I've just seen this on AvWeb - Wiill it impact on SD's depiction of their USA Sectionals charts. Hope not.

QUOTE:

FAA TO CHARGE COMPANIES FOR ONLINE CHARTS, NO ACCESS FOR INDIVIDUALS
The days of inexpensive navigation and chart apps for your mobile devices appear to be numbered with the FAA's announcement that it will begin charging for downloads that were previously free starting April 5, 2012. A story in the December issue of our sister publication Aviation Consumer says the Aeronautical Navigational Products Directorate (Aeronav), which currently makes the latest charts and other navigational products available online for free, says it has to recover the costs associated with developing and hosting the products. That means charging fees to companies for those downloads and no longer allowing individuals access them at all. As of April 5, only those with distribution contracts with Aeronav will be able to download the data. The most noticeable impact will likely be on the small but increasingly popular industry segment (like ForeFlight and WingX) that develops flight-related apps for iPads and other consumer electronics. It will also have an impact on websites like RunwayFinder that use the data for their online products, some of which are currently available for free. How much impact isn't known because the FAA hasn't announced what it intends to charge for the data. Affected companies have been invited to a meeting Dec. 13 in Washington to hear details of the FAA's proposal and offer input to the final pricing structure and the distribution contract.

It remains to be seen whether the vector data we use (different from the sectional charts they mention) is included and what the ramifications might be. I shouldn't think there will be anything to worry about.

I've noticed the U.S. charts haven't been updated with "Valid to 15/12/2011" flagged up and running the "Charts" option skips straight over them. Is this related to the things mentioned above or are there other factors involved?



Cheers BJ

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HTC HD2/Mio S505 via MioPocket. Robin 340

It's not related. I think the current charts are mislabelled with the previous validity dates and these will be updated next week on AIRAC day.

Thanks for the reply.



Cheers BJ

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HTC HD2/Mio S505 via MioPocket. Robin 340