Club Homepage Forums Classified Ads Buy & Sell - Everything But Airplanes Need your input on digital Sectionals & TACs

I've been able to take the FAA / NACO current sectionals and TACs and twist them to fit Google Earth. It's difficult to explain, but it isn't simply placing an image on the screen. You can select your airports on the charts, put placeholders (push pins) and then fade the charts out to 'see' where you are planning on flying.

I've also got all the airspaces mapped so you can actually 'see' the corridor in NYC up the hudson, past Orlando by Cape Canaveral and in 3D move around over and through airspaces to better understand where they are located and how they are shaped.

Lastly, I've got all the reporting METARS from all the weather stations popping up with color coded green for VFR, with percent cloud coverage etc, Blue for IFR, Red for marginal IFR etc. (will attach that picture next)

Here's where I need your help! I don't know what this is worth and need your opinions to figure out how much to charge for a complete set of current sectionals or TACs. The files are pretty large, so I'll have to send out DVDs with the updates if a person wants to stay current and I want to send them everything so I don't have to put together a few sectionals here or there. Also, I want to make it cheap enough that pilots will not hesitate to come back for a fresh set when they expire.

I've attached a picture to better explain how it looks.

Thanks guys,

Here's the METARs picture with the digital sectionals turned off so you can see them better.

Oh, and I forgot, it's got live Radar imaging as well. Now, I'm not creating all these additional layers, just the CURRENT Sectionals and TACs. (See attached)

My hope is that we can reduce the deaths from often poor situational awareness. 'Seeing' where you are planning on flying before you fly can only help improve our skills.

Thoughts, opinions?

(Never known you all to be so quiet on anything)

Oops, forgot to show the level of detail you can see on them. About 2x normal visibility. I don't know if you all require 'visual assistance' yet, but I do!

Richard,

Wow! Being a computer guy I have to say this is impressive! Very nice work. I have to be honest though, I would not purchase something like this. When i fly I barely use my GPS. I like to just use the good old Mk1 Mod0 eyeball and a papaer chart. Even planning doesn't get real involved for me either. I am sure you have a market in the techno sector though. Plenty of folks who will pay for something like this. The update thing is going to be tough though. All depends on how much work/cost it is for you to do the updates then send out change dvds.

Nice though!

Thanks! Appreciate the thoughts. I'm working on making the files smaller so a download may be possible. Had one guy ask me to sell him stock in my company Ha!

Richard,

Unfortunately I think you'll find that, as with most things internet, no one is willing to pay anything for it. especially because there are already a bunch of free equivalents (do a google search for "google earth" sectionals). I realize you would offer current ones whereas the free ones are usually not current.

By the way your market research poll is biased since $0 is not an option, so your results will be skewed.

Having said all of that, also being a computer geek myself, that is way cool. I love google earth!

-Henri

how's 99 cents each for current (download only) version of a chart?

Cheap... now you're talking my language

-Henri

Here's my thoughts...

I like digital charts. I purchased a complete set of digital sectionals off of eBay and loaded them on my MacBook. It's easy to scroll around with them using Preview. It's nice to have a complete set of sectionals and TACs handy.

I also purchased a complete set of IFR approach charts from Sporty's and loaded them on the WinXP side of the MacBook. Sporty's chart view SW doesn't run under MasOS X.

The price for both was right, $9.95.

But I don't fly with my MacBook. Paper is easier in some ways. I don't have to figure out how to scroll or zoom while in turbulence with paper charts. Paper doesn't lose power, is lighter, doesn't break, suffer hardware failures, etc. Yes, I have to fold them but I learned to fold them before starting the engine.

I'm not instrument rated but use the approach plates with MS Flight Simulator. When flying the sim, I print out the approaches I'm interested in ahead of time even though I could view them on the MacBook while flying the sim on the desk top. The problem with that is I can't see the whole plate at once on the MacBook like I can when it's on paper in my hand.

Once I'm back flying in the real world, I'll be using paper sectionals.

When I've recovered from the 150/150 conversion and have updated the avionics in 02S, I'll start on my instrument rating. For that, I'll probably subscribe to the Sporty's approach charts on DVD and print the necessary charts before each flight.

Printing approach plates is easy. They're small and don't have too many colors. Sectionals, TACs, and en-route charts are larger and not as easily printed on my el-cheapo HP printer that only prints on 8.5x11 paper.

I'll buy an occasional set of electronic charts for reference and planning because they're easier to load onto my laptop and are with me whenever my computer is with me. I'll continue to subscribe to the paper charts I use the most because I need them in the plane.

The only way I see myself getting away from paper in the cockpit is if someone comes up with a really good EFB at a really good price. Then, I'll consider going electronic in the cockpit.

Your adaptation of the sectionals to google earth has a lot of wow factor. I just don't feel it's of much value to me.

What would really be nice is digital sectionals/TACs that I could print on a color printer at home. If the chart was broken down in to 8.5x11 segments, I could print out the sectional and put it in a series of page protectors that I could easily manage in the cockpit. It'd also be nice to have the control tower and SUA info on a seperate page, another page for the legend info., etc. Being able to zoom would be nice too. That way I could print full scale, reduced scale, or enlarged, depending upon my needs.

I'd probably subscribe to something like that in a heartbeat at $10 per update. More than 6 updates in a year though and I'd have to think a little longer.

Whatdoyathink?