Development Contribution

[Neil]

The apps4av website said to "contact us" in this forum to ask about helping with development. Is this the right way to do it or am I missing something? I didn't see any way to contact individuals.

Please let me know and I can continue the post. Thanks!

[Apps4av Support]

Hi Neil

Welcome. What would you like to develop?

Thanks

Zubair

On Tue, Sep 27, 2022, 9:02 AM Neil <aerod...@gmail.com> wrote:

The apps4av website said to "contact us" in this forum to ask about helping with development. Is this the right way to do it or am I missing something? I didn't see any way to contact individuals.

Please let me know and I can continue the post. Thanks!

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[Frank van der Hulst]

Hi,

I'm new to Avare (using XCSoar for several years, but not a glider pilot) and interested in helping with development. In particular, I would like to see New Zealand maps on Avare, and support for the Ping-USB ADSB-in device. To get maps, I suggest that getting maps from OpenAIP is a good approach to get aviation charts for many countries (including NZ). This is what XCSoar is now doing. 

Fwiw, I have written an ADSB-in Java Android moving map that works more or less adequately,  talking to Ping-USB. I have been using this for several months so the ADSB-in code is quite well tested, and should probably work with Stratux and other similar WiFi GDL90 devices. However, I would rather contribute to a more capable moving map than continue my solo effort. 

My professional background  is in real-time embedded systems development back in the 80s and 90s. More recently, I've been developing Windows C# web/cloud apps in a Github team environment. Languages are various shades of C, VB, Java, and dabbled in Kotlin. I have also made a couple of small contributions to XCSoar, and written some NZ map-creation software. I'm now approaching retirement so looking for interesting and useful software development projects. 

So, after that long spiel, how can I find out more about Avare and join the team?

Frank

[John W 4sba]

> interested in helping with development. ...New Zealand maps on Avare

As you probably know, converting non-FAA charts and other materials for
Avare compatibility is a significant an ongoing task. So your interest
in helping is a great place to start. Having personally had the joy of
flying several times in both main islands during a trip to that
magnificent country, I'd love to see NZ charts at least.

You may also be aware that many countries (actually all non-US countries
I'm aware of) have proprietary materials that are fee based. Since the
Avare apps are all free, there's been no way to afford those materials.
Do you know if NZ materials are free for inclusion in fee open source apps?

> support for the Ping-USB ADSB-in device.

If you have or can access technical details on that device, there are
probably ways that can be done - even if with a custom compile of Avare.

> maps from OpenAIP

I like this idea, with the clear disclaimer that they are probably not
legal for primary navigation anywhere. When I fly short distances into
Canada, it's by combining Avare with paper official charts and
materials. Is that the sort of usage you have in mind for NZ?

I'm excited to learn about your interest in contributing your expertise,
and look forward to your involvement. Feel free to contact me off-list
if there's anything I could do to help.

Thank you!
John Wiley

[Peter A. Gustafson]

Hi Frank, welcome.

To get NZ charts in, first could you start by investigating in more detail how to access openAIP data?

If you want charts (which we do via tiles), can you find georefferenced charts? Or even premade tiles? Superficially, it looked like their map on the website uses mapbox tiles with an overlay of vector aviation data.  We would not be able to use mapbox tiles. It is certainly possible that the vector data could be combined with something like openstreetmap data to form tiles.

Then next would be how to bulk download data into a standardized format (such as xml, csv, etc).

If you can find some of this info, I can then help you start to digest the data.  FWIW this will be a very limited amount of coding in the app, and is mostly done with the backend database processing code.

If you are motivated to in-app coding, then perhaps start by trying to implement airspace boundaries as vector overlays onto the charts.  Separate discussion, and I'm not best to lead it.

Pete

PS: I've done some limited work in the past using https://www.openflightmaps.org/.  This never hit the app because the individual countries were at very different levels of completeness, and further there was limited database info beyond the tiles (e.g., VFR charts).  Thus, you couldn't easily set waypoints and destinations etc.  Based on the initial work, I didn't feel the work required would yield enough fruit.  Somebody who has vested interest in another country will get much further. :)