The extended centerline is pretty nice. Saves drilling down into the airport info to confirm runway layouts. That's handy.
Foreflight 5 is here.
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alaskaflyer
Final Approach
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My thought is if I'm flying an altitude in which 120nm is useful zoom level, terrain is not likely to be a concern. I agree this implementation is...curious and not useful. If it is a concern about file size, well, I'd be willing to give up more space or a longer download time to get something that is better. Better being = useful to a VFR pilot. Which this is not currently.
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alaskaflyer
Final Approach
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You have to ensure High Resolution Terrain is enabled for the US, then download the high resolution terrain for offline cache. See example below of the Grand Canyon airport area before (low resolution, downloaded by default as soon as you select Terrain the first time) and after I downloaded High Resolution data.
Ok, as I feared I have been viewing the "high resolution terrain" in the contiguous 48. That term is laughable when applied to the result.
The rest of the improvements are great. I find the terrain absolutely useless at either crappy resolution -viewing the elevation relief on the VFR chart is more accurate. Who needs a terrain layer when one is flying at FL360 which is about where a practical zoom level makes the terrain sharp enough to be useful??
This is another shot of the Grand Canyon at a zoom level that I think would be more practical for a typical VFR pilot to have on their screen when passing through a corridor. Not a great example but it is a comparison to yours.
Garmin is still king on this feature.
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TangoWhiskey
Touchdown! Greaser!
Ok, as I feared I have been viewing the "high resolution terrain" in the contiguous 48. That term is laughable when applied to the result.
The rest of the improvements are great. I find the terrain absolutely useless at either crappy resolution -viewing the elevation relief on the VFR chart is more accurate. Who needs a terrain layer when one is flying at FL360 which is about where a practical zoom level makes the terrain sharp enough to be useful??
This is another shot of the Grand Canyon at a zoom level that I think would be more practical for a typical VFR pilot to have on their screen when passing through a corridor. Not a great example but it is a comparison to yours.
Garmin is still king on this feature.
The other problem with the terrain layer is it is not an overlay... It is a base map that obliterates airports from the map!
TangoWhiskey
Touchdown! Greaser!
Bill, see the blog.foreflight.com post... That's how I figured it out.
timwinters
Ejection Handle Pulled
Troy, the other problem is that the Grand Canyon appears to be an outie and not an innie.
It does work on Gen 1. You can enable it in settings or using the map settings icon on the map page (top, just to the right of the drop down for the types of maps).
(btw, anyone notice that, if you can read upside down, the new rotating charts feature gives you a track-up approach plate?)
EppyGA
Touchdown! Greaser!
From the maps page you can touch the settings icon and turn it on there.
EppyGA
Touchdown! Greaser!
Anyone flown and tried the auto taxi feature yet?
ChrisK
En-Route
Dude pretty soon they will be releasing Foreflight Ultimate, where I plug my ipad into the plane and take a nap.
EppyGA
Touchdown! Greaser!
That's probably the SnF scheduled release.
I wouldn't be surprised to see them spring Syn Vision at SnF though. Seems like the change in mapping engines has now allowed them to move forward again.
That's an example of the classic visual confusion - your eye & brain make assumptions based on the shadow. When the first high res photos of the moon came out, the same effect was demonstrated. Turn the photo/iPad 180 deg (don't allow rotate on the tablet) and it is an innie.Troy, the other problem is that the Grand Canyon appears to be an outie and not an innie.
Also, just as with avcharts, the bottom of the canyon is a lighter color, indicating lower groun.
Yes, it kicked in yesterday as we pulled off the runway. Cool. But my student still had to use her feet to get us back to our FBO.
EppyGA
Touchdown! Greaser!
Yes, it kicked in yesterday as we pulled off the runway. Cool. But my student still had to use her feet to get us back to our FBO.
Maybe that's because you didn't have the cable plugged in.
I don't see the benefit in the terrain feature...or am I missing something? Between the traditional av maps & the street map (which is also terrain) I don't see the advantage.
Since I fly VFR and also only have a gen 1 iPad, I don't have it and really don't see the need except as a Gee Whiz feature. Besides, I need the storage space for non-aviation stuff.
Cheers
Maybe that's because you didn't have the cable plugged in.
Dang. I will check that today!
One small but really nice feature added was the ability to rotate arrival/departure charts that are usually landscape orientation. And it remembers your orientation change. Great feature.
alaskaflyer
Final Approach
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If it were finer resolution I would find it greatly useful in mountain flying. As implemented it is a marketing feature only with no real application in real life.
ChrisK
En-Route
At least they've been good about improving features. Maybe they will "fix" this one as time goes on. I think that some good competition has been kicking them in the can, which is good for us!
spinfire
Pre-takeoff checklist
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Dan
But my student still had to use her feet to get us back to our FBO.
Obviously you do not have a Pro subscription.
alaskaflyer
Final Approach
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I agree. For now I will ignore the feature.
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Pilawt
No surprise. Street map requires an internet connection (it downloads bits and pieces as you use it), while the new terrain map is resident on your device, like the world map that Foreflight has had for a while.
For comparison, you can get detailed topo maps from other vendors on the App Store, but they'll cost you 6 GB of storage just for the Lower 48. My current Foreflight installation, with the program and VFR and IFR charts and plates for the western half of the country, is 3.7 GB total.
Luvrv8
Line Up and Wait
I just e mailed them as I found a problem with one of the departure procedures and transitions. It's correct on the plate but maps wrong on the map. I do like all of the new features and continue to like this product even more.
Luvrv8
Line Up and Wait
I got a reply in a hour, great customer service and on a Sunday I am surprised.
I thought the same but I was in denial. Some years back, I had a partial engine failure in IMC in the mountains. In my 20/20 hindsight review, the terrain warning feature of my GPSMAP 296, even if just not sending me warning messages because I was clear of terrain as I navigated to a safe landing below radar coverage, was a wonderful thing to have.
End result - nothing has led me to upgrade from my first Generation iPad... until now. I ordered an iPad 3 today.
starsfan18
Filing Flight Plan
I'd like to see the ability to load approaches instead of having to enter each individual waypoint.
JasonM
Pattern Altitude
I am liking the new features. I wish the terrain was higher resolution as well. Why not make an option to download terrain in sections like the maps. Then you only get what you need and could get much higher res. Also, I really wish when you plan a flight that it would show a an elevation chart. Would be nice to quickly see that my plan for 4000 ft wont clear me over that 4200 ft mountain on the way.
TangoWhiskey
Touchdown! Greaser!
What more do you think they have in store for the Stratus? This was at the end of their March 1 blog update about v4.9:
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Luvrv8
Line Up and Wait
After I sent a email with a problem I found on a departure transition I was emailed back quickly. I then explained the issue further and now no more emails on it days later. It would be nice to hear back one way or the other.
I've found that sometimes they go dark on follow-up replies, and that may mean that they are escalating it internally. Although they respond quickly, they don't necessarily seem to be very disciplined regarding internal process or follow-up. After the 4.9 release, I sent them a message with bugs and suggestions. They responded by telling me that they'd add my suggestions to the list. Well, okay, but what about the bugs? When I followed up to ask, I received a response that an incremental release was just posted in the App Store that fixed a number of bugs. When I looked at the release notes for that release, not one of my reported bugs was on the fix list. Obviously, no one took the time to read and comprehend my original report to them.
They are great with response time, not so great with comprehension or information distribution.
JKG
Luvrv8
Line Up and Wait
I agree. I was surprised with the first follow up and it was even on a Sunday. I was shocked of no reply after that. I am still satisfied with the product overall but disappointed with the follow up.
denverpilot
Tied Down
I'd wait for one with a better display. Side by side the mini vs maxi, the mini looks awful.
dukeblue219
Line Up and Wait
Traffic.
ChrisK
En-Route
That would be an awesome surprise
TangoWhiskey
Touchdown! Greaser!
Unless you have ADS-B "Out", it won't do you a lot of good.
http://blog.foreflight.com/2012/04/01/pings-pucks-and-why-no-traffic-on-stratus/
dukeblue219
Line Up and Wait
Thanks for the link. I'm aware of the limits of the ADS-B "in" devices to see traffic, but was not aware that ForeFlight had so clearly stated they wouldn't be supporting it in its current form. In that case yes, I see no reason why they'd suddenly activate it.
TangoWhiskey
Touchdown! Greaser!
There is an "Auto Show Taxi" under Settings that seems to be enabled by default. Do you have that enabled? I'm assuming the airport in question does have a separate taxi diagram and that you had it downloaded.