Hooray!

Yippeeeee!!!!!!

Thanks for listening to your users, Tim.

-- Chris.

I am happy to say that we have now licensed better scenery data. From the next chart update onwards (23rd July) there should be no more imprecise scenery in Europe.
Contact me by email if you'd like to look at a preview of one of the new charts (must be on PC) beforehand.

Our maps are better than our competitors (overall) which is why you use SkyDemon. But everything in software is a compromise and nothing is perfect. Some of the things that make our maps great are also a potential liability in other areas, and it's up to us to balance this in the best way we can. We have acknowledged the deficiency in some of the scenery data we use and if it's practical for us to do something about it, we will do so. It would be silly not to. But if we don't, or if we don't immediately, rest assured there is a good reason for that.

I haven't seen this kind of problem in any other mapping software. So far I have used Jeppesen's Mobile FD VFR and PocketFMS. Granted, I haven't used either of them as extensively as I have used SD (and that's for a reason, of course). Still, if I were in charge of SkyDemon (which I am not!) I would expend some serious effort to correct this problem once and for all. It simply erodes trust in the reliability of this otherwise great piece of software. And accurate mapping data is kind of the centerpiece of VFR navigation!! It seens, though, that Tim is doing just that.

On the other hand, Open Street Map (OSM) has become a widely used and generally accepted source of vectorized geographical data covering the entire globe. It has evolved to a far superior level of quality and professionality than usually given credit for. And it is free! There exists a broad repertoire of tools and utilities to extract, filter and convert the data. I am sure it would pay in the long run to switch over to OSM for vectorized background maps. However, I realize that such a step is not undertaken lightly.

Greetings, -- Chris.

Actually, it isn't a bad map source. It's a very good map source and the tolerances of its data are generally quite suitable for aeronautical purposes. Some scenery is offset by up to around 600m from its actual position which is not ideal, and is something our provider is actively working on for us. But there is no more suitable comprehensive vector map source currently available on the market.

If we were producing 500k printed charts a problem would be very difficult to notice, but the vector nature of SkyDemon charts combined with the ability to zoom them to any level makes this inaccuracy more evident than it would otherwise be, which is why we have asked for the data to be improved.

Hi all,

Recognised the same problems in the EDDK, EDKB area. It's unbelievable that you are using such a bad map source for a product like this. Hope there will be a better map early in the future.

Many thanks!!

Tim, I would definitely take a hard look at OSM data again. It is being used far and wide and has gotten a lot more reliable. To be frank, I think it would be a significant improvement over what you're using now.

Greetings, -- Chris.

Other vendors tend to use other people's raster basemaps, rather than rendering their own with vectors. Doing the latter is of huge benefit to us, but it makes our job harder. There aren't as many sources of vector basemap data in the world as you might imagine. Perhaps it's time for us to look again at OSM data but we've always found it terribly flawed in the past.

I hear what you are saying, Tim. Still as far as I know SD is the only aviation software knowingly accepting such inaccuracies in its basemap. It is the biggest downside to the program. In regions such as the above you can, reall, only rely on airspace avoidance and not vfr navigation by matching map features to the landscape outside. If I were responsible for SD, this is a stigma I would work really hard to lose quickly.

-- Chris.