A new toy for FU - GPS and moving map

[Roger Over 0]

Hi Folks,I been playing around with this for a while, and frankly I'm keen to get it off my plate and get on with something else.What we have is a simulated GPS for FU3 with optional moving map using Google Earth. I'm keen to find a few beta testers who are prepared to put a little bit of time in to testing it on their rigs and getting back to me within (say) one week.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/192102.jpgTo run GELink ideally you will need the following:

[agtim 0]

Hi Bruce, Just remembering the old FU3 Live Flight Map of Ben Clark http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...id=16179&page=3Now you have an intra net version of it, what about sharing the resulting map of all live flights as suggested by Ben ?... and OK I will test it :-):-wave Andre

[Roger Over 0]

Hi Andre,Thanks for the offer to test. You are number #1 tester, I'm surprised there haven't been more interest. Maybe I'm pumping a dry well here :-roll It would be possible to merge the data and create a combined map, but because you have no control over AI traffic, I don't think it would go much beyond markers on the moving map. More may be possible, will have to think it through.I will send you a download link for the install package.Cheers :-wave Bruce H

[Hans_Petter 1]

I believe the hurdle to be that second PC being networked to the flight simulator PC. Correct me if I'm wrong but I presume this implies two computers being placed next to each other and two monitors on the desk? That's a handful to most of us even though our households may have several PCs in different rooms.The best option would be an add-in that fed a moving map to an aircraft's GPS display. The next best option would be another window for the map and the ability to toggle the views. (Alt - tab should work but it may freeze the sim) But then, writing plugins without having access to the code may be impossible...

[Roger Over 0]

Hi,It is possible to run on just one PC, but you do need to hot-tab between applications, and that detracts from the flight experience.Not sure if anyone out there is aware of a application which allows you to run window-in-window. I'm pretty sure it can't be done.GElink works well if you have a notebook you can plug in for the occasion, then take it away when no longer needed.Cheers:-waveBruce H

[agtim 0]

I just finished the flight to Sanderson.GE tracking was working well, but I was unable to see the way points.Finding Sanderson by FU-map :-)There was 2 problems with GELink - reading the data file behind EOF Final to Sandersonhttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/192243.jpgRead error ahead EOF of FU Datahttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/192244.jpgI made this test with 1 PC only, continue testing...:-wave Andre

[agtim 0]

Second flight was full ok with view of Marker and no crash of GELink :-)Thanks Bruce:-wave Andre

[Roger Over 0]

Hi Andre,Glad you arrived AOK.The GE imagery around Sanderson isn't all that good, probably about the poorest in the set. Most imagery is much better than the FU distribution maps.It's interesting seeing how things must have changed in the last few years. For example, Seattle parking spot is now in the middle of a building :( http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/192258.jpgAnd Sanfran appears to be in the middle of a wash down area, if you taxi out from the parking spot you end up going through a construction zone :-( http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/192259.jpgCheers :-wave Bruce H

[Guest fu3]

Bruce/Andre,This looks like a lot of fun! I'll have a look soon.I'll probably just tab between things for now. One thing I always loved about FU3 was being able to 'map-out' of a situation for as long as necessary, then returning to the same spot and carrying on. Certain 'other' sims always let you crash whilst looking at the map.Now I've gotten used to it, it would be preferable (to me) for the plane to keep flying whilst perusing the map - exactly what this will do with 2 PCs.Hmmmm.... "Darling, I've decided that I really need 2 PCs on the desk, so I'm buying 2 new 24" monitors, instead of one OK?"Might wait until after dinner to put that one over :-lolRegards,Jon Point

[Roger Over 0]

Jon,You had better cook a great dinner! :-lol I will get the distribution to you so you can have a play.Cheers :-wave Bruce H

[Guest fu3]

".. Curry puffs and cucumber sauce for entree, green curry & coconut chicken with basil and coriander. Sticky rice and Thai custard for dessert.. "It good but it looks like one new 24" and the old 19" - better than nothing I guess! The Boy got the other 24" but then I guess he will use it more than I.Lucky I didn't give 'em bangers & mash or I'd be computing with a Wyse 50 yellow mono 80 column serial terminal :-lolRegards,Jon Point

[Roger Over 0]

Hey! I remember them. They used to burn the flyback transformers out all the time. And the VT100 emulation was always a bit dodgy.....

[Guest R_Driscoll]

Bruce,I noticed that you had some good aerial shots of Seattle.When I was still developing scenery for the Seattle region, I tried "overtexturing" Seattle airport with more detailed scenery (from a range of shots including the Jetliner photo base). It improved the base graphics enormously - it started to feel like a real airport and I think there were a coupla hundred downloads but no real feedback. I've lost it all now - several disk crashes ago, but for a large airport I still think that you do need to make the taxiways, the runways, the ramp areas. I couldn't imagine Biggin Hill without the overtextures now - when you're close to ground, it makes a massive difference.I'm doing Gloucester at the moment. I'll only overtexture the runways, ramps and taxiways as its a small airport and the focus needs to be on the canals, waterways, cathedral etc. It has three crossing runways, so you need to remember to kill the linking line between the runway ends or FLED will crash.I'd love a good model of a VOR (rubbish one in FU3) and an NBD - if no-one makes one soon I'll have to do it myself, because with the small fields they're a dominant feature.Query: how do people do the holding points? I don't remember seeing them in the standard packages, and I've gone through several iterations of trying to get good compromises:1. Taxiway END for lights.2. Custom object to represent hold lines (one solid plus one dashed).3. Numbered marker on right side of plane approaching (e.g. B1, D3).Sorry, I should have made this a separate post, I've wandered off topic badly again ...

[Roger Over 0]

Hi Robert,The aerial shots are straight from Google Earth. Around Seattle and Sanfran the imagery is amazing. You can pick front and back of cars from the size of the window glass. And from how high up is this imagery snapped? 100km? Soon they we be able to spot how much cash is in our wallet. :-( Wouldn't be too hard in my case. ;) 1000% better than the FU base scenery. And it is fairly easy to update scenery patches as demonstrated by Andre with the Channel Island kit. You do lose some clarity when down-scaled to 4M/pixel, but still pretty good.We can't distribute packages based on GE imagery as it impinges copyrights and stuff.As far as the VOR and holding points etc. I think I will defer to a modelling expert. Jon?Cheers:-wave Bruce H

[Guest R_Driscoll]

I didn't have any of these resources - so I more or less used grass textures in grass areas, concrete in ramp areas etc, but so that the whole airport area was covered. And one of my earliest complex models was the Seattle radar - I transposed it to Heathrow when I 'moved' out of Seattle.But its not enough to have the satellite imagery - you also need good airport photos, and this is where UK was much better set up. So I had good "photographic records" of everything aronud the airports, allowing very realistic (within my own limits) models.This all comes back to why I bought FU3 in the first place - accurate scenery at low altitude was so far ahead of MSFS at the time (even if the default scenery models are terrible), and the ability to add scenery models meant we could improve from there. Now I just enjoy making them!I don't know about moving maps - I'm happy with the "lookdown" character of the 'M' button. What I would like to do though is edit the England map to put VOR's, POINTS (from the AIPLAN) and NDB's on it, easy enough but I just haven't made time. It took months to make the UK airspace, so its a shame I never got around to making a map which superimposed this as well.Good to see so many people are still around and active! Most of what you're doing is too complex for me.Robert.