Download Approach Plates

KennyFlys said:
Geeze guys, we fly airplanes here... not have to talk in code to overcome the enemy!
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Wilco:rolleyes:

New version up, adds the select/clear all functions.

It finds and removes duplicates from the saved download lists, next from the search functions.

Next is figuring how to update when the next revision comes out.

Joe
 
Areeda said:
Wilco:rolleyes:

New version up, adds the select/clear all functions.

It finds and removes duplicates from the saved download lists, next from the search functions.

Next is figuring how to update when the next revision comes out.

Joe
Click to expand...

I know this isn't quite what you were looking for, but you could set something up to compare each pdf with the ones in the DB once a cycle and generate your own "revision date" from the ones that fail to match. Of course you'd have to seed it with the current revision dates manually but maybe we could enlist a bunch of POAers to each tackle a smaller portion.

Meanwhile I was going to check with the folks here who deal with Adobe regularly and see if they can think of a way to automate the version extraction.

And one other potential avenue would be to see if the FAA would supply a revision code list that you could use. They must have that somewhere.
 
lancefisher said:
I know this isn't quite what you were looking for, but you could set something up to compare each pdf with the ones in the DB once a cycle and generate your own "revision date" from the ones that fail to match. Of course you'd have to seed it with the current revision dates manually but maybe we could enlist a bunch of POAers to each tackle a smaller portion.
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Really simple using the md5() function in php.
 
lancefisher said:
I know this isn't quite what you were looking for, but you could set something up to compare each pdf with the ones in the DB once a cycle and generate your own "revision date" from the ones that fail to match. Of course you'd have to seed it with the current revision dates manually but maybe we could enlist a bunch of POAers to each tackle a smaller portion.

Meanwhile I was going to check with the folks here who deal with Adobe regularly and see if they can think of a way to automate the version extraction.

And one other potential avenue would be to see if the FAA would supply a revision code list that you could use. They must have that somewhere.
Click to expand...
There is a flag on each plate whether it has been changed or not. The problem with this is that each plate has in the margin the effective and ending date in the margins.

I've been wondering about doing a Jeppesen style "revised only" download when the old charts would have and expired ending date even though we "know" they haven't been changed.

If we can figure a way to extract the admnt date from the chart I'll add it to the index and we can search on it.

Right now I'm working on getting the new updates when they become available. I haven't quite figured out if we will just have access to the latest or if we'll have access to two while they are avaialable on naco.faa.gov.

I'm also thinking about saving old versions of changed and deleted approaches for teaching tools.
jesse said:
Really simple using the md5() function in php.
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That doesn't work because of the different dates in the margins and we'd have to download it from the naco server anyway.

There is already the option to only select the ones that changed in the latest revision cycle during a search. Maybe we should add that to the saved download list??

One other thing I'm wondering is if there is a place to get the text version of the approach procedures. If so it would be a lot easier to parse those and add more things to the index to search on, like the last ammendment date or minimums. I've never seen the text version of an approach. Google has not been much help.

Joe
 
Areeda said:
That doesn't work because of the different dates in the margins and we'd have to download it from the naco server anyway.
Click to expand...

MD5 the new PDF and see if it is an exact binary of the one in the database. If so--no need to worry about it. If it's different we know it changed. Of course this isn't going to change the printed dates in the PDF.

As far as this other stuff. I'll look tonight.
 
This is all pretty cool. When you guys get this done can you clone weathermeister for me? :D Ever since they went "for pay" it's just not as easy to get everything into one screen. One guy on the red board started but never finished...
 
So far, this rocks. The best part for me is all plates bundled ion one pdf, configure the print, and print all plates at once.

Great!
 
Another version is up.

This one cleans up a few bugs I've found as we're still in development I haven't been keeping track of them.

The new feature is the addition of all the AFD pages and the removal of duplicate files. For example each airport with minimums refers to the mimimum section in that volume of approach plates and each listing in the AFD refers to the whole page.

I'm still working on:
  • There's a limit of about 12MB on the size of the pdf. If it is exceeded the job just quits. I just found this one today. It shouldn't be too bad.
  • The order of the pages in the output pdf should be the same as the FAA publications but it's not easy. I'm still trying to figure out how to do this.
  • As mentioned above we need a better way to specify the kind of approaches to list. Right now it has a pull-down menu.
  • We need a little more security. I'm not sure what to do but right now it's too easy for spambots to register and ask for anything.
Thanks to everyone who's exercised it. It's working pretty well.

I should know better than to think well that won't take too long to do.

Joe

ps My medical is back (thank you Bruce!) so I should have a lot less programming time .
 
Joe,

Thanks for all the great work on this project. It's much appreciated.

Now, go enjoy some hole punchin'! :yes:

Ken
 
I just realized that SDF approaches are missing from the drop down list. Might be worth adding.
 
In downloading a set of specific plates for a handful of airports in my region I had a thought. It's not too scary.

What about the idea of placing them in a specific order in which the user would desire they appear in the PDF file? Perhaps even the ability to insert a blank page wherever.

My reasoning is when I print them in a multi-page format, either one-sided or double-sided, I can group the same airport's plates and diagram on the same sheet of paper. A blank page insert would allow skipping to the next sheet of paper in the printer.

I'll always print the diagram if available, the ILS then add one or two GPS or another approach and have them all on the same sheet of paper for simplicity. Once it's set up and saved, I can go to that same group every time and print them in the same order on their appropriate pages.
 
bross said:
I just realized that SDF approaches are missing from the drop down list. Might be worth adding.
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I see there are 16 SDF approaches none near me.

You can do the search now by entering %sdf% for the Procedure Name search pattern.

I will add it to the menu tomorrow.

Joe
 
KennyFlys said:
In downloading a set of specific plates for a handful of airports in my region I had a thought. It's not too scary.

What about the idea of placing them in a specific order in which the user would desire they appear in the PDF file? Perhaps even the ability to insert a blank page wherever.

My reasoning is when I print them in a multi-page format, either one-sided or double-sided, I can group the same airport's plates and diagram on the same sheet of paper. A blank page insert would allow skipping to the next sheet of paper in the printer.

I'll always print the diagram if available, the ILS then add one or two GPS or another approach and have them all on the same sheet of paper for simplicity. Once it's set up and saved, I can go to that same group every time and print them in the same order on their appropriate pages.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, I need to think about this one. I like the idea but I don't have a good idea for the user interface. Now I did just get back from dinner with good wine. Give me some time to ponder how to do it.

I am working on how to enter a route and get a file of all the approach plates and AFD entries within XX nm of the route. This would be best in order of the route, maybe somthing similar for any list of info.

I do want to find a way to combine AFD and approach info into one pdf.

Joe
 
Areeda said:
I am working on how to enter a route and get a file of all the approach plates and AFD entries within XX nm of the route. This would be best in order of the route, maybe somthing similar for any list of info.
Click to expand...

That would be really, really cool! Especially if one could choose the width of the area around the route to include AFD and procedures pages from.
 
OK this is wierd. I subscribed to this thread and got a notice of a post that's not here. Perhaps it was deleted because he found the answer.

The question was
How about a multiple download of only plates in a state that have changed since the last revision - sort of a poor man's update service? I use that capability in the NACO interface, but am still left with a one-at-a-time download.
Click to expand...
The answer is if you select the state and check the "Added this cycle" and "Changed this cycle" checkbox it will only show those approaches.

I do need to add that to the saved download lists.

Joe
 
Joe,

I'm sorry I was to busy with other stuff to be part of the testing. I finaly got a chance to head over to the site - it really is terrific. For the past year I've been using the NACO added-removed-changed feature as an "update service." Your script does exactly what I want and so much easier!!

Thanks.
 
Mark,

Thanks for the kind words. Don't worry it's still under development and there are still plenty of bugs for you to find.

One thing I've been having fun with is the search by approach type. Look at all the GPS approaches in CA and see which ones have any fly-over as opposed to fly-by waypoints.

Joe
 
Areeda said:
OK this is wierd. I subscribed to this thread and got a notice of a post that's not here. Perhaps it was deleted because he found the answer.
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He did - very quickly :)

How about this - can I use the procedure name to exclude certain procedures? (or should I read this thread more carefully?) . For example, I don't have an IFR GPS on board, so, while I'd like all the charts - approaches, SIDS, STARS, etc, I don't want those with GPS in the title.
 
midlifeflyer said:
He did - very quickly :)

How about this - can I use the procedure name to exclude certain procedures? (or should I read this thread more carefully?) . For example, I don't have an IFR GPS on board, so, while I'd like all the charts - approaches, SIDS, STARS, etc, I don't want those with GPS in the title.
Click to expand...

Not right now but it's easy to add for the approaches. I'll add another line to the selection to exclude procedures that match a pattern, probably tomorrow. Right now I'm assigned yard duty I have to build a support around the tomato patch, work in the mulch and get them planted. Well I don't have to, only if I want to go fly before next year's planting.

Unfortunately the SIDs and STARs are not even selectable by airport or state but rather by Volume. All airports in a volume that have a SID, STAR, Takeoff Min or Alternate min refer to the appropriate section for that volume which contains all of them (there are different sections per volume). The software does remove duplicates so you only get one copy per pdf.

Joe
 
Areeda said:
Unfortunately the SIDs and STARs are not even selectable by airport or state but rather by Volume.
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Joe, I'm not sure I understand - all I did on the form was to put in the state - Colorado - and I =did= get DPs and STARs. Same for choosing my home airport, APA.
 
is there a link to this? I went through the entire thread and didn't see it (I'm blind I think)
 
midlifeflyer said:
Joe, I'm not sure I understand - all I did on the form was to put in the state - Colorado - and I =did= get DPs and STARs. Same for choosing my home airport, APA.
Click to expand...

Ok let's see. If you choose the state CO every airpolrt with an minimum or DP or obstacle DP or STAR will have a link to the PDF for all the min/dp/obsacle DP or Apprach in the same Volume.

Joe
 
Chache said:
Requires login / password...

PoA login.... not authenticated.
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Sorry. There is a password on the whole site. Please use "poa" and "dttpTester". The you register and choose you're own username and password.

It's a little klutzy to have 2 passwords like that but I did it this way because we can only support a small number of people so we don't want to open it to the world for everyone. Next you register because you can save a lists of approaches to download when the new revision is released.

Joe
 
I did the first update of the procedures database and found a couple of problems, you may have noticed it was down for about 2 hrs last night while I fixed my scripts.

Also there was an issue with deleted procedures in a saved download list. It's almost fixed. Right now you'll get a message that there are deleted procedures in one of your lists. Resaving the list will fix it.

By request I added to the Approach Type menu:
  • SDF
  • IAP not requiring GPS
  • DP/STAR not requiring GPS
I have to change the name of the menu since it can select DP/STARs not jut IAPs.

Hopefully by the next update I'll have them automatic. I'm still struggling with whether or not we need to have current and next revision on line at the same time.

I've been tweaking the activation email to get past more spam filters. I noticed we have 10 people who registered but haven't activated. If you didn't get the email a PM or e-mail and I will activate you manually or delete the record and let you reregister with the same username/email.

Thanks or your help in getting this to work.

Joe
 
Re: Download Approach Plates & A/FDs

The next cycle is available for download:

http://rainsux.dyndns.org/afd/

http://rainsux.dyndns.org/approach plates/

- Bulk download all plates for a state; or ...
(Ex: ny.bat downloads everything for NY)

- Bulk download all plates for an airport
(Ex: jfk.bat downloads everything for JFK)

- Bulk download everything using: all.bat

-doug
 
Joe,

You were asking earlier whether it was necessary to carry the current and prior updates. My question is how you get current updates. The latest NACO update is beginning May 10 (3 days ago). Your script is still pointing to the ones that go through May 10. How does that work?
 
midlifeflyer said:
Joe,

You were asking earlier whether it was necessary to carry the current and prior updates. My question is how you get current updates. The latest NACO update is beginning May 10 (3 days ago). Your script is still pointing to the ones that go through May 10. How does that work?
Click to expand...

Mark,

The new ones went up last night.

I didn't design the site to have 2 sets available, like I should have. I may change it, it's a lot of grunt work and a little programming to select which one you want.

The way it works right now is I run a program manually that downloads all the approach plates and another for the AFD. Then I sneak in and delete the old and rename the new ones.

Hopefully, this will be completely automatic before the next revision comes out.

I don't have a good way to do it with only 1 set online at a time. If I replace them early there is a problem with the new, changed and deleted approaches that don't become effective until the right time. If I wait, I'm not always available to do the change.

Joe
 
Areeda said:
Mark,

The new ones went up last night.
Click to expand...
Joe, try this:

State: CO
Approach Type: Not GPS Only
Added, Changed, Deleted all checked

I am getting the Akron, CO VOR 29 with the May 10 expiration (last cycle), not the one with the June 7 expiration (current cycle).

Can you reproduce it or am I having a weird cache issue on my end?
 
midlifeflyer said:
Joe, try this:

State: CO
Approach Type: Not GPS Only
Added, Changed, Deleted all checked

I am getting the Akron, CO VOR 29 with the May 10 expiration (last cycle), not the one with the June 7 expiration (current cycle).

Can you reproduce it or am I having a weird cache issue on my end?
Click to expand...
Mark,

It was me. Incomplete updating script. Hopefully this will be all automatic and correct before the next one.

It's fixed now I believe.

Joe
 
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