Every year at some point in the fall the team at Navigraph gathers for their yearly workshop. This year, the workshop was held with as goal to kick off some new projects. The workshop led to a roadmap for Navigraph for the coming 12 months, which Navigraph has presented in one of their blogs. The blog also comes with a vlog, made by one of the founders of Navigraph, Magnus. He briefly presents the plans from the blog in video format, and gives us a sneak peak into the Navigraph office.
Navigraph Charts
First of all, Magnus confirms that the Navigraph Charts app for iOS is still being worked on. Although a bit overdue, with the Navigraph desktop, web and Android apps being released nearly four months ago, we’re happy to hear the iOS version hasn’t been forgotten and is ‘due any week now’.
In addition to the IFR and CAO charts currently available though the Charts app, Navigraph will also be adding VFR Sectional Aeronautical Charts (“sectionals”). The team’s goal is to develop their own custom VFR sectionals and refresh the IFR enroute charts. In order to produce these VFR sectionals the team has to gather and render lots of geographical data.
FMS Data Manager
One of the most important forms of data for subscribers to Navigraph is the Navdata. Using Navigraph’s FMS Data Manager the navdata can be delivered to both the sim and addon aircraft in over 100 formats. Navigraph plans make some changes to ensure the navdata is delivered at the high standard Navigraph prides itself on.
New Website
This fall and into winter, the Navigraph website will be redesigned for easier use. The new website has been something that has been on the to-do list since 2012. Site navigation will be a key component of the new website, and some elements of the site will be restructured to emphasis focus on important Navigraph products.
Near the end of this new website project, a new developer website will also be developed. This new developer website will house sample data sets, API’s and documentation. The developer site will make it easier for programmers to develop addons and programs built around Navigraph’s data.
Weather in Charts
The blog also talks about adding weather to Navigraph Charts. Though the first version of this will be “limited” to METAR and TAF data, the team is planning on adding rasterised weather systems into the enroute charts as well. Winds aloft is also a feature on the wishlist. The main challenge is deciding whether to use a real-time data source, historical weather, or the option to read weather from the simulator.
Change Logs
Navigraph will work on making clearer what has been changed about their Navigraph Charts app through changelogs. Currently, it is not always clear to people using the application what has changed after an update, and the Navigraph teams wants to improve this and make users more aware of changes that have been made.
YouTube
Planned for the coming year will be product video tutorials on how to best use their products. The team’s goal is to produce videos that are easy to understand and follow along.
Cosford
In the vlog, Magnus mentions himself, as well as a few other developers, will be attending Cosford in two weeks time. Though the team won’t be exhibiting, you’ll still get the chance to talk and interact with the team. If you have any questions for the team, you can also leave them in the comments down below, and we’ll do our best to make sure we’ll get you some answers from Navigraph at Cosford.
All in all, big things are in the works at Navigraph. Though it seems the team will have a busy time ahead, it’s important to note that the team will not only work on the above mentioned features. Time has been divided to ensure maintenance and bug-fixing of the current Navigraph products will continue to happen. Furthermore, provided everything goes well, the team may even have time for some additional development items, such as the annotation tool that the team has been talking about before.
As always, we will keep you up to date of all updates coming from Navigraph.
