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Norman
02-20-2013, 04:20 AM
I have the Europe PocketFMS (PFMS) data working on the AF5600 after a bit of too and throwing with excellent support from both PFMS and AFS. You must be running the latest version of AFS - AF5000VX8.16.08-MV16 Updated 02-15-2013 from:
http://www.advanced-flight-systems.com/Support/AF-5600/AF5600support.html

As PFMS pointed out the PFMS Dataset does NOT contain maps; it contains data on airspaces, airports, obstacles, frequencies and such. You use the Jeppesen under lying map still dated Jan 2011 downloadable from AFS web store (free), but as it only seems to show countries/sea/rivers, not a problem.

On a first look, and a 40 minute flight it looks like a good improvement. My local area matches the official CAA maps, and a local reporting point MALBY (the most used airways joining point in the area) was missing on the Jeppesen, but is on the PFMS. Also there are several military and gliding fields marked on the PFMS that are missing on Jep.

Below is a screen shot of the AF5600 running PFMS and the AF4500 running Jep, both are with the latest cycle:

AF5600 - PFMS
126

AF4500 - Jeppesen
127

A good example of the difference is the ‘Nearest’ the PFMS has picked up several useable airfields, some military and several gliding sites:

128

Well done all.

stickandrudderman
02-20-2013, 01:34 PM
Looking good Norman!

Roegge
02-21-2013, 09:19 AM
Brilliant - now we just have to wait "a few days" until the new 4500-release will come, right? ;-)

Rob Hickman
02-21-2013, 12:36 PM
Ken has a beta test version with it working on the AF-4500. Email Info@Advanced-Flight-Systems.com to get it.

Norman
02-21-2013, 01:43 PM
The colours are probably obvious but it would be nice to have a official legend.

stickandrudderman
02-21-2013, 05:25 PM
Yes, the legend is something I've tried to get from Jep but have failed.

Norman
02-22-2013, 02:33 AM
I think both Jep and Pocket FMS just supply the raw data, AFS then interprets it.

madenau
02-22-2013, 06:43 AM
Can we expect to get the map data (rivers, highways cities) from PFMS later as well?

Michael

Rob Hickman
02-22-2013, 11:13 AM
I will have Shawn check with PFMS to see what is available and if we can use it.

lancair390
04-04-2013, 06:37 AM
Hi Rob,
I will switch to PFMS by end of this months.
With the Jepp Data my runway (LOIJ) will not be displayed on the SV.
The airport itself will be displayed on the map.
Will I see the runway with PFMS under SV mode?

Christian

Rob Hickman
04-04-2013, 08:40 AM
Only if the runway endpoints are in the PocketFMS data. We will be at Aero in Germany in 3 weeks and plan on meeting with PocketFMS.

I will get Shawn to check LOIJ

lancair390
04-04-2013, 10:47 AM
I'm very happy that PFMS is integrated in the EFIS.

Looking forward to meet you there!

Christian

Shawn McGinnis
04-04-2013, 05:46 PM
Here is a shot of LOIJ on a 4500 running PocketFMS. LOIJ is part of the LOVV FIR.
136

lancair390
04-05-2013, 04:10 AM
Thank you Shawn for the picture!
Now I can't miss my home airport ;-)

Christian

flyvans.com
04-06-2013, 05:05 AM
Success!

Home Runway LSZF, now with the displaced threshhold in the Synthetic Vision.

142

Mounz
04-09-2013, 03:33 AM
Hmmmm! So if I understand correctly we have to use the old Jeppesen base map with the aeronautical data that comes from Pocket FMS. What are the legal ramifications? Is the unlimited use of the Jeppesen base map covered by the one-time purchase of the AFS mapping software? I just see too many documentaries here about people getting letters from lawyers demanding huge sums of money for unknowingly violating data rights. My understanding was that the European base map for download on the AFS website is a Jeppesen map and is made available as a building block to be supplemented by the rest of the package once you've paid your subscription to Jeppesen. I don't want to pee in the beer barrel and spoil the party but I also don't want to be the recipient of an unwelcome letter.

Could someone throw a little light on this matter. I too would love to use the pocket FMS data.

Rob Hickman
04-12-2013, 06:00 AM
The base map data is not from Jeppesen, AFS builds, owns, and maintains it. We built it originally to support the Jeppesen Nav data.

Mounz
04-12-2013, 09:38 AM
I'm elated to hear that! Thanks Rob, it's good to know there are no issues on this score and a wonderful base map it is. So I guess I just have to add the Pocket FMS data. See you at Friederichshafen in ten days then.

stickandrudderman
04-14-2013, 11:27 PM
Over on the PocketFMS forum I posted a question aboout loading a flight plan.




So, does that mean I can now construct a flight plan with multiple waypoints on my desktop PC and the load it on to my AFS4500 via the SD card?
stickandrudderman Posts: 4Joined: Sun Apr 14, 2013 13:36

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Re: AFS (Advanced Flight Systems) EFIS Export success :-)

by rongrenfell » Mon Apr 15, 2013 2:27

There's no specific FP export to AFS. What format do they use for FP's? If it's GPX based, there is a GPX export in PocketFMS now and EasyVFR in the next version

Anyone know tha answer?

Rob Hickman
04-15-2013, 08:24 AM
Over on the PocketFMS forum I posted a question aboout loading a flight plan.



Anyone know tha answer?

The AF-5000 systems will load and display a .GPX file from the SD card.

stickandrudderman
04-15-2013, 12:17 PM
But not the 4500?
If I had a GNS430 would I be able to crossfill from that to the 4500?
I'm not suggesting that I can upload a flight plan from PocketFMS to the 430, I'm just trying to establish the path. If the 4500 will accept a crossfill then maybe there's a way to simulate that data as if it did come from a 430?

Rob Hickman
04-15-2013, 01:18 PM
The AF-4500 will not read a .GPX file. All of the EFIS systems will display the flight plan from a 430W

stickandrudderman
04-20-2013, 08:33 AM
I'm struggling to get my head around this.



So, AIUI, PocketFMS will create an exporting flight plan in.GPX format.

The AFS 4500 will notaccept/read a .GPX file via the SD card

But the AFS 4500will accept a flight plan from a GNS430 via a serial port.

If a flight plan on a GNS430 is in the form of a .GPX file why can't I import a flight plan to the AFS 4500 from an SD crad via a serial port using some kind of emulator or card reader?
stickandrudderman Posts: 8Joined: Sun Apr 14, 2013 13:36

Rob Hickman
04-20-2013, 11:29 AM
The 430w flight plan is sent to the 4500 using the serial rs232 port in Aviation format.

madenau
04-23-2013, 05:35 AM
Can we expect to get the map data (rivers, highways cities) from PFMS later as well?

Michael

Any news here?

Michael

stickandrudderman
04-23-2013, 10:49 AM
The info you require is already here in this forum AIUI.

Rob Hickman
04-27-2013, 01:44 AM
I am currently at Aero in Germany and we are talking to them about additional data.

stickandrudderman
05-02-2013, 03:35 PM
I have to say that the adoption of PocketFMS map data has been an enormous improvement, thanks guys!

lancair390
05-05-2013, 12:57 PM
I'm very pleased with PocketFMS map data!
Now I can see all this small airfields which you can't see on the Jepesen data and for a very small price we get monthly updates.
thank you Rob!

Skeez
07-31-2013, 11:09 AM
I am currently at Aero in Germany and we are talking to them about additional data.

Howd it go?

Also wondering about VFR approach charts and airports that comes in the Dynon SkyView Version 7.0 for europe, will you also add this now?

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs150/1108917019401/archive/1114196745848.html

Rob Hickman
08-06-2013, 09:56 AM
We do plan in adding the same data that Dynon is using to the AF-5000.

stickandrudderman
09-28-2013, 10:52 AM
I have been unable fly since May but am now back in the air again and starting to try out the Pocket FMS mapping data.
Before I start I confess that I haven't uploaded any software updates since before May but I thought I'd mention this in case no-one else has noticed it:
So, two flights from Denham EGLD and two data errors.
1. I entered a direct to to EGFE Haverford west and the GPS pointed me to some place in the direction of Iceland. I tried it on the PocketFMS desktop and it found the correct airfield.
2 I entered a direct to "BNN", a VOR just north of EGLD and it directs me to somewhere in Norway. It does the same on the desktop.
Stick

Shawn McGinnis
09-28-2013, 09:47 PM
What version of PocketFMS are you running? Make sure you are using the latest version 2.0.6 http://members.pocketfms.com/WebProgramDownloads/PocketFMS_2.0.6.exe

If you are running 2.0.6, can send me your export report and map file I'll take a look into it.

stickandrudderman
10-02-2013, 02:39 AM
Having briefly checked I see that my PocketFMS data is still a beta version (MV16EV01BETA) so that might be the problem
In case it's not and so as to preserve the problem on this site for anyone's future reference here's how it looks on my screen when I try to enter BNN, a VOR just a few miles from my home airfield and clearly shown graphically on the map.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ypulv6w8bv2eudi/2013-09-30%2009.06.47.jpg

stickandrudderman
10-07-2013, 12:05 PM
Update:
This weekend something strange happened; when I fired up my two screens the horizon on both screens was angles at some 30°. They slowly righted themselves but I've never seen this before.
I installed the latest AFS software version and which appeared to go as planned but then one of my screens just showed a blue screen whilst the other showed as normal.
I then tried installing the latest map data from PFMS and although the "no map card" sign disappeared it was replaced by "GPS integrity".
So, I'm having a good time.


https://www.dropbox.com/s/49cnlzki3zuba05/main%20screen.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1lyx3qvba9kar4m/additional%20screen.jpg

stickandrudderman
10-09-2013, 01:46 AM
Shawn, (or anyone else for that matter), could you explain how I go about extracting the report and map file please?

Rob Hickman
10-09-2013, 09:09 AM
I could not get your pictures to load... The GPS Integrity flag should be coming from the GPS. What GPS do you have and did it have a good signal?

Shawn McGinnis
10-09-2013, 09:18 AM
PocketFMS data is still a beta version (MV16EV01BETA) To start off you will need to update your PocketFMS to the latest version 2.0.6 http://members.pocketfms.com/WebProgramDownloads/PocketFMS_2.0.6.exe

Then if you File -> EFIS AeroData Export -> Advanced Flight Systems
At the end of this process you will create two files in the location you picked. One is the map file "AF2MAPFM.AFM" and the other is an "Export Report.txt"

Shawn McGinnis
10-10-2013, 12:40 PM
I entered a direct to "BNN", a VOR just north of EGLD and it directs me to somewhere in Norway. It does the same on the desktop.
Stick

There is a duplicate name for BNN in your database.

BNN found
(N) BNN*1 VOR-DME (BNN)
Bronnoy
N65.45705 / E12.21434
Freq:115.30 MHz AMSL:680 MagVar:1


BNN found
(N) BNN*2 VOR-DME (BNN)
Bovingdon
N51.72611 / W0.54972
Freq:113.75 MHz AMSL:5000 MagVar:-2


If you never fly in Norway, remove ENOR from your database. For each FIR you add to the list you will find more duplicates in the database. I would suggest exporting only the FIR regions that plan to fly in.

stickandrudderman
10-10-2013, 02:49 PM
Thanks Shawn.

Since I am unlikely to fly in or to Norway then I guess I'll delete Bronnoy/ENOR.
Not sure that helps anyone with wider ambitions though.

stickandrudderman
10-11-2013, 06:45 AM
This is what the guys at Pocket FMS have to say:


In all modest honesty I think AFS should provide a solution for those duplicate ID's; as [a] minimum pick the one closest to your current location . If the only solution is to remove FIRs then that would be uncomfortable, specially if you go fly in Europe mainland, France for example, where there are many Airfields with the same VFR reporting point ID (N,NW,S,W etc are very commonly used) .


Comments please.

stickandrudderman
10-12-2013, 02:50 AM
I've edited my image links from a few posts above so they should work. That problem seems to have resolved itself now but I'd be interested to know more about the blue screen.

Another issue I've had is a rather cluttered screen:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0aljfxnbn5scv9q/2013-10-09%2009.18.21.jpg

stickandrudderman
10-14-2013, 12:07 PM
No comments?

Shawn McGinnis
10-14-2013, 12:44 PM
PocketFMS has brought many new requirements that was never supported by the 4,000 series software. We are currently looking into adding support for non-unique identifiers to the 4,000 series code that would select the nearest waypoint. I am unable to provide an ETA on this feature at this time.

stickandrudderman
10-17-2013, 12:11 PM
Shawn, thanks for that. I remain puzzled though as to why the screen in the image linked earlier is so cluttered where it wasn't like that before I installed the latest map data and software.
Here's what the guys at PFMS have to say:

Think of it like this. PocketFMS just provides a full and complete list of data - airfield locations and names, airspace geometry, etc. Nothing more, nothing less.
Geography determines where these items should appear on the screen, but it is the EFIS which determines what font size to use for text, where to put labels relative to the related symbol, how many lines to split text over, and indeed whether to display symbols and/or text or whether (to avoid clutter) some information should not be displayed. PocketFMS has no control over how the panel displays our data. If you looked at the same area in PocketFMS you might see a less cluttered display because the PocketFMS display software manages these aspects differently, but we have no way of enforcing our display logic onto the panel software, as that software is entirely developed by AFS. The only way we could declutter your display would be to reduce the number of airfields, etc, in our database, but we have no idea which airfields you might want to use and I'm sure you would be unhappy if you tried to plan to an airfield only to find we had decided not to include it!

Now, I accept that the data is presenting some management problems with the 4000 series and I hope that you can provide a solution so that non-unique IDs can be handled but, as you can see from the image above, my screen has now become pretty much illegible. perhaps it's a font size issue too? Iseem to recall that one of the features of the software upgrade was a change in fonts.
Colin

Shawn McGinnis
10-21-2013, 11:30 AM
The issue was actually a problem with the beta version of the PocketFMS export software. We had some issues with large airspaces overrunning our vertex counts. Basically you were not seeing all the data available when running the old software. You are now seeing all the data that is being output by PocketFMS.

stickandrudderman
10-21-2013, 11:57 AM
Oh!..........

Peter Pengilly
12-29-2013, 03:11 PM
Flew a reasonable distance today with the PocketFMS database for the first time - what a huge improvement over the Jepp data (for Europe).
Thanks for implementing!!
Peter