VFR flight planning and navigation software I've written
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Same message there always has been for buying computer hardware. The correct order is:
(1) decide what applications you want to run
(2) research on what hardware you can run those applications
(3) choose from what you've found.
(1) decide what applications you want to run
(2) research on what hardware you can run those applications
(3) choose from what you've found.
You can run almost all windows software on a Mac - by running it either in a Virtual Machine using something like VMWare Fusion, or using the built in BootCamp.
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Looking forward to the next version, what a great piece of software. Spot on.
Can I suggest:
Configurable Weight and balance charts
Option to bring up 214/215/414/415 at a button press somewhere
Configurable terrain clearance & MSA
I've set up a dummy route Caernarfon EGCK across Snowdon area and it only seems to place my altitude at 4100ft AMSL when the route leg is within 1-2 miles of the obstacle or spot height.
I'd love it if it had an option to route at 1000ft above anything 5miles either side of track, and MSA set to 1000ft above sectors highest object/spot height (e.g 4900ft AMSL for Snowdon area).
Its got great potential. Also noticed the SWB (Shawbury) VOR seems absent, has it died?
Great software, can't wait for the next beta version...
Suggestions - probably best done as user configurable options:
Allow control of MSA (I prefer 1000ft above MEF for a sector)
Allow control of clearance height about elevations, spot heights and obstacles.
(I routed over the top of Snowdon - 3590ft I think, and it placed me at 4100ft - I'd prefer 1000ft over in case I was not visual)
Allow setting of track width...using Snowdon as my example, only when routing within 1-2 miles of the peak did the software push my height up to 4100ft.
Ideally I'd like to configure the software, for my use, to set 1000ft MSA above MEF for a sector & 1000ft above the highest spot height, elevation or obstacle(+300ft allowance) within 5 miles either side of my routes track....
(Yes, I know its primarily a VFR tool, but with configurability like the above I can make use of it for low level IFR work as well)
Great, great work, keep it up, well impressed......Hats off to you.
Can I suggest:
Configurable Weight and balance charts
Option to bring up 214/215/414/415 at a button press somewhere
Configurable terrain clearance & MSA
I've set up a dummy route Caernarfon EGCK across Snowdon area and it only seems to place my altitude at 4100ft AMSL when the route leg is within 1-2 miles of the obstacle or spot height.
I'd love it if it had an option to route at 1000ft above anything 5miles either side of track, and MSA set to 1000ft above sectors highest object/spot height (e.g 4900ft AMSL for Snowdon area).
Its got great potential. Also noticed the SWB (Shawbury) VOR seems absent, has it died?
Great software, can't wait for the next beta version...
Suggestions - probably best done as user configurable options:
Allow control of MSA (I prefer 1000ft above MEF for a sector)
Allow control of clearance height about elevations, spot heights and obstacles.
(I routed over the top of Snowdon - 3590ft I think, and it placed me at 4100ft - I'd prefer 1000ft over in case I was not visual)
Allow setting of track width...using Snowdon as my example, only when routing within 1-2 miles of the peak did the software push my height up to 4100ft.
Ideally I'd like to configure the software, for my use, to set 1000ft MSA above MEF for a sector & 1000ft above the highest spot height, elevation or obstacle(+300ft allowance) within 5 miles either side of my routes track....
(Yes, I know its primarily a VFR tool, but with configurability like the above I can make use of it for low level IFR work as well)
Great, great work, keep it up, well impressed......Hats off to you.
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Ideally I'd like to configure the software, for my use, to set 1000ft MSA above MEF for a sector & 1000ft above the highest spot height, elevation or obstacle(+300ft allowance) within 5 miles either side of my routes track....
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Version 0.9.2 Now Available
Hi guys,
A new release of SkyAngel has just been posted. It contains many few features, usability improvements and fixes based on feedback from here and other places. In particular you'll notice there's an aircraft selector, in order to provide the new fuel calculation feature and the future weight&balance features. Although it will be possible to establish a database of more than one aircraft, in this release there is just one (whose variables can be modified).
Users who have used the previous releases should uninstall what they had before, from Control Panel, before installing this one. Note: if you've used the product before, the Fuel window will not appear automatically; you'll have to show it from the Window menu.
New Features
---
You can now plan and fly an alternate destination for a route
Fuel calculations are now performed automatically, including taxi/takeoff, cruise, diversion, holding and contingency
The route can now be dragged to manipulate it. This includes dragging turning points to move them to different waypoints, and dragging route segments to split them.
Preliminary exporting to GPX format added
It is now possible to toggle between flat terrain shading (like charts), relief shading (looks better) or none
Loading of user-supplied data is now supported
Preferences window now allows adjustment of all the safety margins used in calculations
Data Improvements
---
Farnborough LARS data fixed
Microlighting and hang-gliding data added
AIAA data added
Bird Sanctuary data added
Radio frequencies added to MATZ data
Addition of airfield-based radio navigation aids (50%)
Other
---
Route segment properties window improved
Edit route segment button added to route plan window
The map context menu now allows addition and removal of user waypoints
User waypoints are now persisted between application sessions
TAF parser now knows about parsing QNH in QNH3000INS format
Tooltips shown on the map now include waypoint information
Double-clicking in the enroute-features window centres the main map on that position
Editing the route TAS inline in the route plan window is now possible
Parsing errors fixed in locales that use , instead of . for decimal separator
There is no longer any need to use uppercase when searching for waypoints by identifier
"Weekend View" added to airspace clipping options (removes all airspace only active during the week)
Enjoy, and please keep the feedback coming!
A new release of SkyAngel has just been posted. It contains many few features, usability improvements and fixes based on feedback from here and other places. In particular you'll notice there's an aircraft selector, in order to provide the new fuel calculation feature and the future weight&balance features. Although it will be possible to establish a database of more than one aircraft, in this release there is just one (whose variables can be modified).
Users who have used the previous releases should uninstall what they had before, from Control Panel, before installing this one. Note: if you've used the product before, the Fuel window will not appear automatically; you'll have to show it from the Window menu.
New Features
---
You can now plan and fly an alternate destination for a route
Fuel calculations are now performed automatically, including taxi/takeoff, cruise, diversion, holding and contingency
The route can now be dragged to manipulate it. This includes dragging turning points to move them to different waypoints, and dragging route segments to split them.
Preliminary exporting to GPX format added
It is now possible to toggle between flat terrain shading (like charts), relief shading (looks better) or none
Loading of user-supplied data is now supported
Preferences window now allows adjustment of all the safety margins used in calculations
Data Improvements
---
Farnborough LARS data fixed
Microlighting and hang-gliding data added
AIAA data added
Bird Sanctuary data added
Radio frequencies added to MATZ data
Addition of airfield-based radio navigation aids (50%)
Other
---
Route segment properties window improved
Edit route segment button added to route plan window
The map context menu now allows addition and removal of user waypoints
User waypoints are now persisted between application sessions
TAF parser now knows about parsing QNH in QNH3000INS format
Tooltips shown on the map now include waypoint information
Double-clicking in the enroute-features window centres the main map on that position
Editing the route TAS inline in the route plan window is now possible
Parsing errors fixed in locales that use , instead of . for decimal separator
There is no longer any need to use uppercase when searching for waypoints by identifier
"Weekend View" added to airspace clipping options (removes all airspace only active during the week)
Enjoy, and please keep the feedback coming!
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Hello Again Tim,
I got the program working with the updated version, thanks, but I am getting another DLL message. This time when I click GPS.
'cant find PInvoke DLL 'gpsapi.dll'
Can you rectify please?
Thanks.
Paul.
I got the program working with the updated version, thanks, but I am getting another DLL message. This time when I click GPS.
'cant find PInvoke DLL 'gpsapi.dll'
Can you rectify please?
Thanks.
Paul.
Last edited by CRX; 10th Sep 2009 at 22:12.
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Tim,
It is a Windows CE 5.0 powered 'road gps', and I am successfully running several other GPS apps from it.
I have got it to boot into windows desktop, and it hooks up to my pc with no problem to activesync.
I can also regedit it with ease, but for some reason it get the PInvoke messages with Skyangel.
I feel that I am nearly there, but for this glitch..
Thanks,
Paul.
It is a Windows CE 5.0 powered 'road gps', and I am successfully running several other GPS apps from it.
I have got it to boot into windows desktop, and it hooks up to my pc with no problem to activesync.
I can also regedit it with ease, but for some reason it get the PInvoke messages with Skyangel.
I feel that I am nearly there, but for this glitch..
Thanks,
Paul.
Hi Tim
Wonderful software, planned & flew a route with it yestersday, no problems.
Just loaded the latest version and found that it will not let me complete the last leg of a closed route. May just be finger trouble but I can't make it work.
Tony
After more playing - it works if you pick a waypoint somewhere near where you want to end up and then drag it to the final destination.
Tony
Wonderful software, planned & flew a route with it yestersday, no problems.
Just loaded the latest version and found that it will not let me complete the last leg of a closed route. May just be finger trouble but I can't make it work.
Tony
After more playing - it works if you pick a waypoint somewhere near where you want to end up and then drag it to the final destination.
Tony
Last edited by Tone; 11th Sep 2009 at 15:44.
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I have just downloaded this software and had a quick play around and it look's great. I have a few points to make on the inital test that i think will help improve it.
1) Ability to set fuel burn from litres to US gallons and Imperial gallons.
2) Include the fuel information in the plog i.e the totals needed for the flight.
3) A print option for a A5 layout of the PLOG even though you can through settings a quick selection button would be nice.
4) Ability to assign colours to different PLOG coloums for the fonts.
Andrew
P.S i still have not received a password for activation of notams and weather.
1) Ability to set fuel burn from litres to US gallons and Imperial gallons.
2) Include the fuel information in the plog i.e the totals needed for the flight.
3) A print option for a A5 layout of the PLOG even though you can through settings a quick selection button would be nice.
4) Ability to assign colours to different PLOG coloums for the fonts.
Andrew
P.S i still have not received a password for activation of notams and weather.
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Tim, I can only try the PC Planning version as my PNAs run Win CE 5 & .net2
Hoping someone can find a simple way to run Skyangel InFlight on Navigos etc.
One point that has just arisen - Choosing Wekend option in Adjust View - Clipping, removes certain danger Areas (such as D026 & D032) from the map but not from the Enroute window.
Probably me being thick?
Regards & congratulations on a great piece of work,
Max.
Hoping someone can find a simple way to run Skyangel InFlight on Navigos etc.
One point that has just arisen - Choosing Wekend option in Adjust View - Clipping, removes certain danger Areas (such as D026 & D032) from the map but not from the Enroute window.
Probably me being thick?
Regards & congratulations on a great piece of work,
Max.
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Puzzled by the aircraft properties. If I change the details they are reflected in the plan. But as it has a drop down menu, this infers I can set up more than one aircraft details, how do I do this?
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Hi Tim,
I have entered the strip I use and named it, good. However when I plan the route the heading uses the name I gave the strip, but on the route details, the from is the co-ordinates rather than the name given to the airstrip.
Secondly, can we have the total distances and times for the whole flight added to the plan.
Thirdly, can the fuel details be added to the flight plan as well.
Looking good so far.
Yakker
I have entered the strip I use and named it, good. However when I plan the route the heading uses the name I gave the strip, but on the route details, the from is the co-ordinates rather than the name given to the airstrip.
Secondly, can we have the total distances and times for the whole flight added to the plan.
Thirdly, can the fuel details be added to the flight plan as well.
Looking good so far.
Yakker
Hi Tim
Great prog - thanks - but have to point out that the airspace depiction around Prestwick is wrong - UK AIP page AD 2-EGPK-4-1 is the official map for it.
Great prog - thanks - but have to point out that the airspace depiction around Prestwick is wrong - UK AIP page AD 2-EGPK-4-1 is the official map for it.
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CRX, I'm going to spent some time next week investigating whether it was a bad idea for us to go with the Microsoft GPS driver on mobile devices. If not all of them have it, we'll have to change to another one. Thanks for bearing with me!
Tone, there's a bug in the most recent version that doesn't allow you to graphically plot closed routes. The best workaround is to hit F4 and enter your final waypoint manually.
MrAdorable, the forthcoming version allows changing of units including fuel units. I'm going to make the PLOG somewhat configurable at some point, including fuel data. There's now a Page Setup button on the PLOG viewer that makes A5 selection easy. As for colours, hopefully that will be part of the PLOG configurerer at some point.
Max_UK, none of the showing and hiding of airspace functionality affects what comes up in the enroute features window. This is currently by design, although I can see it makes less sense with the weekend view. Something to think about.
yakker, unfortunately a bug in the latest public release means that user waypoint coordinates are displayed in the PLOG instead of its name. This has been fixed ready for the next version. As for the PLOG configuring, see above. I did say in the release notes that the list of aircraft would only contain one aircraft in this version. It'll be expanded to allow creation of multiple aircraft in the next version.
Cartman: thanks. This was a parsing error to do with the direction of arcs.
Julian, I'd like to see that too. At some point we will invest in actual commercial map data and lakes, major roads, railways and rivers will appear.
One feature I hope everyone will be pleased to see in the next version that has already been completed is Weight and Balance.
Tone, there's a bug in the most recent version that doesn't allow you to graphically plot closed routes. The best workaround is to hit F4 and enter your final waypoint manually.
MrAdorable, the forthcoming version allows changing of units including fuel units. I'm going to make the PLOG somewhat configurable at some point, including fuel data. There's now a Page Setup button on the PLOG viewer that makes A5 selection easy. As for colours, hopefully that will be part of the PLOG configurerer at some point.
Max_UK, none of the showing and hiding of airspace functionality affects what comes up in the enroute features window. This is currently by design, although I can see it makes less sense with the weekend view. Something to think about.
yakker, unfortunately a bug in the latest public release means that user waypoint coordinates are displayed in the PLOG instead of its name. This has been fixed ready for the next version. As for the PLOG configuring, see above. I did say in the release notes that the list of aircraft would only contain one aircraft in this version. It'll be expanded to allow creation of multiple aircraft in the next version.
Cartman: thanks. This was a parsing error to do with the direction of arcs.
Julian, I'd like to see that too. At some point we will invest in actual commercial map data and lakes, major roads, railways and rivers will appear.
One feature I hope everyone will be pleased to see in the next version that has already been completed is Weight and Balance.
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Global airfield and nav data
Tim,
Superb job on the software - really like it.
Rather than reinvent the wheel... global airfield and navaid data is available under GPL from the X-Plane (flight simulator) data site X-Plane airport & navigation data - Home page.
Obviously... it should be checked for accuracy before using for real flights, but it's a massive repository of data, mostly gleaned from official AIP sources.
While I'm here...
Happy to report that SkyAngel Plan works on Linux. Need to use VirtualBox rather than WINE, so Windows is still required.
Superb job on the software - really like it.
Rather than reinvent the wheel... global airfield and navaid data is available under GPL from the X-Plane (flight simulator) data site X-Plane airport & navigation data - Home page.
Obviously... it should be checked for accuracy before using for real flights, but it's a massive repository of data, mostly gleaned from official AIP sources.
While I'm here...
Happy to report that SkyAngel Plan works on Linux. Need to use VirtualBox rather than WINE, so Windows is still required.
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Thanks Hyph! Unfortunately the GPL precludes such code/data from being used in commercial, closed-source applications like SkyAngel. There would be nothing to stop enthusiasts converting the relevant databases for use with their own copy of SkyAngel, though, since it now supports loading of user-supplied data.
Thanks for the tip about Linux, good to know.
Thanks for the tip about Linux, good to know.
Upto The Buffers
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Unfortunately the GPL precludes such code/data from being used in commercial, closed-source applications like SkyAngel
PS. Works fine on WINE, just needs a few deps sorting...