Mission file formats

Flight-app formats

• QGroundControl .plan.planJSON mission, geofence and rally points for QGroundControl. Read by QGroundControl.
• ArduPilot .waypoints (QGC WPL 110).waypointsThe tab-separated MAVLink mission text format ArduPilot tools read. Read by Mission Planner, QGroundControl, MAVProxy.
• DJI WPML .kmz.kmzDJI's waypoint markup: a zip holding template.kml and waylines.wpml. Read by DJI Pilot 2, DJI FlightHub 2.
• Litchi CSV.csvOne row per waypoint, 46 columns, imported through Litchi Mission Hub. Read by Litchi Mission Hub.

GIS formats

Every mission also exports as KML (flight path, numbered waypoints with heading, gimbal, dwell and capture in each description, geofence and no-fly zones) and GeoJSON (the area, no-fly zones, flight path and every waypoint with its pose as properties). Both open in QGIS and Google Earth. KML has no “relative to take-off” altitude, so relative plans are written as relativeToGround, which matches only over flat ground. Source: mission/exporters.py.

Reconstruction products (orthomosaic, DSM, DTM, hillshade) are Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFFs; see photogrammetry.

Which format do I need?

• ArduPilot with Mission Planner or MAVProxy: .waypoints. OpenDroneKit can also upload directly over MAVLink.
• QGroundControl: .plan, which also carries the geofence and rally points.
• DJI enterprise aircraft with Pilot 2: DJI WPML .kmz.
• DJI consumer aircraft flown with Litchi: Litchi CSV.