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Atlas-like application on Android

Atlas is an addon that lets FlightGear users display a real-time "moving-map" of their flight.

Atlas-like application on Android

Postby ludomotico » Tue Apr 24, 2012 3:08 pm

Hi all,

This is my first message in these forums and I've only used FlightGear for a week. Please, excuse me in advance if this is not the right place for this message, or there is any other inconvenience.

This is the current deployment of my "simulation environment" at home:
Image

The main computer controls the two larger screens, the laptop shows an additional view (in this case, the panel) and maybe you noticed the tablet on top of the Saitek yokes.

Since the scenery of my usual flying area is not well-detailed (South of Catalonia. Working on that!), I needed something to show the current plane position on a map. That is, an Atlas for Android. I had no luck finding an application for this, so I created one of my own.

The application is working on my devices with Android 4.02 (tablet) and 2.3.3 (mobile phone). In addition to the map and since the laptop is not always at home, the tablet shows what I think that are the most important instruments. This is a snapshop of the current status of the Android application:

Image

Thing is: it has some bugs and it is not stable enough for distribution, but maybe somebody is interested in this application and can help me with testing and/or any additional features that I've not considered yet.

Thanks!
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Re: Atlas-like application on Android

Postby curt » Tue Apr 24, 2012 4:11 pm

Hi, your app looks really interesting -- are you doing this as a dedicated app, or as an html web app? I've been dabbling with something that is html/javascript based using openlayers and websockets for communication. I've been focused more on mapping/tracking and figuring out how to draw things in open-layers, but your instrument panel is pretty cool looking.

The reason I leaned towards javascript/open-layers vs. a native app is that I should be able to support android, ipad/phone, and any desktop/laptop system with a browser that supports websockets.
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Re: Atlas-like application on Android

Postby ludomotico » Tue Apr 24, 2012 5:27 pm

It is a native app just because I code faster in Java than using html/javascript. For example, I coded this app during the weekend and I had enough time to flight both in FlightGear and a real plane. I'm planing to release the source code under the GPL in a few days.

Images of the instruments are an obvious rip of the FlighGear default panel under $FG_ROOT/Aircraft/Instruments/Textures and you can use the same images. They are absolutely superb!
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Re: Atlas-like application on Android

Postby ludomotico » Wed Apr 25, 2012 10:22 am

I finally published the application for free in Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... flightgear

If you use the application, please, report any errors you might find in this thread. I'll do my best to fix them.

The source code is available under the GPLv3 at https://github.com/Juanvvc/FlightGearMap

You'll need the andatlas.xml file in the FG_ROOT/Protocol directory of your main PC. Get this file from the last link.

Thanks!
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Re: Atlas-like application on Android

Postby F-JJTH » Wed Apr 25, 2012 11:58 am

Hi,

You application feel good ! I will download it ;)
Thanks for your work

[EDIT]Bad new : THis application is not compatible with my smartphone (Samsung Galaxy Spica (GT-I5700) / Android 2.1-update1)[/EDIT]

Cheers,
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Re: Atlas-like application on Android

Postby ludomotico » Wed Apr 25, 2012 3:04 pm

I'm afraid that I can't test FlightGearMap on a device running Android 2.1. If you want to take the risk, download this file and install manually on your phone (you'll have to check "install from unknown sources" in the settings menu of your phone. Uncheck after the test!)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13130748/FlightGearMapv7.apk

If you can confirm that the application at least loads without errors (you'll see the map and some controls, even if there is not any PC nearby running FlightGear), I'll update the application description in Google Play to include Android 2.1 devices. In any case, I'm afraid to say that your screen seems too small to be useful :(

Thanks!
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Re: Atlas-like application on Android

Postby F-JJTH » Wed Apr 25, 2012 5:15 pm

Thanks for the download link ludomotico.

I have downloaded and installed the package .apk but I can't launch it :?
I know that my smartphone begin to be old...

May be your, application can work on linux/windows/mac since she is developped in Java. Maybe it will be interesting to compile it for theses OS ;)
Ii could be a good alternative to Atlas.

Cheers,
Clément
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Re: Atlas-like application on Android

Postby snipey » Wed Apr 25, 2012 5:48 pm

i also got the apk for my android 2.2 tablet, and it launches but i seem to be having connection issues, i've only gotten the app to connect to fg once :(
and the map wont load it just shows a grey grid
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Re: Atlas-like application on Android

Postby Gijs » Wed Apr 25, 2012 5:56 pm

Looks very nice! Downloaded it on my Xperia Mini Pro (Android 2.3.4, according to Play it's compatible), but the app keeps crashing when I try to open it. Maybe it doesn't support such small screens? :P
I've "sent a report" (to you?).
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Re: Atlas-like application on Android

Postby ludomotico » Wed Apr 25, 2012 11:37 pm

Come on guys, tell me that there is at least one successful running :oops:

It is working on my devices: tablet Archos G9 with Android 4.0 and mobile phone HTC Desire with Android 2.3.3.

There is nothing particular in the code for a specific device, so it must be some general error. The report that Gijs sent was really helpful to figure out the problem, thank you very much: OutOfMemory error while loading bitmaps. Panel too detailed for some devices, I'm afraid :( I'll try to use a reduced (both in size and quality) version of the panel. Check the update in day or so.

F-JJTH, porting application from Android to PC it not an easy task: graphical libraries are absolutely different. Fortunately this application is not that complex and a port shouldn't be difficult, but my priority right now is Android devices.

Thanks!
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Re: Atlas-like application on Android

Postby AndersG » Thu Apr 26, 2012 7:28 am

Hi!

Looks like an interesting application. It appears to run on my Samsung Galaxy tab 8.9 but I don't have FlightGear at hand to try it out.

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Re: Atlas-like application on Android

Postby snipey » Thu Apr 26, 2012 8:04 am

i got the instruments working again, and it was my fault that they didn't work, because the first time if found the instruments very jumpy so i set the frequency to 10 hz when i put it back to 5 it worked again, but now it keeps crashing but i don't get any errors :cry:
the tablet is one a tomtec 10 inch, running 2.2(one of those cheap ones so that might be the problem
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Re: Atlas-like application on Android

Postby Groucho » Thu Apr 26, 2012 10:39 am

I like that approach.

As an additional thought I am wondering if it would be possible to port the NASAL engine to Android (native C/C++ can be run by the way, see the necessitas project at sourceforge).
Plus some more code it would enable the device to generically show arbitrary instruments. Switching cockpits would be a matter of packaging scripts and images into an apk per cockpit/instrument and just choose the right ones from a list. It would even enable multiple tablets to be used for different purposes at once (one for the map, another VOR and navigations, etc.). This would give great hardware cockpit setups.
Android seems perfectly suited for this task.
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Re: Atlas-like application on Android

Postby curt » Thu Apr 26, 2012 12:47 pm

I've been fiddling with javascript and open-layers which can also be used to draw map layers and instrumentation. From one persepctive that might be a little more universal/generic solution because it just runs in your browser. But the engine on a tablet/smart phone isn't quite as fast (yet) as a desktop PC so the animation might not be as smooth as we want -- especially inside a browser. I'm tryng to learn about web sockets to make the data connection from the javascript/openlayers app, and it turns out that requires chrome or firefox -- and chrome is only available for ICS (aka Ice Cream Sandwhich, aka Android 4.0), oh and I haven't figured out the handshaking to talk to Safari yet. I guess it's like anything -- there are 100 ways to do something, each with it's own unique advantages and disadvantages. (I haven't gotten far enough to have anything to show yet unfortunately ....)
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Re: Atlas-like application on Android

Postby ludomotico » Thu Apr 26, 2012 4:26 pm

Groucho, I like your idea of configurable instruments and different panel views for different devices. Actually, the six instruments that are currently included can be independently placed on screen. Adding any other instrument (with a refresh rate of about 5Hz) shouldn't be difficult. An example of dynamic positioning: the application detects small screens and automatically switches to this panel disposition:

Image

I can't devise a usable interface to let the user move/add/remove instruments. I suppose that a first approach is having different hard-coded not-configurable views of the panel, but I'll need your help to select the most suitable instruments for each view.

I'll think it over during the weekend.
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