ForeFlight 5.3 out...neat new feature!

NoHeat said:
I love overlaying a transparent approach plate over a VFR chart!

btw, it is interesting to discover some discrepancies in the vfr charts vs approach plates. Tower obstructions appear in both of them, but they can be misaligned by a mile or two, even when waypoints and navaids are spot on. That must be a fault of the govt mapmakers -- obstructions aren't mapped as precisely as nav stuff.
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In the case of the plates, none of the stuff is necessarily to scale. It's more of a diagram than a map. I think this applies even though they can be geo referenced within FF.
 
Don't forget the biggest thing FF did.

You don't have to pay $50+ on each individual update (several different DB updates... Several times per year) on Garmin x96 portables.... Or several hundred $$$$ For Garmin Panel GPS.... or even more for Jepp databases...
 
LDJones said:
No, the transparency of the overlay is controlled via the little gear symbol at the top left of your screen, immediately right of the map menu. You have to scroll down as it does not appear within the initial space. It's the last one, I believe.
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Oh, that gear box. Thanks!
It does work with Gen 1 iPad.
 
Bill Watson said:
In the case of the plates, none of the stuff is necessarily to scale. It's more of a diagram than a map. I think this applies even though they can be geo referenced within FF.
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That's not accurate. The plates (planview) ARE to scale, printed at 1:500,000 like the sectional charts when bought from NACO. The exception is if a route has the "scale break" zigzag.
 
LDJones said:
I think that's as designed....trying to pick your way around on such an itty-bitty little screen is likely to make your entire world go black!

:D
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Heh, nope. Fixed with 5.3.1 last night:

5e9agajy.jpg
 
Can anyone tell me if this means what I'd like it to mean... After filing an IFR flight plan, can you find out what the actual route you'll be copying is before you call up CD?

Flight Alerts (Pro Feature)

IFR pilots get another productivity enhancer with this release. When you file an IFR flight plan through ForeFlight Mobile, our servers will automatically start listening for updated expected route information. When updated expected route information becomes available, ForeFlight’s servers send that updated route information to all your ForeFlight devices, allowing you to load the updated route information directly into the moving map. We also update the flight plan form, adding the expected route and a link to FlightAware for flight tracking.
 
brentee said:
Can anyone tell me if this means what I'd like it to mean... After filing an IFR flight plan, can you find out what the actual route you'll be copying is before you call up CD?

Flight Alerts (Pro Feature)

IFR pilots get another productivity enhancer with this release. When you file an IFR flight plan through ForeFlight Mobile, our servers will automatically start listening for updated expected route information. When updated expected route information becomes available, ForeFlight’s servers send that updated route information to all your ForeFlight devices, allowing you to load the updated route information directly into the moving map. We also update the flight plan form, adding the expected route and a link to FlightAware for flight tracking.
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I wondered that, too. I haven't yet had a chance to file IFR with it, but was thinking about making a short flight IFR just to try that out.
 
LDJones said:
I wondered that, too. I haven't yet had a chance to file IFR with it, but was thinking about making a short flight IFR just to try that out.
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Why not just file and see what comes Bach without the flying part. :dunno:
 
Presumably, as the FAA computer figures out where it thinks it wants to route you, that information is attached to your flight plan in the system and FF has decided to set up a polling system to check for those changes and send them to your FF Apps. How often it checks is probably the only lag involved. I doubt the FAA system allows for registration to receive push updates back to the filing computer or user, but perhaps they do nailed up connections for organizations that do lots of filing.
 
RussR said:
STARs would be harder to make usable, since they aren't to scale - at all. To overlay one on a sectional, you'd have to stretch some parts out, and squish some parts together to make it work, and then you wouldn't be able to read them anyway. Look at most any STAR, you'll see that there are 5 nm legs where the line is just as long as 60 nm legs.

Plus, it CAN display the waypoints already, if you have the STAR in your flight plan - just not the altitudes and speeds and other info.
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So have FF parse the STAR and plot it on a chart, not that difficult of a concept.
 
On the ForeFlight can you declutter the NAV map? I found decluttering a must for easier readabilty, specially in direct sunlight. I do not need all the VFR chart symbols when I am over 10,000ft. On the Garmin units decluttering is a nice feature to have.

José
 
Piloto said:
On the ForeFlight can you declutter the NAV map? I found decluttering a must for easier readabilty, specially in direct sunlight. I do not need all the VFR chart symbols when I am over 10,000ft. On the Garmin units decluttering is a nice feature to have.

José
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You need data-driven vector maps for that to happen. FF used bitmap charts...no dynamic symbology.
 
Piloto said:
On the ForeFlight can you declutter the NAV map? I found decluttering a must for easier readabilty, specially in direct sunlight. I do not need all the VFR chart symbols when I am over 10,000ft. On the Garmin units decluttering is a nice feature to have.

José
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Toggle to Low IFR map.


Wells
 
LDJones said:
You need data-driven vector maps for that to happen. FF used bitmap charts...no dynamic symbology.
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All they would really need to do is use the data and plot it on an otherwise blank map, which would also have the benefit of depicting locations more accurately, as the bitmap sectionals are often slightly off. I believe that WingX has an option to do this as well as Garmin Pilot.

As someone else mentioned, switching to the Low IFR chart helps, except that it too is a bitmap and none of the labels rotate except those along your programmed route. The IFR charts are still more cluttered than a blank or terrain map with just the data.

I would be surprised if FF doesn't add a "data overlay" option in the future. Right now, the features, reliabilty, usability, and support of FF on the whole still put it ahead of competitors, in my opinion.


JKG
 
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JGoodish said:
All they would really need to do is use the data and plot it on an otherwise blank map, which would also have the benefit of depicting locations more accurately, as the bitmap sectionals are often slightly off. I believe that WingX has an option to do this as well as Garmin Pilot.

As someone else mentioned, switching to the Low IFR chart helps, except that it too is a bitmap and none of the labels rotate except those along your programmed route. The IFR charts are still more cluttered than a blank or terrain map with just the data.

I would be surprised if FF doesn't add a "data overlay" option in the future. Right now, the features, reliabilty, usability, and support of FF on the whole still put it ahead of competitors, in my opinion.


JKG
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Thanks for explaining it so well. Most navigation display I have used you can set the background to black and let the desired icons and symbols stand out at different ranges. On my 560 the radio towers on the map change colors to alert you that you are too low. A very handy feature when flying below a low ceiling.

José
 
Piloto said:
Thanks for explaining it so well. Most navigation display I have used you can set the background to black and let the desired icons and symbols stand out at different ranges. On my 560 the radio towers on the map change colors to alert you that you are too low. A very handy feature when flying below a low ceiling.
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Garmin Pilot has the data-driven vector maps in their iPad version now and they automatically declutter as you zoom out, and add details as you zoom in. I'm sure we'll see that in the Android version fairly soon. I'd be surprised if ForeFlight isn't pursuing something similar.
 
Clark1961 said:
So have FF parse the STAR and plot it on a chart, not that difficult of a concept.
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FF has done that for a long time. SIDs and STARs can be loaded into the navigation log and map page simply by choosing them.
 
I had a chance to fly an actual approach yesterday using the new chart overlay feature.

While still en route, as soon as I received the destination weather and knew which approach to use, I briefed it in full-scale, loaded it onto the map page, returned to my own ship position, and rubber-banded the approach fixes. From that point on, it was a no-touch process, with my "own ship" flying from the en route chart onto the approach plate and to the runway.
 
LDJones said:
Garmin Pilot has the data-driven vector maps in their iPad version now and they automatically declutter as you zoom out, and add details as you zoom in. I'm sure we'll see that in the Android version fairly soon. I'd be surprised if ForeFlight isn't pursuing something similar.
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Thanks for that observation. I am not for these VFR maps applications because besides being too cluttered they are hard to read when tracking south. I am more interested in functionality than looks. A Garmin 530W may not have all the fancy looks of the FF but I find it easier to read and when coupled with the autopilot on an LPV approach it will bring your plane down to the numbers. Try that with the ForeFlight.

José
 
Piloto said:
A Garmin 530W may not have all the fancy looks of the FF but I find it easier to read and when coupled with the autopilot on an LPV approach it will bring your plane down to the numbers. Try that with the ForeFlight.
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I generally see things the same way, I have enough "glass" mounted in the panel which gives me all the info I need, I only use Ipad in flight as a map-info reference or just plain backup, have no use for geo-referencing, 3G, etc. But I am a map-geek and Flight Guide fits the bill here.
 
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brentee said:
Can anyone tell me if this means what I'd like it to mean... After filing an IFR flight plan, can you find out what the actual route you'll be copying is before you call up CD?

Flight Alerts (Pro Feature)

IFR pilots get another productivity enhancer with this release. When you file an IFR flight plan through ForeFlight Mobile, our servers will automatically start listening for updated expected route information. When updated expected route information becomes available, ForeFlight’s servers send that updated route information to all your ForeFlight devices, allowing you to load the updated route information directly into the moving map. We also update the flight plan form, adding the expected route and a link to FlightAware for flight tracking.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's what it does.

Unfortunately, there may still be re-routes en route, and it doesn't seem to catch every case.

Examples:

1) Filing from MSN (and most places in WI) and going somewhere southeast that takes you through Chicago Approach airspace will result in a route that does not take you through that airspace. The problem is, they offer you a choice when you call for your clearance as to whether to go over Lake Michigan or stay over land, so it's not a pre-defined route. Thus, you won't get anything from ForeFlight because it doesn't know to ask you if over-water is OK.

2) Arriving into KBWI, from the west, for me, always ends up with a re-route from somewhere in western PA/MD to MRB, EMI, and then KBWI. That's never part of the original clearance, but the re-route seems to happen every time. Since it's not part of the original clearance, it doesn't come through in the expected route.
 
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