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Little Navmap flight planner - beta released
- Thread starter albar965
- Start date
- Messages
- 120
- Country
Hello Alex,
I am an enthusiast user of your very nice Little Navmap (I downloaded version 1.05).
I am afraid, I found what's looks like a bug.
I am using FSX Gold (French version - but I don't think it matter's) on Windows 7 64k Home Family Premium (also French).
I think there are Magnetic Heading errors (see attached pictures) on this flight plan : all sceneries are ORBX (PNW, KFHR and CAC8 - this one freeware)
Steps to reproduce
- new flight plan, departure KFHR, destination CAC8.
- add VORDME YYJ to flight plan
- add NDB YCD
You can see that leg 2 and leg 4 heading are 307° M (visually leg 4 heading should be less than the one of Leg 2).
On a modified flight plan you can see the huge difference between aircraft data on map and magnetic heading calculated for the flignt plan.
If I suppress CAC8 from the flight plan, and replace it by another airport (CAT4 for ex.), figures are correct.
If I insert it back as an intermediate waypoint, the heading of the leg arriving to CAC8 is wrong.
It looks like it is related to CAC8
. Other planners (I tested on two) don't exhibit this heading error.
Let me know, if you need more information.
Gérard
I am an enthusiast user of your very nice Little Navmap (I downloaded version 1.05).
I am afraid, I found what's looks like a bug.
I am using FSX Gold (French version - but I don't think it matter's) on Windows 7 64k Home Family Premium (also French).
I think there are Magnetic Heading errors (see attached pictures) on this flight plan : all sceneries are ORBX (PNW, KFHR and CAC8 - this one freeware)
Steps to reproduce
- new flight plan, departure KFHR, destination CAC8.
- add VORDME YYJ to flight plan
- add NDB YCD
You can see that leg 2 and leg 4 heading are 307° M (visually leg 4 heading should be less than the one of Leg 2).
On a modified flight plan you can see the huge difference between aircraft data on map and magnetic heading calculated for the flignt plan.
If I suppress CAC8 from the flight plan, and replace it by another airport (CAT4 for ex.), figures are correct.
If I insert it back as an intermediate waypoint, the heading of the leg arriving to CAC8 is wrong.
It looks like it is related to CAC8
. Other planners (I tested on two) don't exhibit this heading error.Let me know, if you need more information.
Gérard
- Messages
- 86
- Country
Hi Gérard,
do not use user defined waypoints. When you want to add navaids to the plan you better right click on the navaid and the select "Add Navaid .... to plan".
You can also use the search window to add the navaids, altough it is a bit cumbersome.
The reason is, that these user defined waypoints have no magnetic variation and I actually cannot display a magnetic heading for them (OK, showing °M here is actually a bug in my program, it should be °T).
When you use airports, radio navaids or waypoints I can get the magnetic variation and can calculate a correct magnetic course.
At destination and departure I can get the magvar from the airports. Therefore the discrepancy.
Anyway, seems like I have to think out a workaround for this. :-(
Kind Regards,
Alex
That's how it looks here (ORBX scenery too):
do not use user defined waypoints. When you want to add navaids to the plan you better right click on the navaid and the select "Add Navaid .... to plan".
You can also use the search window to add the navaids, altough it is a bit cumbersome.
The reason is, that these user defined waypoints have no magnetic variation and I actually cannot display a magnetic heading for them (OK, showing °M here is actually a bug in my program, it should be °T).
When you use airports, radio navaids or waypoints I can get the magnetic variation and can calculate a correct magnetic course.
At destination and departure I can get the magvar from the airports. Therefore the discrepancy.
Anyway, seems like I have to think out a workaround for this. :-(
Kind Regards,
Alex
That's how it looks here (ORBX scenery too):
- Messages
- 120
- Country
Hello ALex,
Thanks to clarify this point. But, I noticed that we have not the same CAC8. Yours is probably the PNW default, mine is the CAC8 freeware from ORBX.
Nevertheless, there is something linked to CAC8 freeware : cross checking, I find in the popup windows CAC8 : magnetic variation 20 ° West, while everywhere around the magnetic variation is 20° Est !
I will report to ORBX site !
But, the fact that other flight planners (which display the same wrong magnetic variation on CAC8 detail information) are not "disturbed" and compute the correct leg magnetic heading means that they use another algorithm, which also addresses the user waypoint issue (I have verified that point).
Regards,
Gérard
Thanks to clarify this point. But, I noticed that we have not the same CAC8. Yours is probably the PNW default, mine is the CAC8 freeware from ORBX.
Nevertheless, there is something linked to CAC8 freeware : cross checking, I find in the popup windows CAC8 : magnetic variation 20 ° West, while everywhere around the magnetic variation is 20° Est !
I will report to ORBX site !
But, the fact that other flight planners (which display the same wrong magnetic variation on CAC8 detail information) are not "disturbed" and compute the correct leg magnetic heading means that they use another algorithm, which also addresses the user waypoint issue (I have verified that point).
Regards,
Gérard
- Messages
- 86
- Country
Hi Gérard,
I think the other algorithm is to use the Magdec BGL File and then interpolate for any position instead of using the airport/navaid supplied values. That would be the correct solution and not a workaround.
Good that the file format is documented here in the FSDeveloper wiki.
I can fix that but not in the next version. I have to avoid putting too much into this next version otherwise it'll never get finished.
Alex
I think the other algorithm is to use the Magdec BGL File and then interpolate for any position instead of using the airport/navaid supplied values. That would be the correct solution and not a workaround.
Good that the file format is documented here in the FSDeveloper wiki.
I can fix that but not in the next version. I have to avoid putting too much into this next version otherwise it'll never get finished.
Alex
- Messages
- 120
- Country
Hi Alex
Further to my earlier post, would it also be possible to put in an arrow showing wind direction? I hope you don't mind requests.
Thanks again for a wonderful programme.
John
- Messages
- 86
- Country
Hi John,
requesting features is ok. No problem. I just have to prioritize.
I'll certainly add that together when adding the weather icons, but not in the next version I'm working on now.
Parsing METARs is not so easy. It is a bit like reading BGL files, you run into a lot of surprises.
Alex
requesting features is ok. No problem. I just have to prioritize.
I'll certainly add that together when adding the weather icons, but not in the next version I'm working on now.
Parsing METARs is not so easy. It is a bit like reading BGL files, you run into a lot of surprises.
Alex
Heretic
Resource contributor
- Messages
- 6,830
- Country
I've tested LNM with an airliner flight yesterday and it worked really well, including add-on recognition, flight planning, exporting as .pln for import into Radar Contact and FSXSE and finding my way around airports.
One thing I couldn't quite figure out yet is how the hemispherical rule is applied to flight plans. I can still pick any RVSM-compliant altitude I want and essentially provoke a violation.
And I'd change the name of the tool. There's nothing little about the navmap anymore.
Can the Navconnect tool be recompiled with leaner libraries or without debugging tools?
A 36 MB installation folder for what amounts to a mere background service is too much.
Or offer built-in direct connect capability as an option in LNM.
One thing I couldn't quite figure out yet is how the hemispherical rule is applied to flight plans. I can still pick any RVSM-compliant altitude I want and essentially provoke a violation.
And I'd change the name of the tool. There's nothing little about the navmap anymore.
Can the Navconnect tool be recompiled with leaner libraries or without debugging tools?
A 36 MB installation folder for what amounts to a mere background service is too much.
Or offer built-in direct connect capability as an option in LNM.
- Messages
- 86
- Country
Hi Bjoern,
the hemispherical rule is only applied to flight plans if you calculate anything along airways and if there are altitude restrictions.
These are the cases were I change the cruise altitude. Apart from that you can change it to whatever you want.
Renaming the program is not an option now. As silly as the name sounds, I know, I know
Regarding size:
The code is already a release build.
The bad news:
The 36 MB installation folder of Navconnect just grew to 70 MB because I managed to get rid of the MSVC compiler and can use the free MinGW now for all programs.
The good news:
This allowed me to integrate the SimConnect stuff into the Navmap directly which is already working here. This will definitely go into the next version.
I'll try to strip off some of the Qt bloat, but I can't promise anything.
Alex
the hemispherical rule is only applied to flight plans if you calculate anything along airways and if there are altitude restrictions.
These are the cases were I change the cruise altitude. Apart from that you can change it to whatever you want.
Renaming the program is not an option now. As silly as the name sounds, I know, I know
Regarding size:
The code is already a release build.
The bad news:
The 36 MB installation folder of Navconnect just grew to 70 MB because I managed to get rid of the MSVC compiler and can use the free MinGW now for all programs.
The good news:
This allowed me to integrate the SimConnect stuff into the Navmap directly which is already working here. This will definitely go into the next version.
I'll try to strip off some of the Qt bloat, but I can't promise anything.
Alex
Heretic
Resource contributor
- Messages
- 6,830
- Country
Well, I think everything above transition altitude (6000 ft in Europe, 18000 ft in the USA or so) would require application of the hemispherical rule.
An "adjust flight plan altitude for hemispherical rule"-button would do the trick for me. Or anything that doesn't require me to dig up the scrap paper with the notes about the hemispherical rule (depite its simplicity, I fail remember it every time).
Sounds good enough for me. If I ran a networked installation (as I used to with Plan-G), I wouldn't mind Navconnect's size, but not when run on the same computer.
- Messages
- 86
- Country
Altitude rule ticket: https://github.com/albar965/littlenavmap/issues/58
Seems simple enough. The logic is already in code that is used only after flight plan calculation. I try to squeeze it into the next release.
Alex
Seems simple enough. The logic is already in code that is used only after flight plan calculation. I try to squeeze it into the next release.
Alex
Heretic
Resource contributor
- Messages
- 6,830
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Danke, Alex!
Did another flight with LNM today. The range rings helped me decide where to go and flight plan creation went smoothly and again, navigating around airports is really easy. And the minimum descent altitude for terrain clearance shown in the profile screen makes setting up unmonitored (rudimentary ATC guidance) approaches really easy.
One thing I've noticed is that the flight plan profile is always drawn as a straight line instead of adjusting for departure and arrival airport altitude. But maybe this was already discussed in the support threads.
Did another flight with LNM today. The range rings helped me decide where to go and flight plan creation went smoothly and again, navigating around airports is really easy. And the minimum descent altitude for terrain clearance shown in the profile screen makes setting up unmonitored (rudimentary ATC guidance) approaches really easy.
One thing I've noticed is that the flight plan profile is always drawn as a straight line instead of adjusting for departure and arrival airport altitude. But maybe this was already discussed in the support threads.
- Messages
- 86
- Country
Gern geschehen!
The flight plan profile shows only the cruise level. Once I add aircraft performance profiles in the future I can also show climb and descent.
I plan to add at least a simple TOD indication based on this 3 to 1 rule.
BTW: Thanks for the Metro modifications. These made this old crate really enjoyable.
Alex
The flight plan profile shows only the cruise level. Once I add aircraft performance profiles in the future I can also show climb and descent.
I plan to add at least a simple TOD indication based on this 3 to 1 rule.
BTW: Thanks for the Metro modifications. These made this old crate really enjoyable.
Alex
- Messages
- 120
- Country
Hello Alex,
I try to modify [Zoom distance for double click or "Show on Map" menu item] value, but I don't see it makes any difference ? I get always a detail layout of the airport.
In fact, I dream to have different behaviour
- double clicking an Airport on the search window, I would like to see it with its environment (something like 100 nm around),
- clicking on "map" menu on the Airport Information tab, I find useful and logical to have the detailed airport layout (very useful when looking for the taxiways to follow as indicated by ATC.
Just a suggestion for a next release.
Thanks for Little Navmap - Gérard
I try to modify [Zoom distance for double click or "Show on Map" menu item] value, but I don't see it makes any difference ? I get always a detail layout of the airport.
In fact, I dream to have different behaviour
- double clicking an Airport on the search window, I would like to see it with its environment (something like 100 nm around),
- clicking on "map" menu on the Airport Information tab, I find useful and logical to have the detailed airport layout (very useful when looking for the taxiways to follow as indicated by ATC.
Just a suggestion for a next release.
Thanks for Little Navmap - Gérard
- Messages
- 86
- Country
Hi Gérard,
this min Zoom distance value works only for point objects like VOR, waypoints, etc. Zooming to an airport uses its bounding rectangle.
So I changed this behavior right now for the next version. If you use a high value you will also see the surrounding of an airport but at least the whole airport.
Maybe I'll add some extra options for that. I have some work to do in this area anyway.
Regarding "map" and double click: Sorry, but I'd like to keep the behavior consistent across all windows (route, search, etc.)
Alex
this min Zoom distance value works only for point objects like VOR, waypoints, etc. Zooming to an airport uses its bounding rectangle.
So I changed this behavior right now for the next version. If you use a high value you will also see the surrounding of an airport but at least the whole airport.
Maybe I'll add some extra options for that. I have some work to do in this area anyway.
Regarding "map" and double click: Sorry, but I'd like to keep the behavior consistent across all windows (route, search, etc.)
Alex
- Messages
- 120
- Country
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