Auto-popup of pen icon with Auto-Taxi

[boisecrawfords]

When landing at a towered airport and getting taxi directions it comes pretty quick. It would be great if when the Auto-Taxi map popped up the markup-enable button also popped up. This would save having to click through the menu during that critical time.

 

[Tony Bolstad]

Nice idea. Upvoted.

 

[Don Maxwell]

Yes, excellent idea!

 

[MDreger]

I was going to start a new thread with an idea I had today, and this one popped up that is a bit similar, but expanded.

I thought it would be nice/helpful if, upon landing, or when calling for taxi (which iFly wouldn't know, so we'd have to have a button/instrument/something to activate this), instead of just allowing the map to be marked up, have a form pop up that would list the nearest taxiways that we're likely to use, based on where we are. Each taxiway would have a radio (or whatever those little circles next to items to be selected are called) button. As the controller instructs you to enter a taxiway, you'd click/touch that taxiway letter, and iFly would draw a magenta line from where you would enter the taxiway to the first intersecting taxiway. As the controller read off each taxiway you're to join, and you click/touch the letter, the magenta line would continue. If the magenta line came upon a crossing runway, it would automatically stop and indicate that, perhaps with a big red "X", or Stop Sign, until you clicked the "Cross Runway XX" button.

I haven't worked this all out, as I don't know what the programmers/computers/program are capable of. But I would envision a split screen, with the list of taxiways/runways on one side, the map of the airport on the other. As each taxiway/runway is selected on one side, the magenta line would be drawn.

When you started to taxi, the text taxi instructions would be automatically scrolled off the top of the list as you make each turn, and your position would be tracked on the map side.

 

[Cobra]

I thought it would be nice/helpful if, upon landing, or when calling for taxi (which iFly wouldn't know, so we'd have to have a button/instrument/something to activate this), instead of just allowing the map to be marked up, have a form pop up that would list the nearest taxiways that we're likely to use, based on where we are.

I think the problem with that idea is that there is no data source iFly could consume that has the taxiways defined in such a way that iFly could know what taxiways exist and where they are physically located. There are airport diagrams in the Chart Supplement (A/FD), but they're just images. There's no back-end data structure like with Google Maps to allow an algorithm to plot a course, or enable the user to manually plot a course. (And Google Maps doesn't map the runways/taxiways, because they're not for driving.)

 

[MDreger]

I suppose that's why it hasn't been done yet. Seems the FAA should have all that information somewhere.

 

[Gatormyk]

I was going to start a new thread with an idea I had today, and this one popped up that is a bit similar, but expanded.

I thought it would be nice/helpful if, upon landing, or when calling for taxi (which iFly wouldn't know, so we'd have to have a button/instrument/something to activate this), instead of just allowing the map to be marked up, have a form pop up that would list the nearest taxiways that we're likely to use, based on where we are. Each taxiway would have a radio (or whatever those little circles next to items to be selected are called) button. As the controller instructs you to enter a taxiway, you'd click/touch that taxiway letter, and iFly would draw a magenta line from where you would enter the taxiway to the first intersecting taxiway. As the controller read off each taxiway you're to join, and you click/touch the letter, the magenta line would continue. If the magenta line came upon a crossing runway, it would automatically stop and indicate that, perhaps with a big red "X", or Stop Sign, until you clicked the "Cross Runway XX" button.

I haven't worked this all out, as I don't know what the programmers/computers/program are capable of. But I would envision a split screen, with the list of taxiways/runways on one side, the map of the airport on the other. As each taxiway/runway is selected on one side, the magenta line would be drawn.

When you started to taxi, the text taxi instructions would be automatically scrolled off the top of the list as you make each turn, and your position would be tracked on the map side.

This would definitely be on the innovative side, but I feel it asks the tool to do too much. I'm not IFR but I have heard that one can expect a certain approach so it can be pre-entered into a navigator. I'm not sure if there are expected taxi instructions once someone has landed. Are you thinking like a GPS route on the ground to your parking destination, similar to a road driving GPS?

 

[Cobra]

This would definitely be on the innovative side, but I feel it asks the tool to do too much. I'm not IFR but I have heard that one can expect a certain approach so it can be pre-entered into a navigator. I'm not sure if there are expected taxi instructions once someone has landed. Are you thinking like a GPS route on the ground to your parking destination, similar to a road driving GPS?

No, that's not an IFR thing. If you land (either VFR or IFR) at a big airport with a lot of runways and taxiways, the taxi instructions might be somewhat involved. MDreger's just trying to suggest a way that iFly could help with that.

 

[MDreger]

Are you thinking like a GPS route on the ground to your parking destination, similar to a road driving GPS?

Almost, except iFly would present a list of the taxiways at that airport listed with the nearest first. The list would change order as each taxiway is selected, to depict the most likely next option first. If departing, you'd select the assigned runway, then select each taxiway letter as the controller lists them. As each taxiway is selected, the magenta line would be depicted on the map side of the split screen. If the last assigned taxiway crosses a Runway it will not show the magenta line crossing until "Cross Runway XX" is selected.

If any of the taxiways is predicted to cross any runway, iFly would present you with the option to check "Cross Runway XX" or "Hold Short Runway XX"

I would NOT want a system that would attempt to predict the taxi instructions, as a road driving GPS does, there's too high a chance that the controller will assign a completely unpredictable route to or from a runway.