OpenFlightGPS User Guide

OpenFlightGPS is an Android application developed to allow offline georeferenced viewing of various FAA products. The products are minimally processed in order to work with OpenFlightGPS. Therefore, the maps are NOT OFFICIAL INFORMATION SOURCES. ALWAYS consult official sources for aeronautical decision making. OPENFLIGHTGPS is NOT INTENDED for in-flight navigation use; your use of OpenFlightGPS constitutes acceptance of these terms.

OpenFlightGPS works on Android-powered devices, including cell phones and most tablets. We suggest that maps only be downloaded when the user is connected to the internet via WIFI, but 3G can be used in a pinch, as the individual maps are between 2 megabytes all the way to almost 20 megabytes, depending upon the particular product (such as Low Enroute, Sectional, WAC). Users may download individual maps as per the terms of their licensed version. The maker of OpenFlightGPS is NOT responsible for data charges you may incur from your cellular provider in downloading maps. If you wish to purchase maps in bulk format (DVD/MicroSD or similar), please contact us for minimal fee products we will send you.

OpenFlightGPS is developed on the open source Android system because we believe that vendor-lock-in endemic to some other solutions is not in the best interests of pilots. The FAA provides the digital base products for FREE, so we believe converting these products to a proprietary format and distributing them should be done at a low cost.

The main features of OpenFlightGPS are the GeoReferenced (moving map) Products

• VFR Sectional Chart Chooser
• WAC Chart Chooser
• Terminal Area (Chart) Chart Chooser
• IFR Low Chart Chooser

And the NON GeoReferenced Products

• Terminal Area (Flyway) Chart Chooser

Each of which are presented in the Map Navigator as scrollable, zoomable maps.

Supporting features are:

• Simple Courses/Waypoints
• User Preferences
• Message Display
• Map Management - delete, download, force download
• Map Compass
• Map Scale

OpenFlightGPS can show ownship position oriented in the direction of GPS movement, and gradually scroll the map to keep the ownship centered in the the view (moving map). Another option is to have the ownship display coupled to the 'compass' mode, so that the ownship will point in the direction on the map that the Android device itself is pointed.

OpenFlightGPS also displays a scale in the upper left corner of the screen in order to allow the user to estimate distances at any map zoom level. To the right side of the scale, the GPS coordinates in Latitude, Longitude and altitude (feet) appear when the unit has a GPS lock (coordinates will not display without GPS lock).

When the hardware gets a GPS lock, the ownship will automatically appear with a 'centerline' extended showing the GPS-computed heading, or the compass heading depending upon the mode selected (see below). If there is no GPS lock, the ownship will not appear. If not in compass mode, and a GPS lock is obtained but no motion is detected, the ownship will change to a 'house' icon.

Compass appears in upper left corner. After GPS acquires position: ownship 'aircraft' icon appears at your location and points in direction on the map that device is pointed. Position and altitude coordinates appear in the center or upper right hand corner.

"Reset Map" will center ownship in display.

Compass does not appear. After GPS acquires position: if motion is detected by the GPS, ownship 'aircraft' icon appears at your current location and points in the direction on the map of the motion. If no motion is detected, ownship will change to a 'house' at your current location. Position and altitude coordinates appear in the upper right hand corner.

"Reset Map" will center ownship in display.

Neither compass, ownship nor position and altitude coordinates will appear on the screen.

"Reset Map" will position the map at the approximate center of the physical map that is currently open.

Simple, visual waypoints may be created anywhere on any of the Geo Referenced charts. The waypoints are sequential, and we don't currently provide a way to reorder the points, so points must be deleted in order to insert intermediate points.

A course is a series of waypoints that may be saved or loaded as a unit. Course lines are drawn between the sequential waypoints. A course may be given a name. Courses saved with an existing name will REPLACE the prior course of the same name.

A companion feature to Courses and Waypoints is the ability to scroll the current chart "off the edge", and if the user has previously downloaded the immediate adjacent chart, that adjacent chart will be opened and the previous chart closed. This allows courses to span individual charts.

Note that the course being viewed will persist through chart and/or product changes, and as such you can create a Course for example on an IFR Enroute Chart utilizing airways, then open up the VFR Sectional chart and see how the course appears on the Sectional. Similarly, a course may be created on a WAC chart, then the course viewed in higher detail on the VFR Chart (or of course the IFR Low or even the TAC if applicable).

Note that the Course will not automatically be saved. In order to persist any changes you have made to the course or the waypoints, you must select the "Courses/Waypoints-|Save Course" menu item from the Android menu (when a chart is open).

Useful information is generated and viewable about the waypoints by OpenFlightGPS, for example:

• Latitude and longitude of the waypoint.
• Total length in Nautical Miles of the course the waypoint is a part of.

If waypoint is not the "end point" of a course

• Distance waypoint-to-waypoint (Nautical Miles).
• Bearing waypoint-to-waypoint (TRUE).
• Distance to the next waypoint (Nautical Miles).
• Bearing to the next waypoint (TRUE).

If GPS fix for current location is available

• Distance in Nautical Miles to the waypoint.
• Bearing (TRUE) to the waypoint.

To create a waypoint, merely "long press" on any area of the screen. The waypoint will appear at that spot. Continue to add waypoints by performing a "long press" at each successive waypoint. Note that the waypoints are sequential, and there is currently no way to re-order the points.

Waypoints may be deleted by "touch" or quick press on the waypoint, which will cause a context menu to appear. To delete, select the "Delete" item from that context menu.

A title/name may be added to each waypoint along with descriptive text or notes. To edit these details, "touch" the waypoint and select "Edit" from the context menu that appears. A separate screen will appear that contains editable fields for the "Title/Name" and "Description/Notes". This screen also displays the non-editable waypoint and course details. Merely choose the Android 'back' key to save your changes to the waypoint - HOWEVER, note that such changes are NOT saved to the course until you manually choose the "Save Course" menu via: "Android menu key-|Courses/Waypoints-|"Save Course".

When OpenFlightGPS is started up, you will be presented with a Chart Chooser of your "home map". This is a user selectable home map. As shipped, the "VFR Sectional" chooser is set as the home map. Change the home map by selecting the Android "menu" key, selecting the "Preferences" tab, and going to "Home Map". Select the home map that you want to come up by default; close the preferences by using the device backbutton.

You can change the current Chart Chooser at any time by selecting the Android "menu" key, then selecting "Products" item, and then choosing the Chart Chooser you want.

Use a Chart Chooser by finger-pressing on the area chart you wish to view - the charts that are available (have been previously downloaded to your device) are outlined in green, and will flash red when selected. When you release the press, you may be presented with a context menu that allows a subselection, for example for "North" or "South" of the area.

The Chart Chooser presents a geographic area (United States) with "hot" areas that correspond to charts available for that area. Each of the chart sections (such as VFR sectional 'Albuquerque') appear as either a red 'X', a green slash ('/'), or a green outline. The red 'X' means neither of the portions (in this case, 'North' and 'South') are currently downloaded on your device. A green slash '/' means that one of the portions (either 'North' or 'South') are present on your device. A green outline means the both portions are currently on your device.

Either way, finger press the 'X', '/' or outline and you will be presented with a 'North'/'South' dialog. Choose which chart you are interested in and if the chart is not on the device you will be prompted to download it; otherwise, the Map Navigator will come up with your map in the center. If you do download a chart, the Chart Chooser will automatically update it's symbol ('X', '/', outline).

You can cancel a selection by sliding your finger (before lifting your finger from the device screen) to a non-outlined area on the Chart Chooser and then lifting your finger.

Downloaded maps will persist until you delete them or overwrite them with a new version. They will persist through uninstall of the program. If you wish to manually delete the maps, first find out the location on your device by going to the Android 'menu' key and selecting the 'Preferences' menu item. The preferences item 'Data Directory' is the file path on your device to the charts. Each distinct chart is contained within a '.zip' file found in the data directory. You may use a file manager application to delete or move the zip files.

The Message Display will show your currently selected map in the Android Notification Bar at the top of the screen, or "Cancelling ..." if you cancel your selection.

The Map Navigator is used scrolled simply by sliding your finger on the map. You may zoom the map either by using a two-finger "pinch" or "expand" gesture, or you may use the zoom buttons that appear at the bottom of the screen when you touch the map.

If you find that you have "lost" your map by scrolling it off the view, you may recenter the map by opening the Android menu items (press Android menu key, menu items appear on the bottom of the screen) called 'Reset View' that will perform the same (approximate) recenter of the map in the view.

The Map Navigator will display your current position ("ownship") as either a miniature airplane or as a 'house' symbol, depending upon your movement and the settings (see preferences section below). The Map Navigator may also display a scale bar, a magnetic compass face, and your location in Latitude/Longitude and Altitude, again depending upon the preferences you have set.

While the Map Navigator is running, touch the Android "menu" key to bring up the following option menus:

Chart Chooser

Go directly back to the Chart Chooser.

Force Map Download

Redownload the current map.

Reset View

Reset the view to either the physical map center, or centered upon the ownship.

Delete Map

Remove the current map from the cache directory. After the map is then closed, it will no longer be available through the Chart Chooser. This action will decrement the downloaded map count, freeing up for a new download.

Preferences

The following preferences may be set:

• Screen On in Flight - don't time out the screen
• Ownship Centered - toggle to move map to keep ownship at center of display. Enables "moving map" functionality to keep ownship at center of display, causing the map to scroll with your movement. Note that repositioning the map by a manual scroll (finger swipe), or changing the zoom level cancels this function. To reinitiate after such a manual map activity, choose the "Keep Map Centered" menu item again.
• Compass Enabled - toggle to show compass; also orients ownship to device direction

While the Chart Chooser is running, touch the Android "menu" key to bring up the following option menus:

About

Show the licensing, version and map statistics.

Docs

Offline users guide.

Preferences

Scroll to the preference you wish to change, and make your changes. The changes will be automatically change when you backbutton out of the preferences screen"

• Home Chart - set the chart type you wish to see first when starting OpenFlight Map.
• Data Directory - this is the location where OpenFlightGPS looks for and downloads to it's map files. Only change this if you are sure you know what you are doing - you can easily change this and 'lose' your already downloaded maps, or change it to a directory that OpenFlightGPS does not have write privileges on so problems will arise. If your device is low on space, you can change this to a something like an SD card directory.
• Screen on in flight - keep the screen from timing out. Note that you can burn significant battery by keeping the screen on too long. OpenFlightGPS will remain at the point at which you left it if you allow the screen to shut off - and you can just reactivate the screen (usually by a quick power button press) to get back to your map.

Products

Select the Chart Chooser you wish to use:

• Sectional
• World Area
• EnRoute Low
• Terminal Area Flyway
• Terminal Area Chart

My Location

If GPS position is already acquired and the map corresponding to your current position exists on the device (has already been downloaded), that map will open and your current position will be centered.

Download maps by first connecting your Android device to a WIFI network - the maps are large, and distributing them OTA would be very time consuming - although it will work in a pinch. After you have connected your device to your wifi network, open the OpenFlightGPS application as you normally would, go to your desired Chart Chooser, and select the chart that you want to download. If the chart is found to be non-existant or out-of-date on your device, you will be presented with a screen that will allow you to download the map. You may open other applications on your phone while the download is proceeding, but don't "backbutton" out of OpenFlightGPS or the download will be cancelled.

You may force the redownload of a map that the device thinks you already have by going to that map, selecting the Android 'menu' button, then choosing the 'Force Download' menu item.

If you know your way around your device, you may download the maps manually, and install them on your device. Contact us at 'openflightmap<at>gmail.com' if you would like to purchase entire map sets either on DVD/CD or Micro-SD.

Things we are working on:

• Ability to reorder waypoints, and more easily move them around

Please let us know if there are other things you would like to see in OpenFlightGPS.