FAA Releases Easier-to-Read Digital Charts

[Garrett]

Will Seattle Avionics be incorporating this new technology soon, long over due from photo copied charts and just in time to go along with SkyView recent upgraded S/W.

http://www.flyingmag.com/avionics-gear/pilot-supplies/faa-releases-easier-read-digital-charts?cmpid=enews040814&spPodID=030&spMailingID=20602285&spUserID=NDc4NjIwOTI4MAS2&spJobID=300435322&spReportId=MzAwNDM1MzIyS0

 

[dynonsupport]

As of last Thursday, these new charts are already incorporated in the Seattle Avionics downloads. They did send out a newsletter last week announcing it:

http://campaign.r20.constantcontact...H-II1jI_CYlY6P7aZUwvE3desFcJb8fqzhwAhVgsVWA==

Here's a screenshot from SkyView with the two data sources side-by-side:

 

[Garrett]

I am not seeing the digital quality on the Dynon or Wing X Pro charts, but it is showing up on the Fore Flight charts. Does anyone else notice this issue?

 

[swatson999]

The newsletter does say that you get the newer charts "as new charts are downloaded", and I thought I read at the FAA website that the newer, high res charts would be published as each sectional, etc., is updated on its regular cycle (did I read that right?).

So it might be that there are only a few sectionals currently in the new format, but eventually all of them will be?

Is that right?

 

[dynonsupport]

I believe the issue is that the Seattle Avionics Data Manager only downloads a new sectional when the old one is expired. Sectionals expire less often than the base aviation data does (every 28 days). So while some expired last Thursday, not all did. So it matters what area you are in. The FAA did update all of the data this month, so they are't being updated just as the sectional expires.

If you want to force it, you can go to

%AppData%\Seattle Avionics\DataManager\ScannedCharts\US\SEC

and delete the files in there to force it to re-download them. You may need to delete the data out of the SEC directory on your USB stick as well since it may just see them as up to date as well.

 

[Garrett]

I deleted charts from Wing X pro And then down loaded again and still no difference when compared with Foreflight. I assume Dynon will have the same issue. SA needs to look into this issue and explain. Maybe the sectionals are updated to digital as they renew as Steve W. suggested.

 

[jc2da]

I just deleted the SEC folder and did a download. It looks like I got the new digital charts this time. I can't wait to see how they look on SV. Should be a marked improvement.

 

[dynonsupport]

Garrett,
What sectional are you trying to update? We can look at it here for you and make sure it is upgraded on Seattle Avionics' server.

It's a bit of tortured logic to say that WingX didn't update when you deleted the files so Seattle Avionics must not either. You can see that Foreflight has all the updated sectionals, so they are out there, the FAA is not updating them only as the old ones expire. I have forced a new download of all 50 states and they are all the new format, so as far as I know, Seattle Avionics is all up to date like Foreflight is.

 

[swatson999]

Garrett,
What sectional are you trying to update? We can look at it here for you and make sure it is upgraded on Seattle Avionics' server.

It's a bit of tortured logic to say that WingX didn't update when you deleted the files so Seattle Avionics must not either. You can see that Foreflight has all the updated sectionals, so they are out there, the FAA is not updating them only as the old ones expire. I have forced a new download of all 50 states and they are all the new format, so as far as I know, Seattle Avionics is all up to date like Foreflight is.

Sounds like another "feature request" for SA...the ability to mark any file/state/region as "old" and force an overwrite of the data.

Frankly, as I said, the SA tool is pretty unintuitive and has a poor user interface. Needs some work ("OK" minimizes the window? "Download now" does, what, exactly? Yes, I know what it does, but it's not intuitive or aligned with other programs. No standard menu at the top? What the...? Etc.).

Dynon should just buy SA, put some of their SW engineers on it, and fix it

 

[Garrett]

Thank You for responding Dynon, It is the Florida VFR sectional.

 

[Garrett]

I also agree with Steve W. Dynon purchasing SA would complement Dynon. SA has yet to repond to my Emails on this issue.

 

[dynonsupport]

We used the Florida sectional when at SnF. It is up to date for sure. Delete your Florida.zip and it should update.

Here's a quick screenshot, taken off the same SkyView before and after I updated Florida on an old stick I had lying around:

 

[Garrett]

Good News! I will do that and test tomorrow. Thanks for the help!