Charts


I seem to detect some confusion about the various things that you can show on the Chart View in Plane Plotter.  There are several things that can appear in that window.  There is much more information on customising the display here.


  1. Raster Maps and Charts
  2. Vector Charts
  3. GPX Overlays
  4. Downloading maps
    1. Background
    2. MapQuest Maps
    3. Google Maps
  5. What charts do I have?
  6. History button in Aircraft Position Report

 

Raster Maps and Charts

 

A map or chart which may be scanned from your own sources and calibrated or, more simply, downloaded using the Map button on the toolbar.  Regardless of the origin, such charts are stored as conventional raster graphics files (e.g. .JPG) together with a calibration file (.CLB) which must be present in the same directory and have the same root name as the raster map.  The graphics files cannot be scaled, so they look "blocky" if you zoom in a long way but you can always press the Map button again to download a new map at the new scale.  Note that there are six options under the Map button, which many people overlook.  The Help file tells all and the options are listed in the Keyboard Shortcuts page.  There is an animated tutorial here showing how to load maps and how to zoom around.

Nic Storey has created another of his popular video series - this one entitled: "Maps and Outlines the Basics" - view video


Vector Charts

 

A vector chart which, unlike the raster charts, is scalable.  Vector charts are stored as files with the extension .OUT and do not need a calibration file.  Whereas raster charts are individually loaded with File|Open charts, when you click on the Outline button on the toolbar, Plane Plotter scans all of the .OUT files in the specified chart directory and constructs a display based on the composite of all the .OUT files found.  In other words, you do not load .OUT files explicitly, all .OUT files are used when you select Outline.  Outlines can show coastlines, airfield diagrams, airways or any curvilinear features.  They cannot show text labelling.


GPX Overlays

 

GPX overlays put labelling and symbols over either a raster map or a vector chart.  You can choose whether to display the content of an individual GPX file or to display the contents of all the GPX files in the Chart files directory.  GPX files have the file extension .GPX.  The GPX files define labelled points, such as reporting points, navaids or airports but there is no graphic capability.  Accordingly, to show airways and reporting points in a scalable way, you will need both the .OUT files files for the graphic and .GPX files for the labels.

(from Bev's post in the Plane Plotter Yahoo group)

 

Downloading maps

 

Background

 

[Information originally supplied by Dan Henry in the PlanePlotter group.]

 

All users of Bev's COAA software (just not PP) have always been using COAA's own MapQuest key for access to their OSM Open Street Maps products.  In early 2021 this has caused problems because we have been exceeding the number of free charts that MapQuest allows.  That limit is 15,000 per month.

It is very easy for anyone to obtain their very own personal MapQuest key that will give you 15,000 free charts per month.  You do NOT have to be a software developer or provide any detail except for basic name and e-mail to obtain a key.  There is no credit card required to get a free account.  If you go over the limit (not likely) it will just stop working.

Anyone that does not get a free MapQuest key will continue using Bev's key as now.  That might or not continue to work.

 

MapQuest Maps

 

Directions to get a personal MapQuest key:

 

  1. Go to the MapQuest site: https://developer.mapquest.com/plans
     
  2. Look at the far left and locate the "FREE 15,000 transactions per month $0 per month" option and select the "Get Started" button.
     
  3. Enter the required info: Notes below for two items.
    Username:  Can be anything.  Possibly use your FirstLast and a few numbers to be unique.  Anything you like.
    Company: Can be anything.  You do NOT have to have a company or be a software developer.  I just used "DanHenry" as my company name.
    The "terms and conditions" and "privacy policy" seem very standard to me.  Most of that would only even be a factor if you used your account and actually logged in to the MapQuest web site for online use.  I only intend to use the key within PP.
    [x] You do have to accept the terms.
    [ ] You do NOT have to accept e-mail updates.  They will send you one welcome e-mail either way.
    Select "Sign Me Up" at the bottom.
  4. I am not positive, since I created my account on 01 March 2021, but I believe the next screen you see will be the "Manage Keys" one linked below.  If not, you can find "Manage Keys" on the left side menu once you are logged in.
    https://developer.mapquest.com/user/me/apps
  5. Your new account will automatically have a key assigned to "My Application".  That "My Application" will automatically have a MapQuest key that will work within PP.  If you want to keep things very simple and just use this one key, select the arrow to the far right of "My Application" to see the details.

    The field labeled "Consumer Key"  xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, is the MapQuest key that you will need to copy/paste in to the new version of PP which supports it.  You will NOT be using the "Consumer Secret" value at all.

    See PP "Options.. Chart.. MapQuestKey.." and enter your personal "Consumer Key".

    Note:  If you enter your personal key, PP will use yours.  If the MapQuest key is blank, it will use Bev's which has a free limit of 15,000 / month.  That is how PP works now.
  6. Highly suggest you add your MapQuest username, password, e-mail used, and MapQuest key value to wherever you store your other important password and account details.
     

Optional key use:

  1. If you prefer, you could select [x] edit and change the "My Application Key" info.  That would let you change the name to something like "PlanePlotter".  Just leave the "Callback URL" field blank.  There is no reason or real advantage to changing this for most users.
  2. If you prefer, you could also select "Create a New Key".  This would let you create another key named PlanePlotter.  Again, just leave the "Callback URL" field blank.  This is mainly for advanced users that would like to use different keys for different purposes.  The keys can later be revoked if needed.


Note: You only need one key for PP.  For most that will be the default key created under "My Application Keys".  If you do create other keys, they are all grouped together under your single account and all use the free 15,000 transactions per month you have.
 

Google Maps

 

Getting a key is rather more complex, so here's Dan's original post.  https://groups.io/g/planeplotter/message/116585
 

 

What charts do I have?

 

How to find out what charts you have in your chart directory, and what areas the charts cover?  It's easy if you use the View|Chart Index menu option.

 

This option toggles the display of the chart index overlay.  If you turn on this option, the current chart or outline will display red boxes indicating the area covered by each of the calibrated chart files that are to be found in the currently defined chart directory.  You can zoom in to resolve any confusion if the boxes overlap.  You can double click on top left corner (only) of any of the red boxes to open that particular chart.  In this way, you can discover previously downloaded Satellite, Open Street Map or Google Map charts that were stored with anonymous date/time file names.

(From Bev's post.)

 

History button in Aircraft Position Report

 

When clicked the History button writes a GPX file of the recent track for the aircraft selected which shows on the current chart.

 

How do I delete the flight track history of an aircraft from showing on PlanePlotter?

 

"This problem has occurred since I noticed a "History" button on an Aircraft position report window (having right clicked an aircraft); now I'd not noticed this button before the recent version (6.4.6.5).

I clicked it and after a short pause it came up with a trail for that aircraft's previous routes. Useful I thought so I tried on another aircraft with the same result and after several more I thought my screen was getting a bit cluttered, so how to get rid of them? Stopping PP and reopening it, they still appeared and after some experimentation (and now noticing my waypoints etc had disappeared) tried F8 which did indeed get rid of them. On further checking the Charts folder, I see PP had created several GPX files relating to those particular aircraft I'd tried; oh well I thought, just delete them from the folder and my  AirportsSample file would work as expected, having tried to ensure it was the one chosen in options - Chart - GPX overlay - Define a GPX...., but this wasn't the case and still steadfastly refuses to show.

 

Interestingly I also saw that having clicked the History button on a particular aircraft, the posrep window closes, but reopens as soon as you click Options in the toolbar.

 

Is this a bug, or, probably more likely, something silly I'm doing, in which

case "kerching?" I do love PP and the way it's constantly evolving, but this

oldie finds it difficult to keep tack of every innovation!

 

Best regards

Tim"

 

 

"Hi Tim

 

When you download the history track for an aircraft, it goes into the chart files directory and, importantly, it puts PP into the state where that overlay is explicitly selected.

 

To choose which GPX tracks are, or are not, displayed, select the following:

Options...Chart....GPX overlay...Select GPX files to plot There is a scrollable list of all the GPX files in the chart folder. Click on any of them to highlight or unhighlight (!) each of them and then click OK

The ones that you highlighted, will be displayed and the others will not.

Having done that, F8 will toggle the chosen few. At least that is what is supposed to happen.

 

Regards

Bev

COAA"