Upload video

First, make sure you are uploading from a location with a stable internet connection since the videos from your drones will often be several gigabytes in size.

Then, from your Dashboard click Upload, which opens the uploader in a new tab.

1. Name your map
   
   Enter a name that describes the focus of your map like the city or town you are covering. If you have uploaded other files in the same area you can use the dropdown below to find that collection to add to.
   
   
2. Change visual resolution
   
   If you would like to change the visual resolution of your uploads, you can find the option by clicking Advanced options. We highly recommend leaving this option set to Standard. Selecting High will take about 10 times longer to process and selecting Low will result in reduced visual quality, but will yield results much faster.


3. Select your files
   
   Drag and drop the video and metadata files you want to upload into the space provided. You can also click browse to select and add files.

Video results

Your videos are added to maps once they are uploaded. You can view the status of each map from the dashboard.

Before we jump into navigating your dashboard, let’s go over some quick terminology:

1. Map
   
   A map is any group of videos that you’ve chosen to organize together to view in one single set. This lets you see more than just a single video, but also lets you not see any other videos on the global map.
   
   
2. Video
   
   Videos are simply videos that you uploaded to Hivemapper. If you’re a drone pilot, often, your drone manufacturer will often break up these videos into smaller files to help with storage.


3. Scene
   
   Hivemapper breaks each video you upload into a number of scenes. The exact number will depend on your particular video. Each scene is analyzed and processed by Hivemapper to create a part of your 3D map. Each scene is then merged together into whatever map you’ve chosen and the Global Map.

Navigating your Dashboard

1. View your map
   
   Click the Open map button on any map to view all successfully georegistered maps created using videos uploaded to that map.
   
   
2. Location accuracy
   
   The location accuracy of any map will be either High, Low or None. It represents the highest level of accuracy of any scenes created from videos within that map. In most cases, High should be the target accuracy in areas where a Lidar basemap is available. When a Lidar basemap is not available you should expect to see Low accuracy.
   
   
3. 3D map
   
   3D map represents what percentage of your video uploaded to that map was used to generate and successfully register scenes to the global map.
   
   
4. Status

The status of the map represents the status of all videos uploaded to the map. Until the status reads green and Finished your map may appear incomplete.

1. Rename map
   
   You can rename any map by clicking the menu on the map.


2. View Videos by upload
   
   Alternatively you can view the results of your uploads by clicking on the Your Videos button in the top center of the page.

Map details

Processing details

1. Open scenes
   
   You can view just the results of a particular video on the map by clicking the Open scenes button. If this button is unavailable, that means no part of the video was able to be used to generate a scene that could be successfully georegistered. Non-registered scenes may be available for individual viewing. Click View scenes for more information.
   
   
2. View Scenes
   
   To view detailed results about how your video was processed click View scenes. Your video is broken down into frames and grouped together based on the location the camera is directed at. These groups of frames are called scenes. Here is where you can view exactly which scenes registered to which accuracy level as well as scenes that failed to register and scenes that failed to generate a 3D map.
   

Add location estimate

For videos that do not contain any flightpath metadata, you will see a yellow alert in the video list. In the video detail panel, you will find a Set video location button. This button will allow you to set a location for Hivemapper to georegister your map manually.

Navigate the 2D map to the approximate capture location of your video. Hivemapper will search a 1.5-mile radius around your specified location, so absolute accuracy is not required. Click the Set Location button to attempt to georegister the video.

User Roles

System administrators can manage their organizations in Hivemapper by assigning users one of three roles: Standard, Manager, or Admin, and grouping users to be able to share maps more effectively.

Standard Users

For details on Manager or Admin roles, please reach out to your sales representative or admin.

Groups Page

To create a new group, click the menu button again. Underneath the System heading, click Groups. In the top right of the page, click the Create New Group button. You must give the Group a unique name in order to create one. All users can see the groups page, but only Admins and Managers can actually make adjustments on this page.

You can view all of the maps in your group from your dashboard using the dropdown menu in the upper left hand corner of your dashboard.

To see or adjust which users are in a group or change the name of the group, click "View Details" next to the Group name.

Private Maps

As you know, by default the 3D Map built from every video you upload to Hivemapper is integrated into the public Global Map alongside the content from every other user in the system. This globally merged map is an immensely powerful capability as it allows you to benefit from all of the collections performed by thousands of other Hivemapper users. However, there can come a time where you need your data to stay private to just you or your organization and that’s where Hivemapper’s Private Map capability comes in.

When uploading video(s) to a Map with the Private Map setting enabled, your videos will go through the same 3D mapping pipeline as usual except for the final step. Because the Map you have uploaded to is set to Private, none of the 3D content generated here will go into the public Global Map. This means that you can now build fully private 3D maps of anywhere in the world and still be combining the data from multiple videos as you always have.

Currently Private Maps is a paid-only feature within Hivemapper so if you are interested in using it, please reach out to your Hivemapper point of contact or contact us here.

Creating a Private Map

Creating a Private Map is as simple as it has ever been to make a new Map within Hivemapper. After entering the name for your new Map, click the “Advanced options” dropdown on the top right and select “Create private map”. After this proceed as normal by selecting the videos you want to upload and starting the upload itself. These videos will then be placed within your new private Map on your dashboard.

Adding to a Private Map

Similar to creating a Private Map, adding to one is also very straightforward. Just as you would select an existing map you have today to upload to you can select a Private Map as well. Once selected, proceed as normal by selecting the videos you want to upload and starting the upload itself. These videos will then be placed within the pre-existing Private Map on your dashboard.

Viewing a Private Map

When in your Dashboard you’ll be able to see your Private Maps alongside your public ones as you’d expect. The red icon next to the Private Map name signifies which are Private and therefore not a part of the Global Map. Otherwise all functionality for Private Maps matches that of your public Maps.

Private Maps and Groups

When combining this with our existing Groups capability, you are now able to build these Private 3D Maps and share them with only your specific colleagues or organization. This also enables collaboration where your entire team can be contributing to a merged 3D map from all of your videos while still maintaining the security and privacy needed for your data.