Pocket PC Software for flying

[dublinpilot]

Guys & gals,

I recently came across a piece of free software for the pocket PC and thought I'd share it with you!

I bought a cheap gps unit off ebay, for my pocket pc, and needed to get some moving map type software. I only wanted something very simple that would show my position relative to a waypoint I could program in. As what I wanted was very basic, I wasn't willing to spend too much on it.

I tried a few different programs but none seemed up to the job, without significant cost.

Then I came across pocket fms. http://www.pocketfms.com/

I find it absolutely brilliant.

It give full colour maps (which you have to download) for anywhere in the world, and a proper moving map display. I has an extensive database (albeit not totally complete). It does w&b calculations etc, and can even download metars & tafs.

Anyway I don't want to try sell it, just to let you know about it! So if you are looking for something like this, you might want to have a look. One tip; when setting your FIR, just select one and then download the terrain, navigation and maps, as it takes a while. Then you can go back and add another one.


Best thing about it is that it's free!! Well they do ask for a donation.

I would be skeptical about using the frequencies info etc however but none the less it's very useful.

BRL...I don't have any connection with the software other than being a very pleased user! I just thought it might be useful to someone else. It took me a long time to find it.

What other software do you guys use on your pocket pc, that you find useful for flying?

dp

[FullyFlapped]

I use MemoryMap Navigator with my PPC/GPS setup, and I think it's fantastic. Yep, it lacks a few features which I'd like on there, but having a moving real-time display using actual CAA 1/2 million or 1/4 million maps more than makes up for that. I'd recommend it to anyone.

I'm currently trying to find a cheap "tablet" style PC with a larger display than an IPAQ (but still small enough to be realistic in a cramped cockpit), so I can use the same software to beter effect - anyone have any recommendations ?

FullyFlapped
:ok:

[RichyRich]

At first site it does appear very comprehensive and amazingly detailed for a freeware program. It is however still in a beta stage.

It isn't billed as freeware, but shareware, and if you find you're using it, you should contribute. (Guess who writes software for a living).

Thanks for the links though, I'm certainly going to check out its usefulness (not that I use GPS yet, still getting used to dead reckoning).

RR

EDITED to add: Tried to play with it a bit, managed to crash the PC app several times, have it hang up while trying to load maps etc. The Pocket PC version doesn't even run on my iPaq. Not even near finished, let alone 'Beta'. They've got a lot of work to do on reliability before anyone would consider it to be a useful asset. (In my feeble opinion, of course).

[dublinpilot]

RR,

Well, I guess your experience shows that it has some development to do still. I however has not had any problems with running it on my dell notebook (Win 98) or my Dell Axim (Pocket PC).

If it appeared to hang up while downloading maps, you should make sure you have only one FIR selected at a time, as it does take a while to download each area.

dp

[RichyRich]

DP

I seem to have had a bit more joy with it, and had help from the developer in what I was doing incorrectly on the iPaq. Abandonded the idea of terrain data.

It needs a bit of polishing, but looks ok otherwise. I'll give it a bash (in my car, I need polishing too, in my DR nav so am not venturing onto GPS quite yet).

Cheaper (and from what I can tell, clearer) than the CAA official charts, but their accuracy is a little dubious too. I don't have a chart in front of me, but I'm sure the airspace around EGHI (on the east side) is missing/incorrect. (I think incorrect).

RR