WeeMan18
3rd Apr 2009, 23:01
It's Friday night and here I am - my inner geek is really getting out of hand! Anyway, I thought I'd share a little discovery that I think is extremely cool. This is a way to view your flight in three dimensions in Google Earth. With this you can review your track through the air, move around it in 3D all set against GE's high quality imagery. Applications would include checking the accuracy of your nav, investigating ground features, reviewing circuits, joins, approaches, PFLs etc. I wish I could have had something like this years ago.
My new toy is a Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS watch (https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=349). I normally use this for running and cycling but it's just fine for this task. GE now supports loads of other GPS receivers as well. Importing into GE is now pretty easy (details here) (http://earth.google.com/userguide/v4/ug_gps.html#import) - just don't forget to deselect the 'Adjust altitudes to ground height' option. Then just fiddle around with the various options and see what you can come up with. The position can be replayed at various speeds or the whole track can be visualized. Moving the point of view around with the normal GE controls can be a pain but if you have a joystick you can enter GE's flight simulator mode and fly yourself along your 3D track line to take another look at your flight.
I was back seating in a Chipmunk recently and tried this for the first time. I attach my sortie (chippy.kmz (http://sites.google.com/site/liddleaj/Home/chippy.kmz) opens in Google Earth) and a couple of screenshots as an illustration.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3664/3409752283_007ae61463.jpg?v=0
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3376/3409752353_215582041a.jpg?v=0
Bigger Pic 1 (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3391/3410644476_149500b34d_o.jpg)
Bigger Pic 2 (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3629/3409835749_368f85b176_o.jpg)
GPS altitude is not particulary accurate at the best of times (but the vertical profile is still reasonably useful) and the smoothness and accuracy of the path plotted will depend largely on the the GPS receiver. With my device, designed for running, and with a 6 second resolution, fidelity of fairly dynamic manoeuvring will be limited and as you can see, aerobatics over the sea between Brighton and Peacehaven were not recorded as well as they might be on an aviation GPS. I'd love to see a perfect 3D recording of an aeros sequence - perhaps someone else can try!
The profile of the sortie in my example was as follows, with the front seat pilot and I sharing parts of the flying:
Takeoff from Shoreham
Aerobatics
Simulated engine failure -> PFL
EFATO -> PFL
Another look at the field on climbout
Overhead join to land at Shoreham.
Being able to go back and have a good look at the PFL in slow time is quite handy and I wish I had this setup running when I did my round Britain trip (http://www.pprune.org/private-flying/357203-aeronca-champ-round-britain-solo.html).
Hope you find this interesting or useful and not too geeky or 'stating the obvious'!
Cheers :ok:
PS Disregard the dead straight line running WSW into Shoreham - finger trouble on my part and not part of the flight.
My new toy is a Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS watch (https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=349). I normally use this for running and cycling but it's just fine for this task. GE now supports loads of other GPS receivers as well. Importing into GE is now pretty easy (details here) (http://earth.google.com/userguide/v4/ug_gps.html#import) - just don't forget to deselect the 'Adjust altitudes to ground height' option. Then just fiddle around with the various options and see what you can come up with. The position can be replayed at various speeds or the whole track can be visualized. Moving the point of view around with the normal GE controls can be a pain but if you have a joystick you can enter GE's flight simulator mode and fly yourself along your 3D track line to take another look at your flight.
I was back seating in a Chipmunk recently and tried this for the first time. I attach my sortie (chippy.kmz (http://sites.google.com/site/liddleaj/Home/chippy.kmz) opens in Google Earth) and a couple of screenshots as an illustration.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3664/3409752283_007ae61463.jpg?v=0
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3376/3409752353_215582041a.jpg?v=0
Bigger Pic 1 (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3391/3410644476_149500b34d_o.jpg)
Bigger Pic 2 (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3629/3409835749_368f85b176_o.jpg)
GPS altitude is not particulary accurate at the best of times (but the vertical profile is still reasonably useful) and the smoothness and accuracy of the path plotted will depend largely on the the GPS receiver. With my device, designed for running, and with a 6 second resolution, fidelity of fairly dynamic manoeuvring will be limited and as you can see, aerobatics over the sea between Brighton and Peacehaven were not recorded as well as they might be on an aviation GPS. I'd love to see a perfect 3D recording of an aeros sequence - perhaps someone else can try!
The profile of the sortie in my example was as follows, with the front seat pilot and I sharing parts of the flying:
Takeoff from Shoreham
Aerobatics
Simulated engine failure -> PFL
EFATO -> PFL
Another look at the field on climbout
Overhead join to land at Shoreham.
Being able to go back and have a good look at the PFL in slow time is quite handy and I wish I had this setup running when I did my round Britain trip (http://www.pprune.org/private-flying/357203-aeronca-champ-round-britain-solo.html).
Hope you find this interesting or useful and not too geeky or 'stating the obvious'!
Cheers :ok:
PS Disregard the dead straight line running WSW into Shoreham - finger trouble on my part and not part of the flight.