Dear aviators,
Today we like to introduce a new feature set that will make on-map route building and navigating more convenient - Leg Labels and Route Totals.
Without interacting with the screen, you will see the planned magnetic track, duration, distance, and altitude. It's similar to what the InfoFields do in flying mode but more fluent organized.
Leg Label
Over each leg a label is placed that tells the leg direction, course, duration, distance, altitude:
(< 285° 7min 8nm 2600ft ).
The duration is calculated as distance divided by speed.
When planning, speed is calculated based on the aircraft profile and forecast wind aloft - just as in the Route Planning menu.
When flying, for the duration towards the upcoming waypoint, ground speed is used. While the duration for the legs ahead is based on the planned values (aircraft profile and wind).
The distance of the current leg is the distance of your current position towards the upcoming waypoint.
Decluttering
When there is enough place all four values are placed. Course, Duration, Distance, Altitude. ( 285° 7min 8nm 2600ft ) When there is less space the altitude is left out. ( 285° 7min 8nm ). Then the distance. ( 285° 7min ). Then the duration ( 285° ). When there is even not enough room to fit the course the whole label is hidden. Zoom in on the leg to show more values.
When needed, disabling the Leg Labels is possible via the Map Layers menu -> AeroData -> Leg Labels.
Route Totals
When you have a route in the making or are navigating, seeing at one glance the total duration and distance to fly can be very helpful. When planning, you find the new Route Totals centered on the top of the screen.
When flying the Route Totals will be centered on the bottom of the screen - And show the remaining duration and distance along the planned route towards the destination.
Local Flight
When doing a local flight the Route Totals will show the duration and distance towards the center of the Local Flight area. You can enable a Local Flight area at Route Planning menu -> Local Flight.
Units
You can customize the unit per value at EasyVFR 4 menu -> System -> Units. For the leg and route total duration a new unit is added. Timespan Unit, which the options hh:mm, minutes and seconds.
Lastly, this beta version is scheduled to be promoted to the app stores as soon as possible.
Enjoy the update and have a great week(end).
Cheers,
Team EasyVFR 4
Release notes
- NEW: Leg Labels.
- NEW: Route Totals.
- NEW: Customizable Duration unit (Timespan).
- IMPROVED: Data Status within the Status Card now only uses Green and Red statuses, except for the Plates Along Route option which is shown with Orange when a download is available.
- IMPROVED: Several stability improvements.
- CHANGED: Style of the route legs and connector dots, and sizing at different camera altitudes is rebalanced.
Downloads
- Minimum requirements:
- 64-bit and 2GB RAM. Effectively:
- iPad Air 2 and higher.
- iPad Mini 4 and higher.
- iPhone 6S and higher.
- The iPad Mini 5 and iPad Pro perform extremely well.
- 64-bit and 2GB RAM. Effectively:
- Download
1. Install the Apple TestFlight app via the Apple AppStore.
2. Go to the following URL to download the latest version of EasyVFR 4 via TestFlight:
https://testflight.apple.com/join/Zxbi0Hof
- IMPORTANT
- Minimum requirements:
- 64-bit, +3GB RAM. Android 7.0 and higher is advised.
- Android 11 is not yet stable.
- We have good results with:
- Huawei MediaPad M5.
- Xiaomi Mi Pad 4.
- Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 and S6.
- Most modern smartphones.
- Download:
- To install you must enable the option: "Allow the installation of apps from sources other than Play store" in Android Settings, Lock screen and Security. Some Android devices require you to tap&hold the link below, then choose [Download link] to store the APK on your device from where you then can install this downloaded APK.
https://members.pocketfms.com/WebProgramDownloads/EasyVFR4/EasyVFR4_4.0.960.apk
- To install you must enable the option: "Allow the installation of apps from sources other than Play store" in Android Settings, Lock screen and Security. Some Android devices require you to tap&hold the link below, then choose [Download link] to store the APK on your device from where you then can install this downloaded APK.
- Minimum requirements:
- 64-bit, 2GB RAM, Windows 7 and higher is advised.
- Download:
-
- IMPORTANT:
- Intel macs on Big Sur and Monterey need to have the latest macOS version 11.6.1 or 12.0.1 or up installed.
- M1 macs can download via the iOS AppStore.
- Minimum requirements:
- Most 64-bit macOS versions. E.g. High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina. BigSur 11.6.1 and Monterey 12.0.1 and up.
- M1 macs can download via the iOS AppStore.
- Download:
- Installation instructions:
- After downloading the DMG file, open it and drag the EasyVFR 4 icon into the Applications folder. EasyVFR 4 is now available via Launchpad.
- When you get the message "EasyVFR4.app can’t be opened because it was not downloaded from the App Store" choose [Open in Finder] from that popup, then right-click on EasyVFR4.app and choose open. Now the same popup will appear, now with a [Open] button.
- From there on you can launch EasyVFR 4 from the launchpad without this warning.
- With every update, you need to redo step 2.
- IMPORTANT:
My first impression is mixed regarding the new leg label. Leg lines are getting quite “fat” to align readable leg labels, which is quite understandable. But if leg labels are disabled, which I think will be my setup, leg lines are still in the same “fat” shape.
Without leg labels I would prefer leg lines in the same slim shape as in earlier versions.
Hi Karl,
Thank you for you comment.
The route lines do not need to be thicker for the leg labels. But I had to do some rebalancing of the sizing on several camera altitudes after some textures changes.
Which device are you using? And on which zoom levels do you find the lines to fat? Sharing a screenshot can be helpful.
I would be happy to invest where some improvement is possible.
Cheers, Tim
I also think the magenta line is a bit fat. But the white circles around a waypoint are also too big and non transparent. This sometimes covers map details.
Played around a while and I love the new route labels!
However I discovered an issue, not sure if it is just me: When activating the "decode TAFs" in the weather tab they are getting decoded, but EV crashes instantly and reproducibly. Can anyone confirm that?
Hi Steffen,
I tried a few stations on our area, but I cannot reproduce it unfortunately. Maybe its station specific, can you let me know one (or more if possible) station ICAO's where you get this crash ?
thx!
Hi Rob, you can try EDDF currently.
BR, Steffen
Yep, got it reproduced, thx! Working on it right now.
Got it fixed, its related to the turbulence number coding in the TAF for ETOU. Fix will be available in upcoming version
Great, thanks for the quick feedback. Until then it will be the subtile way to tell me not to go flying in this crappy weather ?
I really like the new feature, although I do agree with some above, the label line is just to fat also on my iMac.
Perhaps an option to resize the label line is to user preference would be possible?
Personally I do not like this feature and to me is just yet more added unnecessary screen clutter. As others have said when it is disabled it still leaves the route lines quite fat.
So...
Is it possible to have the route lines thinner when this feature is disabled please?..Or alternatively add an ability to adjust the route line thickness please?
Alan.
Hi all,
Thanks for sharing the screenshots and your feedback. We have just released version 4.0.962 which brings the route legs width back to its previous thickness (thinness) on most screens and platforms while keeping the new texture design and improving the scaling on Windows.
The TAF decoding crash has been solved. As is the Route Total distance wrapping onto a second line.
Cheers,
Tim