How much does a cloud weigh?
Dear Beta Testers,
We are delighted to inform you that the next big EasyVFR 4 beta update is ready for you to download. We have tried to address as many suggestions and issues possible, and added many new functionalities we would like to show you in this newsletter. But first...
We can not stress enough how pleased we are with all the feedback an suggestions you sent us! Although we can not reply to everyone who filled the survey or posted on the forum, we do read everything you report! So keep up the good work.
Because of the size of this beta update, we would like to share some insights on the new stuff and improvements that were implemented. After reading this newsletter you will know what you can expect and where to look for during testing.
It's a ten minutes read and will even contain some kind of a roadmap you asked for.
GRAMET-like WX in the VPV
A long requested feature and big wish of ourselves. EasyVFR 4 can now show the clouds and winds at multiple heights, as well as SIGWX along your planned route in the Vertical Profile Viewer (VPV)!
But that's not all. It will also take your travel speed into account, so you will see the forecasted WX displayed for the estimated time you will pass any given position - similar to a GRAMET. This can be a big advantage if you will fly multiple hours.
For a better overview, you can now see the lower clouds, wind and significant weather directly on the map, travel through time and zoom far out to get a complete picture of the WX development during your trip.
Some first insights on the new weather system
- To see the WX at a higher level you need to increase the shown airspaces altitude via the 'Map Layers' menu.
- The cloud base and tops of the plotted CBs (the big grey ones) in the VPV represent the forecasted heights.
- The smaller cloud(layer)s in the VPV appear at the different altitudes that they are forecasted for.
- Cloud coverage (octas) is represented by the spaces between the plotted clouds in the VPV.
- The direction of the wind symbols in the VPV represent the tail- and headwind.
- See the EV3 manual (for now) for a more detailed explanation of all WX symbols.
- The used altitudes for winds aloft and cloud coverage calculations are:
- 500ft, 1000ft, 1500ft, 2000ft, 3000ft, 4000ft, 5000ft, 6000ft AMSL
- FL080, FL1000, FL120, FL140 and FL160
- The wind symbols on the map represent the wind at 2000ft AGL.
- The latest WX model run will be downloadable every six hours; around 0000, 0600, 1200 and 1800 UTC.
- Each model run forecasts for 48 hours in advance, in one hour intervals.
This new WX system will be included from now on. But be advised this feature is still under development (alpha), so please see the beta testers forum for the current bugs and known issues.
If you found one yourself or have a suggestion, please post it there or sent an email at @pocketfms.com?subject=EV4%20feedback&body=If%20you%20report%20a%20bug%20or%20issue%2C%20please%20include%20the%20following%3A%0A-%20Screen%20recording%2F%20screenshots%0A-%20Device%20model%20name%0A-%20The%20version%20number%20of%20the%20operating%20system%20%0A-%20Detailed%20explanation%20of%20the%20bug%20or%20issue%0AManny%20thanks!" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ev4betafeedback@pocketfms.com.
Performance improvements
In this version we needed to address some major issues. On many systems, the Airport Plates download was unstable and slow. As a solution, we designed a whole new communications library that improves both the download stability and speed on all platforms. Depending on your platform you will see improvement in start-up time as well. Improving performance remains top of the list.
Three do-it-yourself hints:
- For if you installed version is older than EV4.0.604: Remove the current EasyVFR 4 installation from your device before you install this new version.
- Do not activate too many countries (max five).
- For performance and stability, it is best to not show information that you do not need right now. You can disable any layers in the 'Map Layer' menu.
- Although tempting, do not use the developer tweak options unless our Support Team adviced you to do this.
We ask your help for the optimization hunt If you encounter any bugs or issues, it would be helpful if you would post them at the beta testers forum or send an email to @pocketfms.com?subject=EV4%20feedback&body=If%20you%20report%20a%20bug%20or%20issue%2C%20please%20include%20the%20following%3A%0A-%20Screen%20recording%2F%20screenshots.%0A-%20Device%20model%20name.%0A-%20The%20version%20number%20of%20the%20installed%20operating%20system.%0A-%20A%20detailed%20explanation%20of%20how%20the%20bug%20or%20issue%20occurs.%0AManny%20thanks!" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ev4betafeedback@pocketfms.com.
Best is to include a screen recording or screenshot, your device's model name, the version number of the device's operating system, and some explanation on how the issue occurs so that we can try to reproduce it. Every report you send does help to find pieces of the puzzle.
Local Flight vs Trip Flight and other new stuff
Many suggestions and request on the forum and in the surveys were about the Search function. Pigheaded as we are, we did not simply start to work on the search function but we looked for the arguments behind those requests.
We concluded for now that you would like to be able to have a local flight briefing and be able to plan a trip directly out of the Route Planning menu. And that's what we have created for you.
Now, if there is no route planned you will see two buttons in the Route Planning menu, 'Local Flight' and 'Trip Flight'. Both will use the map’s centermost airfield as the departure. You can easily edit the departure and arrival airfields by tapping the light blue colored text. In 'Local Flight' you can adjust the flight time and max. distance. If the arrival field differs from your departure, it will automatically switch to the 'Trip Flight' setup.
In the 'Trip Flight' setup, you can add, switch and remove waypoints without using the map by tapping the three dots button. Removing all the waypoints and departure airfield makes EasyVFR 4 switch back to the 'Local Flight' setup.
Tap the light blue colored text and numbers to edit them
This will come in handy if you would like to change the leg altitude right from the route list in the 'Route Planning' menu. Knowing this, you will discover many more values and texts that are colored light blue. This will always mean that you can tap on it to edit the value.
EasyVFR 4 now speaks Polish and Spanish as well
Thanks to beta testers Michal, Adrian and Tim we have now included these languages. They are currently checking and editing the work Google Translate did, so don't be surprised if some texts are not ready yet. It's a work in progress.
Would you like to help with one of the currently supported languages? Is your language not in this list, do you want to help us by offering a translation? Please contact us at @pocketfms.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">helpdesk@pocketfms.com
Changelog
For all the other new functionalities, bug fixes and improvements like the added MATZ airspaces in the UK, please see the changelog under every new version download page.
Top level Roadmap
Implemented
- SmartMap 1.0
- EasyVFR AeroData: AIP airfield info, Airspaces, NOTAMs, routes, waypoints etc.
- Hide inactive airspace
- High detail zoom
- Route Planning
- Automatic Routing
- Flight Mode
- Relative Terrain and Relative Terrain
- Georeferenced Airport Plates: AIP, Pooleys, DFS and Skyguide
- Weather:
- METARs and TAFs.
- SIGWX, wind and low clouds on the map.
- Clouds and wind on VPV for 13 altitudes.
- Density Altitude for all airports where a (nearby) current METAR is available.
- The wind is now automatically used in the Route Planning calculation
- Now 24 European countries and counting
- 6 Languages:
- Checked and edited: English, German, French
- Work in progress: Polish, Spanish and Dutch
- Connectivity: many ADS-B / FLARM receivers and Dynon SkyView
- Sources: Eurocontrol, Deutscher Wetterdienst, NASA and many other more locally focused sources for extra weather and geographical data.
In development
- Breadcrumbs
- Logbook
- Raster charts
- Weather:
- More GAFOR areas: Switzerland, Slovenia, Austria, Croatia, France
- WX time loop
- Gusts, temperatures and icing conditions
- Warning system for Airspaces
- Current position info box
- Including all the other areas that EeasyVFR 3 covers
- Knowledge base
Planned
- Weather:
- WX during flight mode.
- European Precipitation radar.
- Nowcast in 5 minutes interval.
- Save and edit user waypoints.
- Geographical terrain update.
- SmartMap 2.0
Vote on and submit features
You can influence the order of development by voting on the topics you need the most at the beta testers forum section 'What still needs to be developed: Vote and help decide!'. The more upvotes a feature gets, the sooner it will be implemented. Do you feel that something is missing or do you have suggestions for improvements? Add them here and help us set development priority. We try to listen as much as possible!
At last... How much does a cloud weigh?
The amount of weather data that our servers need to process every six hours for EasyVFR amounts to no less than 62GB. Fortunately, your EasyVFR 4 app needs only a fraction of that and can download it right from the EasyVFR cloud. We could calculate the weight of the electrons and hardware that is involved in our EasyVFR cloud but it would never come close to the weight of a single regular cumulus cloud.
Some math tells us that a cubic kilometer of clouds weighs 500.000 kg or 1.1 million pounds. That's a heavy wall you don't want to fly into 😉 Luckily you can now see them on EasyVFR 4 so you can plan your route around, under or over those heavy beauties.
Anyway... what are you waiting for? Let's grab your next update of EasyVFR 4 beta!
Enjoy the testing and do not hesitate to contact us on any question you have.
Blue skies,
The EasyVFR team
Love it!
