Interactive map?

[Muddy]

I got this "interactive map" of Stalengrad from someplace "can't remember" but was wondering if there are other maps to cover other areas . ie Moscow.?

 

Works awesome with iPad on in expert mode as you can plot your course and a decent map to work from while flying. If you know where you are you can plot a course with speed and time to anyplace and get there with little or no problem. ie mission deviation .

 

Also I don't know if this map serves another purpose, if it does then please infor me.

Thanks for your time as always.

 

[Muddy]

Alright, egg on my face, however maybe some are not aware of these maps and maybe should be pinned

 

" http://il2map.info/ "

Search "il2 Ruler"

Edited April 6, 2016 by Muddy17

[curiousGamblerr]

I'm also working on a similar tool at il2missionplanner.com, heavily inspired by NobbyNob's Ruler tool. It's still a work in progress, but will support Moscow and other maps soon enough (just Stalingrad for now while I get the basic idea down).

 

Mobile compatibility is a priority since I know many pilots would prefer to have the map on an iPad like you mentioned.

 

I plan on opening a thread in the 3rd party apps subforum once the MVP is done in a week or two, but feel free to check it out now. Feedback is always appreciated.

Edited April 6, 2016 by curiousGamblerr

[Asgar]

looking forward to it mate. sounds like a great tool for us attacker/bomber pilots 

edit: just had a quick look on website. handling the tools seems quite easy. i like the way how easy you can existing waypoints . maybe the font on waypoints could be a bit bigger. looking forward to using it on my ipad in the future!
 

and i don't know if you're aware. someone made a stalingrad map with detailed airfields (heading of the runways, taxi ways) i can see if i can find it and post it. i think that's a useful thing to include

Edited April 6, 2016 by 6./ZG26_Asgar

[curiousGamblerr]

Thanks for the feedback! I can definitely tweak the fonts, and the text styling in general hasn't gotten proper treatment yet. 

 

I have seen that big PDF of airfields and one of the features I plan to work on immediately after the first "release" is adding the airfield info to the map. I wanted to get the basic flight plan mechanic down first, but I agree the airfields will be very useful.

 

I'd say airfield reference and supporting other maps are my two top priorities after the basic flight planning mechanics are done.

 

Thanks again for taking a look!

[216th_Xenos]

Looks really nice, kind of like the fonts where they are at already.

 

Would also be good to add wind speed/direction for long haul navigational purposes. 

[curiousGamblerr]

Looks really nice, kind of like the fonts where they are at already.

 

Would also be good to add wind speed/direction for long haul navigational purposes. 

 

How would you prefer the wind piece to work? Just the ability to add a wind a wind direction/speed indicator somewhere on the map for reference? (NobbyNob's Ruler tool has this ability if you click the wind sock icon on the top right)

[216th_Xenos]

Yep, that's what I was referring to I believe.

 

I think it actually changes the flight path slightly to account for the wind. 

[curiousGamblerr]

A few quick tests on Nobby's tool indicate the flight path doesn't change as a result of wind (I tried both getting it to speed up/slow down with tail/head wind as well as pushing it to the side with crosswind). I think calculating that with any level of accuracy would be very difficult anyway (the shape of individual planes would make a difference, among other factors).

 

I can totally at least provide the ability to note the wind speed and direction on the map, however, without changing the flight path. That way pilots could be made aware e.g. that while you're heading 270 for 100km, there's a cross wind so you will drift south if you aren't careful.

 

Thanks for the feedback!

[216th_Xenos]

Ah fair enough, disregard what i said then

[curiousGamblerr]

 

 

disregard

 

Never! I appreciate all feedback! 

[-TBC-AeroAce]

Calculating devation due to wind is quite easy and is not a function of the aircraft's physical shape. You only need to know your heading and speed and the wind strength and direction to calculate it

[curiousGamblerr]

Calculating devation due to wind is quite easy and is not a function of the aircraft's physical shape. You only need to know your heading and speed and the wind strength and direction to calculate it

 

Some googling suggests you might be right, and it's actually just a simple case of vector arithmetic.

 

That said, it's completely counter intuitive to me that wind deviation is not a function of aircraft shape. Take a cross wind at 90 degrees- it seems like an aircraft with a fuselage cross section like this <> would create less air resistance than one shaped like this [-] and therefore deviate less over time as result of the cross wind. So if you have any good links to provide insight I would appreciate it!

 

Also, while a simple wind indicator on the map is no problem in the short term, even if calculating wind correction is "easy" it will probably still be a ways down the priority list as far as the tool is concerned. Mainly because it's unnecessary for most flights. But I would love to get it in there eventually for long range bombers.

 

Edit: Even more googling suggests that aircraft shape does make a difference, but given the complexity of hydrodynamics such a calculation is practically impossible and the difference is so slight simple vector addition is enough. But again, going to be a while before I'm thinking about implementing this in the tool.

Edited April 6, 2016 by curiousGamblerr

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

Gave the app a go today, I like it! Keep up the good work

[curiousGamblerr]

Gave the app a go today, I like it! Keep up the good work

Thanks Lucas! I pushed some updates this morning- almost ready to unveil it officially :D

[Asgar]

since i saw you got some mixed feedback on the fonts. i still think it should be adjusted. maybe making it bold would be sufficient. right now, under the right (or wrong however you look at it ) circumstances you can't read any of the information

 

aside from that, your tool is perfect. 

Edited April 7, 2016 by 6./ZG26_Asgar

[curiousGamblerr]

Thanks for the feedback Asgar. I haven't had a chance to play with the fonts since you mentioned it, but I see they are way too small in your screenshot. Would you mind telling me what OS and browser you're using? And also, is your screen resolution very large? 

 

I can adjust the font sizes and other things based on the resolution of the device being used, and different devices could account for the different feedback.

 

Another thing I want to look into down the line is some logic to prevent the text from overlapping with the lines and stuff, which will help some as well.

 

Edit: I was able to achieve results as poor as your screenshot on my actual gaming PC's big non-retina monitor. I never put the map on that screen so it didn't occur to me, but I'm glad I'm able to recreate it because now I can fix it :D

Edited April 8, 2016 by curiousGamblerr

[Asgar]

just so you have something to compare to. i used it on 1080p 27" monitor, google chrome on Windows 10

[curiousGamblerr]

I bumped up the font size 20% for displays over 1600px wide and bolded it in general- let me know how that works for you.

 

In general I'm not completely satisfied with the text on the map yet, but that should at least make it usable on large screens.

[Asgar]

looks good. i think that's a great improvement. 

I don't know how difficult that would be, but maybe it would be possible to show the compass number while setting waypoints? i feel like that would be useful

Edited April 8, 2016 by 6./ZG26_Asgar

[curiousGamblerr]

looks good. i think that's a great improvement. 

 

I don't know how difficult that would be, but maybe it would be possible to show the compass number while setting waypoints? i feel like that would be useful

Yeah I would like that. The drawing is built off of a plugin for the underlying map library I used, so a solution is not obvious but I'll eventually see if I can bolt that on. There's a bug in that plugin's touch capabilities that caused me to have to disable editing on touch devices, so I'll be digging in that code eventually anyway. 

[curiousGamblerr]

I opened a thread for the tool here if you want to move this conversation over there