Re: [Flightgear-devel] airports list
On Monday 27 March 2006 19:28, Paul Surgeon wrote: > On Monday 27 March 2006 18:45, Lee Elliott wrote: > > I think we could identify the appropriate countries > > accurately using the geometric stuff in postgres (dunno if > > other dbms have the functions and datatypes). > > > > Basically, I believe we would have to take the country > > outlines and use them to define geometrical shapes that can > > then be used in a query to see, from the lat/lon which shape > > (country) an airfield is in. > > > > That doesn't address how we would use results though - > > they'd either have to be used as an additional index/look-up > > file or to be merged in to the existing airports file, > > breaking compatibility. > > Now that would be a really cool way to do it! > We could easily go down the the state/province level and even > take it furthur and have a function that does a "fetch all > airports within X miles of this city/town". Heh :) you can already do this using the lat/lon co-ordinates - I put the airfield and ils lists in to a db just to mess about with this sort of stuff. > > Why have a separate look-up file or a merged airports db? Why > not just add a PostgreSQL driver and shapefile driver to FG > with a directory of shapefiles and do the calculations in real > time with a map interface? :D > > Paul Perhaps, in the longer term, it would be a good idea to incorporate a db engine into FG but in the shorter term I think the developers are probably pretty busy enough as it is. A look-up table might be feasible though. It shouldn't take too much space but would have to be re-generated every time Robin Peel updated. Dunno what options are available re run-time access of the file or how long it would take to search (assuming that we don't want to hold the entire thing in mem) Hmm... perhaps a background script could monitor the current situation and manage the info... LeeE --- This SF.Net email is sponsored by xPML, a groundbreaking scripting language that extends applications into web and mobile media. Attend the live webcast and join the prime developer group breaking into this new coding territory! http://sel.as-us.falkag.net/sel?cmd=lnk&kid=110944&bid=241720&dat=121642 ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list Flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] airports list
On Monday 27 March 2006 18:45, Lee Elliott wrote: > I think we could identify the appropriate countries accurately > using the geometric stuff in postgres (dunno if other dbms have > the functions and datatypes). > > Basically, I believe we would have to take the country outlines > and use them to define geometrical shapes that can then be used > in a query to see, from the lat/lon which shape (country) an > airfield is in. > > That doesn't address how we would use results though - they'd > either have to be used as an additional index/look-up file or to > be merged in to the existing airports file, breaking > compatibility. Now that would be a really cool way to do it! We could easily go down the the state/province level and even take it furthur and have a function that does a "fetch all airports within X miles of this city/town". Why have a separate look-up file or a merged airports db? Why not just add a PostgreSQL driver and shapefile driver to FG with a directory of shapefiles and do the calculations in real time with a map interface? :D Paul --- This SF.Net email is sponsored by xPML, a groundbreaking scripting language that extends applications into web and mobile media. Attend the live webcast and join the prime developer group breaking into this new coding territory! http://sel.as-us.falkag.net/sel?cmd=lnk&kid=110944&bid=241720&dat=121642 ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list Flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] airports list
On Sunday 26 March 2006 10:26, Paul Surgeon wrote: > On Saturday 25 March 2006 19:48, David Megginson wrote: > > On 25/03/06, Melchior FRANZ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > The airports list is barely usable: there are so many > > > entries in it that you don't easily find anything. And the > > > slider resolution is much too high for finding an entry > > > with it alone. Move it just one pixel, and you jumped over > > > oodles of airports. The arrow buttons have no repeat > > > function, so they are of limited help, too. I've now > > > hacked the airports widget to allow filtered lists: > > > > > > http://members.aon.at/mfranz/airports.jpg [30 kB] > > > > We need to get geopolitical information into our airport > > list, at least at the country and region > > (state/province/etc.) levels -- that could make the > > filtering much more useful. Proximity filtering might also > > be nice, but that's a much bigger job. > > > > > > All the best, > > > > > > David > > I did do some work on that a long time ago using the ICAO > codes to break up the data by country but ran into a couple of > problems. > > 1. There is no state/province field in the airports db and it > can't be deduced from ICAO codes. > 2. There are a couple of areas in the world that share the > same ICAO code even though they belong to different countries > so using the ICAO code isn't a 100% accurate method. > > The best would be to have a country and state/province field > in the airport DB and that would need to come from Robin Peel > unless we want to have a different DB again. > > Regards > Paul I think we could identify the appropriate countries accurately using the geometric stuff in postgres (dunno if other dbms have the functions and datatypes). Basically, I believe we would have to take the country outlines and use them to define geometrical shapes that can then be used in a query to see, from the lat/lon which shape (country) an airfield is in. That doesn't address how we would use results though - they'd either have to be used as an additional index/look-up file or to be merged in to the existing airports file, breaking compatibility. LeeE --- This SF.Net email is sponsored by xPML, a groundbreaking scripting language that extends applications into web and mobile media. Attend the live webcast and join the prime developer group breaking into this new coding territory! http://sel.as-us.falkag.net/sel?cmd=lnk&kid=110944&bid=241720&dat=121642 ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list Flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] airports list
On Sun, 26 Mar 2006 11:26:41 +0200 Paul Surgeon wrote: > > The best would be to have a country and state/province field in the > airport DB and that would need to come from Robin Peel unless we want > to have a different DB again. We could straddle the fence and have a second file which maps airport identifier to some sort of geopolitical info, and we maintain just that. Not that that won't be a pain in the butt itself. -c -- Chris Metzler [EMAIL PROTECTED] (remove "snip-me." to email) "As a child I understood how to give; I have forgotten this grace since I have become civilized." - Chief Luther Standing Bear signature.asc Description: PGP signature
Re: [Flightgear-devel] airports list
--- Melchior FRANZ wrote: > The airports list is barely usable: there are so many entries > in it that you don't easily find anything. And the slider resolution > is much too high for finding an entry with it alone. Move it > just one pixel, and you jumped over oodles of airports. The arrow > buttons have no repeat function, so they are of limited help, too. > I've now hacked the airports widget to allow filtered lists: > > http://members.aon.at/mfranz/airports.jpg [30 kB] > > m. That's a great improvement. It makes the airport list way more useful. While filters by area would be nice, just allowing users to search for their local airport is going to make things much easier for newbies. BTW, I have a text file with the mapping from ICAO prefixes to country names that I wrote a while ago for a mission generator project if you want it. Might save you some time if you're thinking of enhancing it further. -Stuart ___ NEW Yahoo! Cars - sell your car and browse thousands of new and used cars online! http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/ --- This SF.Net email is sponsored by xPML, a groundbreaking scripting language that extends applications into web and mobile media. Attend the live webcast and join the prime developer group breaking into this new coding territory! http://sel.as-us.falkag.net/sel?cmd=lnk&kid=110944&bid=241720&dat=121642 ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list Flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] airports list
On Sunday 26 March 2006 13:49, David Megginson wrote: > On 26/03/06, Paul Surgeon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I did do some work on that a long time ago using the ICAO codes to break > > up the data by country but ran into a couple of problems. > > > > 1. There is no state/province field in the airports db and it can't be > > deduced from ICAO codes. > > 2. There are a couple of areas in the world that share the same ICAO code > > even though they belong to different countries so using the ICAO code > > isn't a 100% accurate method. > > 3. Smaller airports sometimes don't use ICAO codes (though most of > those are in the U.S.). 4. There are lots of smaller airports and airfields with no identifier code whatsoever (although we don't have any of those in FG). I added about 300 missing airfields with no identifier codes to Southern Germany for Silent Wings. Lots of glider strips and airfields with grass/turf or gravel runways. Paul --- This SF.Net email is sponsored by xPML, a groundbreaking scripting language that extends applications into web and mobile media. Attend the live webcast and join the prime developer group breaking into this new coding territory! http://sel.as-us.falkag.net/sel?cmd=lnk&kid=110944&bid=241720&dat=121642 ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list Flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] airports list
On 26/03/06, Paul Surgeon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I did do some work on that a long time ago using the ICAO codes to break up > the data by country but ran into a couple of problems. > > 1. There is no state/province field in the airports db and it can't be deduced > from ICAO codes. > 2. There are a couple of areas in the world that share the same ICAO code even > though they belong to different countries so using the ICAO code isn't a 100% > accurate method. 3. Smaller airports sometimes don't use ICAO codes (though most of those are in the U.S.). All the best, David -- http://www.megginson.com/ --- This SF.Net email is sponsored by xPML, a groundbreaking scripting language that extends applications into web and mobile media. Attend the live webcast and join the prime developer group breaking into this new coding territory! http://sel.as-us.falkag.net/sel?cmd=lnk&kid0944&bid$1720&dat1642 ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list Flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] airports list
On Saturday 25 March 2006 19:48, David Megginson wrote: > On 25/03/06, Melchior FRANZ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > The airports list is barely usable: there are so many entries > > in it that you don't easily find anything. And the slider resolution > > is much too high for finding an entry with it alone. Move it > > just one pixel, and you jumped over oodles of airports. The arrow > > buttons have no repeat function, so they are of limited help, too. > > I've now hacked the airports widget to allow filtered lists: > > > > http://members.aon.at/mfranz/airports.jpg [30 kB] > > We need to get geopolitical information into our airport list, at > least at the country and region (state/province/etc.) levels -- that > could make the filtering much more useful. Proximity filtering might > also be nice, but that's a much bigger job. > > > All the best, > > > David I did do some work on that a long time ago using the ICAO codes to break up the data by country but ran into a couple of problems. 1. There is no state/province field in the airports db and it can't be deduced from ICAO codes. 2. There are a couple of areas in the world that share the same ICAO code even though they belong to different countries so using the ICAO code isn't a 100% accurate method. The best would be to have a country and state/province field in the airport DB and that would need to come from Robin Peel unless we want to have a different DB again. Regards Paul --- This SF.Net email is sponsored by xPML, a groundbreaking scripting language that extends applications into web and mobile media. Attend the live webcast and join the prime developer group breaking into this new coding territory! http://sel.as-us.falkag.net/sel?cmd=lnk&kid=110944&bid=241720&dat=121642 ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list Flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] airports list
On 25/03/06, Melchior FRANZ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The airports list is barely usable: there are so many entries > in it that you don't easily find anything. And the slider resolution > is much too high for finding an entry with it alone. Move it > just one pixel, and you jumped over oodles of airports. The arrow > buttons have no repeat function, so they are of limited help, too. > I've now hacked the airports widget to allow filtered lists: > > http://members.aon.at/mfranz/airports.jpg [30 kB] We need to get geopolitical information into our airport list, at least at the country and region (state/province/etc.) levels -- that could make the filtering much more useful. Proximity filtering might also be nice, but that's a much bigger job. All the best, David -- http://www.megginson.com/ --- This SF.Net email is sponsored by xPML, a groundbreaking scripting language that extends applications into web and mobile media. Attend the live webcast and join the prime developer group breaking into this new coding territory! http://sel.as-us.falkag.net/sel?cmd=lnk&kid0944&bid$1720&dat1642 ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list Flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/flightgear-devel
[Flightgear-devel] airports list
The airports list is barely usable: there are so many entries in it that you don't easily find anything. And the slider resolution is much too high for finding an entry with it alone. Move it just one pixel, and you jumped over oodles of airports. The arrow buttons have no repeat function, so they are of limited help, too. I've now hacked the airports widget to allow filtered lists: http://members.aon.at/mfranz/airports.jpg [30 kB] m. --- This SF.Net email is sponsored by xPML, a groundbreaking scripting language that extends applications into web and mobile media. Attend the live webcast and join the prime developer group breaking into this new coding territory! http://sel.as-us.falkag.net/sel?cmd=lnk&kid=110944&bid=241720&dat=121642 ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list Flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/flightgear-devel
