AvareX: alternative options on top scroll, CSup format, preferences?

[solkatzman]

Flying a 1946 Cessna 140, day VFR only, which may explain my suggestions/requests.

1) Can alternative choices be made available for the info on the top scroll? Such as:

 ETE, ETA to Next. ETE, ETA to Dest. Track (I assume that MH is literally heading).

  Time of local Sunset/Sunrise. Local time instead of UTC

2) Can we get the same CSup display as in Avare Classic? As an option when an airport is pressed? Or a submenu under Plate. What I am really missing is Traffic Pattern Altitude. But in general, the text only format of Avare Classic was very easy to parse.

3) I am surprised that there are no preferences for the app. One that I really need is statute vs nautical units. My ASI is MPH. Hard to think about the wind when GS is displayed in kts. Similarly for Distance to next, etc.

4) Traffic. Just installed a uAvionix SkySensor recently so have only had experience  with traffic in Avare Classic. I loved seeing the N-numbers moving on the screen. Much better than needing to press an icon (as noted in another conversation -- will go flying soon with AvareX but had tried IflyEFB, and pressing anything on the screen is less desirable).

5) Also are there filters for traffic? By distance and altitude?

I'm very excited to try out the new app in actual flight!

Thanks for all the hard work!

Sol Katzman

[solkatzman]

Went flying with AvareX yesterday. Here is some more feedback/requests/suggestions.

Previously noted issues:

1) CSup text display?

2) Option for statute miles units?

3) Flight Info alternatives?  (e.g, ETE, ETA, Sunset, Local time)

Issues noted in light turbulence in a Cessna 140 with an 8 inch tablet on the copilot yoke.

4) No indication of self-aircraft position on moving map unless Nav layer is on

 (But Nav layer adds to clutter; obscures other traffic. I might just be out sightseeing

  or practicing stalls. I did try the trick of using a "Blank" flight plan)

5) Traffic icons in colors green, blue, gray? Is there a manual or help somewhere to decode this?

6) Press on traffic icon shows altitude. Is this pressure altitude? Needs to be compared to ALT

   in the flight info box, which is also presumably pressure altitude? It is much more preferable

  to have relative altitude shown (and an indication of climbing or descending), to avoid mental effort.

7) It is more desirable to have the N-number shown without a press on the icon. Actual use case:

   "White cherokee" reports left crosswind with me inbound on the 45. "White cherokee,

    are you 72348?" I don't want to be distracted trying to get my finger on the tiny icon with

   numerous other aircraft in the pattern. If traffic can be filtered by distance and relative altitude,

   just the N-number and relative altitude would not take up much space.

8) What is the function of the button to the left of the layers button. Looks like a compass for

   measuring distance, but I couldn't see any effect when it was actuated. Seems to be related

   to distance rings, but the order of pressing it and enabling Nav layer is not independent?

   Maybe that's a bug?

9) What does UPT mean?

Well, I hope this feedback is useful. I know this takes an incredible amount of effort, which I truly appreciate.

Sol Katzman

[David Durst]

8) What is the function of the button to the left of the layers button. Looks like a compass for

   measuring distance, but I couldn't see any effect when it was actuated. Seems to be related

   to distance rings, but the order of pressing it and enabling Nav layer is not independent?

   Maybe that's a bug?

This is a measuring tool, once you click it you then click on the map for a starting point and then click again on the map for the ending point and you will get distance in NM and heading from point A to point B

9) What does UPT mean?

Not sure what it means but looks to be some type of stopwatch, press one time  and counting starts and then press second time to stop

[solkatzman]

Thanks for the comments about UPT and the measuring tool. Haven't figured it out yet.

But I do want to thank the developers for some other updates!

Went flying today with a very recent version of AvareX and saw:

1) ETE and ETA flight information boxes along the top -- apparently to the Destination (not to Next)

2) MH box changed to MT -- so I speculate that it was Magnetic Track all along (not Magnetic Heading).

Sol Katzman

[Apps4av Support]

ETA ete should be from current location to next in plan. 

Thanks

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[solkatzman]

Sorry to complain, but in my opinion, it is much more important to have

the ETA/ETE to the final destination to know if I will get there:

a) before sunset

b) before I run out of fuel

c) before the FBO closes

d) before the thunderstorm arrives

e) before someone in the plane runs out of bladder capacity

f) etc.

I can always temporarily set the destination to the next waypoint if I need that info

(but it would be nice to be able to have either next or dest easily available to display,

or have both and call them ETAD(est) and ETAN(ext), for example).

Sol

[Jeffrey Ross]

Sol,

One thing I have learned with helping support Avare and now AvareX is everybody has a very different idea of how things should work.  It becomes more obvious when you ask a back country pilot that does a lot of off airport stuff who's IFR is literally "I Follow Roads/Rivers" vs a VFR weekend warrior pilot flying around looking for the next $100 hamburger vs the IFR pilot trying to navigate busy airspace and everything else in-between.  When you look at all different users trying to make the software fit their ideal model you see why it is difficult to please everybody.

I do not disagree with your idea of ETA/ETE which are almost but not quite mutually exclusive, but I feel that time to next is important and should also be presented over the time to destination.  In an IFR environment I want to know time and distance to my next waypoint, yes my arrival time is important too but for that I can flip to the plan screen and see the time there as it shouldn't change that much.  On a VFR direct to flight my next waypoint will usually be my destination so the waypoint time is my ETE.   Maybe the next waypoint time shouldn't be called "ETA" or "ETE", maybe our own acronym "ETN" for "Estimated Time to Next" makes more sense?  Maybe to conserve space on the top row forget the "ETN" header and have the data boxes do double duty?  For example instead of a box that says Next with the waypoint name, put the waypoint name and underneath it put the time? say you were going to "BOYER" intersection/waypoint and it was 5 min 30 seconds away.   That would save one box and give valuable information to the pilot.

BOYER in
  5:30

or maybe

BOYER in
  5m30s

Zubair?  Doable???

Going back to the arrival time the question is, should it give me hours/min/sec from now, or the actual time based upon the tablets timezone or UTC?  ETA for time of day and ETE for hours/min/sec on route?

Believe me Zubair and I have had discussions about certain features sometimes he's agreed with me other times not.  Right now the "nice to have" features are going to take longer vs the must have functionality along with the usability of the software itself.  I know one of the goals is to reduce as much the total number of configuration options, time will tell how many options will be required.

This is why feedback is so important as it helps shape the application so not only can it be usable but include the important and nice to have features and information but to also present it in a manner that is easily digestible and easily accessible without data overload.

Jeff

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[solkatzman]

Dear Jeff,

Thanks for the excellent comments. I totally understand that there are tradeoffs. My sense from watching the YouTube video was that AvareX was emphasizing a lot of the IFR stuff, which is why I prefaced this conversation with my VFR credentials. I haven't flown IFR in

something like 30 years, but I actually have a CFII, which I keep refreshing every 2 years so I keep in touch. Also, in another lifetime I  designed CPU hardware for about 20 years so I know about development and testing issues and the need to keep options to a minimum. For the last 20 years I have been doing bioinformatics, so I have seen a lot of open source software tools.

Having Avare in the cockpit has been a wonderful experience. I am trying to help make AvareX equally great. The major inflection points in my flying career have been:

1) GPS (I'm still flying with the GPS III Pilot on my glareshield with its 1 1/2 inch by 2 1/2 inch screen)

2) Moving maps on a tablet (yay Avare)

3) ADSB-IN (just got my uAvionix skySensor installed at the last annual)

I suppose I am old fashioned, but the solid little buttons on the GPS Pilot are so much better than having to find and press an icon somewhere on a tablet screen while the airplane is bouncing around. Not the fault of AvareX; someday tablets and phones will have solid buttons too!

Sol Katzman