Beta Announcements
FlightGauge 1.0 Released to Beta Testers
FlightGauge is a cockpit panel replacement for almost any of your Flight Simulator aircraft. FlightGauge works on Android 4.0+ tablets between 7 and 10 inches and is designed to work with Microsoft Flight Simulator X (FSX) and Prepar3D.
The 10 inch layout has been moved around a bit. I tried to make it look more like a Cessna 172 with the engine/electrical gauges on the bottom left. I then added two new gauges to the display. VOR1 indicator with glide slope and an ADF indicator. The ADF indicator rotates with the heading so you don’t need to manually adjust it.
For the 7 inch layout I had to add the new gauges in so I added a sliding layer to the display. Slide in or tap on the right side of the screen to show and hide the VOR1 and ADF gauges.
If all goes well FlightGauge may launch this weekend.
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FlightMap Beta Update
I’m still working on finalizing the new Gauge drop down. My beta testers don’t like how much space it eats up when it is down so I’ve been playing with different ideas to resolve it like sliding the map down, using transparencies, tilting the map, etc. None of the changes worked very well due to such a small amount of area for the map view when the gauges are visible. Below is a screen grab of how it currently looks. One of my beta testers has a really good idea that I’m going to try tho. Will see how that works out. Over all the beta tests are going really well and as soon as I work out the design for the gauge drop down I should be releasing the update.
The next release is a huge release from a bug fix and device support standpoint. I have completely rewritten all of the networking code from the launch page. I finally have it a way that I like and it should be much more user friendly. It should also resolve some of the confusion that some of the dialogs have caused.
The biggest change to the app though has to do with screen layouts. I have completely redone from scratch every single screen layout that FlightMap supports. This was a huge undertaking and is taking a while to test but this change will make FlightMap far more resilient to custom roms and different device hardware. It really is amazing how many configurations there are out there for android tablets. This change should also make it much easier for me to add support for more unique tablets should they come up. Instead of being unusable now they should be mostly usable with minor layout issues.
FlightMap Beta and FlightGauge Alpha release to beta testers
I’ve been making some progress on my new app FlightGauge . I’ve got it running along side FlightMap thru FlightConnect. All of the gauges are running very smoothly and I’m in the process of figuring out what else will go in the app on the right. I do also plan to offer some customization of the gauges.
The new beta of FlightMap offers a new map overlay for 7 inch tablets that includes the indicated altitude, magnetic direction, and indicated speed. I know it’s not the gauges on the 7 inch version but at least now the information is available.
I’m also still trying to nail down the UI for FlightGauge. I’m working hard on the 7 inch tablet versions right now and will figure out what to do with the 10 inch tablets as there is a ton more space even after the gauges are scaled up. It’s looking pretty good tho and I’m quite happy with it. Here’s the latest screen grab of the 7 inch version.
FlightMap version 1.9 Released to beta testers
- 4×3 aspect ratio tablet support (HP TouchPads and the like)
- Full FSX and P3D Flight Plan support. NOTE: FlightConnect must be running when the flight plan is open for it to find the flight plan
- Added CTS back into the display. Now that the full flight plan is visible it makes sense to have it.
- Added ETE to the adhoc flight plan waypoints.
FlightMap and FlightConnect Versions 1.7 Released to Beta Testers
- Added active waypoint name to param list
- Added detected server ip address to icon hover info display
- Fixed some internationalization issues with number formats when machine is set to use , instead of . for double values
- I’ve completely rewritten the networking code. This is a huge change. I did this to improve performance as well as make updating the code easier. I’ve moved a lot of the calculations that were being done on the UI thread into the networking thread. I’ve also optimized the heck out of all of the code.
- Added active waypoint name to the display for gps waypoints. I’ve moved some things around and got rid of the course to steer from the display. I think it follows most GPS’s now.
- I’ve added alert dialog boxes that provide more information now when FlightMap is unable to connect to FlightConnect.
- I’ve really tried to get the compass rose to be visible on all of the display types. I’ve doubled the contrast on the non-satellite views and I’ve gone with a different colored compass rose for the satellite views. I think this really helps but please let me know what you all think!!!
- Added 2 more commercial jets and a cessna 208 to the follow me plane selection
FlightMap 1.6 Beta Released to Testers
I just released a new version of FlightMap to my beta testers. Hopefully all goes well and by this time next week this version will be out on the Play store for all to use. Here are the enhancements this BETA version includes:
- Updated graphics for the Airspeed and altitude Indicators.
- Modified the GA indicator to be in 20 knot increments
- Added a track option when in NAV or GPS mode. This allows you to toggle between the current heading up display and a north up display.
- Improvements to the adhoc waypoint system. Now when you get within 1 nautical mile of an adhoc waypoint flightmap will automatically advance to the next waypoint like the GPS mode does.
- non-active waypoints will have a gray line in adhoc mode and active waypoint will be blue as it is now.
- Added distance to waypoint in NAV mode
- Added distance to waypoint, ETE, CTS, DTK, and WP Altitude to GPS mode.
- Adjusted the compass rose in plane direction up mode. I was using a built in FSX magnetic direction variable but when I added track mode I noticed it was off a bit. I’ve now adjusted this so that it matches the north up mode. After some testing I believe it is far more accurate now than it was.
- some other minor graphic updates
Here are a few screen grabs of the latest version with the GPS enhancments.
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Preparing first update for Beta testers
I’m working really hard to get the first update out to my beta testers. Hopefully I’ll have that done Wed or Thurs this week. The first update includes the following changes:
- Updated graphics for the Airspeed Indicators. Also modified the GA indicator to be in 20 knot increments instead of 25 based off feedback from my testers.
- Added a track options when in NAV or GPS mode. This allows you to toggle between the current heading up display and a north up display.
- Improvements to the adhoc waypoint system. Now when you get within 1 nautical mile of an adhoc waypoint flightmap will automatically advance to the next waypoint like the GPS mode does.
- non-active waypoints will have a gray line in adhoc mode and active waypoint will be blue as it is now.
- Adding waypoint information for GPS and NAV display. The GPS mode will have more information than the NAV mode does. NAV will show distance to next waypoint. GPS mode will show magnetic bearing to waypoint, distance to waypoint, altitude of waypoint, and ETE for next waypoint.
This is a pretty significant update and I can’t wait to get it into my testers hands. If all goes well this update will be released next week for those that have purchased.
FlightMap Release Candidate Released to Testers
Tonight I’ve released the first non-beta build to testers. If all goes well over the next few days I hope to release the software to the play store on Wed. I’ve made a ton of performance improvements over the weekend as well as updated some graphics for the app. It’s really looking solid to me right now. I’m waiting to hear from my testers now. Exciting times 🙂
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FlightMap Beta #3 Released to testers
Just a quick note that the latest beta build has been sent to testers. I’m now working on getting all of the things in place to release the software. Things like the website, download locations for the server, help documentation, stuff like that. Release should be soon.
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