In search of ...

[Guest]

I'm looking for a tool that can go thru my add-on airports (in P3D and/or XP11) and create placemarks for Google Earth (update myplaces.kml located in C:\Users\Rob\AppData\LocalLow\Google\GoogleEarth).

    <Style id="s_ylw-pushpin83">
        <IconStyle>
            <scale>1.1</scale>
            <Icon>
                <href>http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/kml/pushpin/ylw-pushpin.png</href>
            </Icon>
            <hotSpot x="20" y="2" xunits="pixels" yunits="pixels"/>
        </IconStyle>
    </Style>

The Google Earth myplaces.kml appears to be standard xml file and it looks like the pushpin image reference appears to be variable (this would be great so I could have a different colored pins for each FS platform (yellow for P3D, red for XP11, etc.).There are also definitions of Plackmark coordinates in decimal:

                        <Placemark>
                            <name>PAKT</name>
                            <description><![CDATA[<B>Name:</B> Ketchikan Intl<br></br><B>Country:</B> United States<br></br><B>State:</B> Alaska<br></br><B>City:</B> Ketchikan<br></br><B>Lon:</B> W131.7137<br></br><B>Lat:</B> N55.35557<br></br><B>Alt:</B> 88ft<br></br><B>MaVar:</B> 333<br></br><br></br><U>Frequencies</U><br></br><B>Asos:</B> 134.450<br></br><B>Atis:</B> 134.450<br></br><B>Center:</B> 118.500<br></br><B>Fss:</B> 122.200 123.600<br></br><B>Unicom:</B> 122.950<br></br><br></br><U>Runways</U><br></br><B>11</B> len=7484ft hdg=136 asphalt<br></br>   ILS=IECH ILS/DME 11 109.300 27nm<br></br><B>29</B> len=7484ft hdg=316 asphalt<br></br>]]></description>
                            <LookAt>
                                <longitude>-131.7072956147975</longitude>
                                <latitude>55.35242348979244</latitude>
                                <altitude>0</altitude>
                                <heading>-24.83038705113789</heading>
                                <tilt>0</tilt>
                                <range>7553.593727673964</range>
                                <gx:altitudeMode>relativeToSeaFloor</gx:altitudeMode>
                            </LookAt>
                            <styleUrl>#msn_airports171</styleUrl>
                            <Point>
                                <coordinates>-131.7109166633632,55.35496855716641,0</coordinates>
                            </Point>
                        </Placemark>

What I currently do is add airports manually to Google Earth as I purchase them.  I add a placemark identified with ICAO and then in parenthesis the vendor (Orbx, Aerosoft, etc.).  When I can actually find time to do an A to B flight, my starting point is to bring up Google Earth, look for some interesting weather (I'm fan of bad flying conditions) on the globe, then check to see if I have any 3rd party airports in the area.  Unfortunately I've fallen behind and can't keep up as Airports for both platforms are coming out at a fast and furious rate, so I'm somewhere around 400-500 airports and probably only 1/2 of them I've manually entered into Google Earth.

It would be great if a tool (payware, freeware, donationware) existed that has this functionality ... anyone know of such a tool?

Cheers, Rob.

[pmb 5,137]

If you use SimStrater, it creates a kml file out of the list of your installed airports (scenery.cfg as well as add-on.xml), exports it to Google Earth and optionally opens the same to show them as "Temporary Places" (sorted by country).

A click on the corresponding blue spot in Google Earth shows you the path of the scenery files (and some more data).

Not sure if that's what you are loooking for but it works that way.

Kind regards, Michael

 

[Guest]

Thanks for response Michael, do the kml's export show up in Google Earth as placemarks?  Can SimStarter be used for this purpose only (don't use it other features since I like to manage my FS setup myself).

Cheers, Rob.

[hs118 707]

Not at the house right now, but as I recall, the locations of the airports are pushpins. And, yes, you could just use this capability. The locations are based on Pete D makerwys.exe.

There is also a capability to map your saved flights in a similar way. 

[pmb 5,137]

Here is a screenshot of what you get (the blue squares)

In principle, you should be able to use SimStrater just for that purpose (just my rough feeling as I actually use it for all sorts of scenery and configuration management). 

Kind regards, Michael

[hs118 707]

Rob,

Here is the a sample of the XML file.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<kml xmlns="http://www.opengis.net/kml/2.2">
     <Document>
          <Name />
          <open>1</open>
          <Style id="NoDD">
               <BalloonStyle>
                    <text>$[description]</text>
               </BalloonStyle>
          </Style>
          <Folder>
               <name>Australia</name>
               <Placemark>
                    <name>YMLT - Launceston</name>
                    <description>&lt;center&gt;&lt;table width=500&gt;&lt;tr bgcolor="#ffffff"&gt;&lt;th align="right"&gt;City:&lt;/th&gt;&lt;td&gt;Launceston&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;th align="right"&gt;Altitude:&lt;/th&gt;&lt;td&gt;562ft&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr bgcolor="#ffffff"&gt;&lt;th align="right"&gt;METAR:&lt;/th&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.aviationweather.gov/adds/metars/?station_ids=ymlt"&gt;YMLT&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;th align="right"&gt;Area name:&lt;/th&gt;&lt;td&gt;FTXAA_YMLT&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;th align="right"&gt;Runways:&lt;/th&gt;&lt;td&gt;RWY 32L # Length: 6,504ft # Surface: Asphalt # ILS: 109.50 (Hdg 313.3)&lt;br&gt;RWY 14R # Length: 6,504ft # Surface: Asphalt # ILS:  (Hdg )&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr bgcolor="#ffffff"&gt;&lt;th align="right"&gt;LAT/LON:&lt;/th&gt;&lt;td&gt;147.2141665,-41.5452615833333,0&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;th align="right"&gt;Scenery file:&lt;/th&gt;&lt;td&gt;ORBX\FTX_AU\FTXAA_YMLT\scenery\ORBX_YMLT_APX.bgl&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/center&gt;</description>
                    <Style>
                         <IconStyle>
                              <Icon>
                                   <href>http://earth.google.com/images/kml-icons/track-directional/track-none.png</href>
                              </Icon>
                         </IconStyle>
                         <LabelStyle>
                              <color>FFFFFFFF</color>
                         </LabelStyle>
                    </Style>
                    <Point>
                         <coordinates>147.2141665,-41.5452615833333,0</coordinates>
                    </Point>
               </Placemark>
          </Folder>

 

[Guest]

Thanks for all the response, I'll have to checkout SimStart and see if it meets my needs.

Cheers, Rob.

[Michael Moe 493]

Hi Rob ,

please report back your findings 

Btw. ASP4 has a semi function of the weather thing. For instance you can set it up to find snow

It allows you to find specifically weather conditions (locally) around the world from the top of my head

Thanks

Michael Moe

[guenseli 1,577]

Yes, simStarter lets you export your installes sceneries to Google Earth.

simStarter does also show your saved flights as KML

In combination with WAMA you'll get a nice GE overview over your installed sceneries and parked aircrafts.

 

In this screenshot you see airports in green from simStarter and orange markings from WAMA.

 

 

[zmak 331]

41 minutes ago, guenseli said:

Yes, simStarter lets you export your installes sceneries to Google Earth.

simStarter does also show your saved flights as KML

In combination with WAMA you'll get a nice GE overview over your installed sceneries and parked aircrafts.

 

In this screenshot you see airports in green from simStarter and orange markings from WAMA.

 

 

Thats a good package I use simstarter every flight but  didnt know about WAMA and its cheap enough.

[FalconAF 213]

(An aside for Rob, as to finding "bad flying weather" to fly in)....

For quick and accurate "look for where the bad weather is" I use the Windy website before planning a flight.  Doesn't take long to learn what all the different icons will show you.  Hint:  Select the "flying" display once you open the site, then you get icons all associated with flying weather displays.  Hint 2:  Click on the little airplane icon in the bottom-ish horizontal menu to see ALL airports in the world with their current VFR, MVFR, IFR, or LIFR status shown (click on the airport circle if you want more info about it).  Zooming in/out will increase/decrease the number of airports displayed.  Click anywhere on the map to show pop-ups of info pertaining to your current display choices like Winds Aloft speeds at the flight level chosen, etc.  (Bottom Line:  Use your mouse to click on stuff and see what happens.  It will amaze you the amount of different info that will get shown depending on what you select).

https://www.windy.com/overlays?39.589,-87.561,5

I go to Windy's first, look around, find the weather I want to fly in, then go to the Simbrief website to create my flightplan.  Download/save the appropriate flightplan formats (including a default FSX/P3D one to load into both REX SkyForce and ActiveSky), and I have everything needed to load P3D and start the flight with minimal "extra" stuff to do (like a PMDG CDU entries, etc).

Windy's and SimBrief sites together make your flight planning a breeze.

EDIT:  Winds Aloft don't have a separate icon.  But if you select the Wind icon, then mouse-point on the vertical black bar on the right, you can slide up/down to select the display of Winds Aloft at different flight levels.  Just scroll around with your mouse and select different things to see what is all available to display.  It's impressive.

 

Edited April 18, 2018 by FalconAF

[Guest]

Thanks for the info Rick, do you know if SimStarter can auto load GoFlight .cfg files and/or saved controller .xml files ... I usually have these saved per aircraft type.

Cheers, Rob.

[bean_sprout 1,201]

How much money do you have Rob?

Cheers
bs

[pmb 5,137]

11 minutes ago, Rob Ainscough said:

Thanks for the info Rick, do you know if SimStarter can auto load GoFlight .cfg files and/or saved controller .xml files ... I usually have these saved per aircraft type.

Cheers, Rob.

You can ask the author.

http://aviation.pero-online.de/

Usually he's very responsive. He even might be inclined to add this as a feature if there is a need.

Kind regards, Michael

[newtie 533]

46 minutes ago, bean_sprout said:

How much money do you have Rob?

Cheers
bs

Or, how much money do you have left, Rob?