Great Circles

Important: These forums are for discussions between SkyDemon users. They are not routinely monitored by SkyDemon staff so any urgent issues should be sent directly to our Customer Support.

Great Circles

Author	Message
rg	rg posted 1/10/2018 5:11:31 PM Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 109, Visits: 1.9K	+x Tim Dawson - 1/10/2018 4:57:59 PM So for every trip you'd like the option to specify whether to use GC or RL? Well software level setting I suppose. You either prefer one or the other so doubt a use would toggle them often. Certainly not per leg as was mentioned earlier in the thread.,
	Reply Like 22
T67M	T67M posted 1/10/2018 11:03:04 PM Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 206, Visits: 3.2K	Definitely per SkyDemon instance, not per trip or per leg! I‌'d make the solution even simpler: just have one option which is "show GC faint-line on/off". Routes would always be planned as RLs, and shown as such on the Pilot's Log, but if the show-GC option was on, underneath the thick magenta RL would be a faint magenta GC line. In many cases, the GC-line‌ would be completely invisible, but on longer east-west routes it would "appear" for those people who are interested and can be used to assist the insertion of additional waypoints if they would be helpful.
	Reply Like 37
Tim Dawson	Tim Dawson posted 1/11/2018 12:19:46 PM Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 7.8K, Visits: 8.4K	rg, the problem with that is loading a route planned by somebody else which has been specifically planned to be "safe" as a RL or GC when your software is setup with the opposite. T‌67M‌ that idea is promising but for most cases where the GC differs not very much from the RL you'll get a weird small pink line only just protruding from the main thick line which will look odd. We'll get dozens of phone calls every week asking what on earth it is, if we turned it on by default.
	Reply Like 25
rg	rg posted 1/11/2018 12:25:44 PM Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 109, Visits: 1.9K	Fair point. So it’s route level then and leave everything as rl with gc hidden by default
	Reply Like 22
T67M	T67M posted 1/11/2018 1:18:06 PM Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 206, Visits: 3.2K	I certainly don't think the show-GC option should be on by default, and if having a "bump" on the RL confuses people who have actively chosen to show GC to the point that they're calling your helpdesk then I'm disappointed and the level of PPL navigation being taught. To‌‌ help get around the helpdesk calls, maybe the GC line could be hidden completely using some simple algorithm, for example if the GC heading at either end of the leg differs by less than 1° from the RL, or if the mid-point cross track difference is less than 0.5nm? Couple that with a description of the line on the "what's here" popup and surely most pilots won't feel the need to call?
	Reply Like 26
ckurz7000	ckurz7000 posted 1/11/2018 2:05:23 PM Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 538, Visits: 2.2K	+x T67M - 1/11/2018 1:18:06 PM I certainly don't think the show-GC option should be on by default, and if having a "bump" on the RL confuses people who have actively chosen to show GC to the point that they're calling your helpdesk then I'm disappointed and the level of PPL navigation being taught. To‌‌ help get around the helpdesk calls, maybe the GC line could be hidden completely using some simple algorithm, for example if the GC heading at either end of the leg differs by less than 1° from the RL, or if the mid-point cross track difference is less than 0.5nm? Couple that with a description of the line on the "what's here" popup and surely most pilots won't feel the need to call? What's wrong with showing either one or the other? And if you are showing RL in a case where the course separation to GC is larger than, say, 0.5 nm, issue a warning in the "Warnings" tab. -- Chiris.
	Reply Like 22
Sky Painter	Sky Painter posted 1/11/2018 3:29:13 PM Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 619, Visits: 13K	In the UK, at least, since the majority of routes are likely to be North/South, I think a GC option would be of limited value and I personally, don't see the need for it. However, I can understand only too well, the desire of others to have this option, so, how about:- 1‌. Show one or the other – user selectable option in Settings, but default should be RL; 2‌. When selected, show the RL route in magenta, as currently; 3‌. When selected, show the GC route‌‌ in blue; I‌ know that displaying a route line in a colour other than magenta it is a radical departure from the norm, but at least there could be no mistaking which is being displayed. T‌im – In the case of someone loading a route created by another, would it be possible to check each user's setting and convert the downloaded route if necessary, or would this just be a coding nightmare?‌ Mike _________________________________________ Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 – Android 11.0 & SD 3.16.13.0 Huawei P30 – Android 11.0 & SD 3.16.13.0 PC – Windows 10 (Home Ed) Version 22H2, Build 19045.4291, SD 3.16.12.0
	Reply Like 24
T67M	T67M posted 1/11/2018 4:12:31 PM Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 206, Visits: 3.2K	The challenge I see with only showing a GC track (without the corresponding RL) is that it is impossible to create a GC-plog due to the varying heading that must be flown. That's why I favour keeping the RL as the core of both the SkyDemon chart and plog, but to additionally show the GC (in blue - I like that idea) on the chart to allow long RL sectors to be broken into shorter sectors which more closely approximate the shortest path.
	Reply Like 22
Sky Painter	Sky Painter posted 1/12/2018 3:56:56 PM Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 619, Visits: 13K	+x T67M - 1/11/2018 4:12:31 PM The challenge I see with only showing a GC track (without the corresponding RL) is that it is impossible to create a GC-plog due to the varying heading that must be flown. That's why I favour keeping the RL as the core of both the SkyDemon chart and plog, but to additionally show the GC (in blue - I like that idea) on the chart to allow long RL sectors to be broken into shorter sectors which more closely approximate the shortest path. You make a good and valid point. Mike _________________________________________ Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 – Android 11.0 & SD 3.16.13.0 Huawei P30 – Android 11.0 & SD 3.16.13.0 PC – Windows 10 (Home Ed) Version 22H2, Build 19045.4291, SD 3.16.12.0
	Reply Like 26
Tim Dawson	Tim Dawson posted 1/15/2018 11:16:00 AM Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 7.8K, Visits: 8.4K	It should be a solvable problem. Those who have been around these forums a while know that SkyDemon does support GC routes, and I released a beta once where all routes were GC just to test our code. It's finding the right UI to make the feature available but make no impact for the majority, which as SemperFi correctly says really don't know or care about the difference.
	Reply Like 36