting ‘Done’, you will be taken to the new level the walkthrough has been added to, and any associated issues will be moved to the level as well.
Viewing Walkthroughs on Levels
Walkthroughs added to a Level are visible cleanly overlaid on top of the floor plan, along with any associated issues.
Selecting the walkthrough path directly, or from the preview window for the walkthrough in the sidebar will open up the walkthrough pano viewer.
Managing Levels: Edit, Reorder, Delete
Correctly organizing reality capture data across a large, multi level site is important - and mistakes can happen. Admins and editors in DroneDeploy can edit level names, reorder levels, or delete them at any time via the Manage Levels modal, accessible via the Level selector. Deleting a level will not delete the data on that level - floor plans, walkthroughs, and associated issues will return to the Map view, visible on the site exterior.
Rename, reorder, delete, or add additional levels from the ‘Manage Levels’ modal.
Note: Deleting a level will not delete the media on that level. 360 Walkthroughs and floor plan(s) from a deleted level will be moved to the map.
FAQs:
I have existing 360 Walkthroughs in DroneDeploy - how can I use Levels? Existing 360 Walkthroughs can be migrated to Levels without needing to re-upload. Selecting ‘Edit Location’ from the sidebar will take you to the Alignment page, where a Level can be selected
Will an existing Overlay be added to a Level? No, at this time you will need to re-upload the existing Overlay in order to add it to the new Level.
Can multiple Walkthroughs be added to the same Floor Plan/Level? Yes, customers can add as many 360 Walkthroughs as they’d like to a Floor Plan on a Level.
Can multiple overlays/Floor Plans be added to a Level? Yes - customers have shared that it may be valuable to have both architectural plan/demo drawing for a level available for reference.
What if my walkthrough covers multiple levels? Best practices for processing and visualization of 360 walkthroughs within DroneDeploy, is to keep capture limited to one Level. A workaround for this case is to reflect the capture area in the chosen Level name, and include floor plans from all areas walked on the Level.
What if my project has multiple buildings? Levels are our first introduction of grouping in DroneDeploy, and we’ve optimized for single buildings that are multi-level with this release. That being said, customers have flexibility in their Level naming and in what floor plans they add. We anticipate some users may use ‘Phases’ or ‘Buildings’ to organize their walkthroughs within the Levels structure.