Map software bug?

[pbennett]

Just received my new Skyview and I'm trying everything out. The map seems to have an odd problem. I have a Garmin 695 that gives it a valid fix on serial port 4 with port 5 disabled. If the 695 is sending its NMEA output in "Fast" mode (a reduced group of sentences that allows it to send once per second as required by the autopilot), the Skyview boots up displaying the map and synthetic vision for about Palm Springs California. Great for Californians, but I'm in Sydney Australia. If I change the 695 to "Normal" mode, the Skyview knows it's in Sydney but the map goes to excessively low resolution (blocks of a mile or two) and synthetic vision is gone, regardless of the state of the "Synvis" button.
If I switch the 695 back to "Fast", I don't change back to the wrong location and I don't get synthetic vision back.
The Skyview doesn't have the 695 in its list of GPS's, but all the Garmin x95 options give the same result, as does "Generic NMEA' and several other brand options.
I suspect it's a southern hemisphere thing, because, as far as I can determine from the terrain, the latitude it shows is about exactly the right magnitude but the wrong side of the equator. I can't see a relationship with the longitudes however. Also I haven't found where or if the Skyview displays lat and long.
Dynon, please help.

Peter

 

[Brantel]

I am almost sure you will have to keep the 695 on "normal" mode.

Did you go here and download the terrain data file for your area??

http://www.dynonavionics.com/docs/terrain.html

 

[dynonsupport]

The 695 should work in fast mode. We only need "normal" for the HSI. So that being said, you will need to use normal someday. We'll need to look into it and see if we have a bug or something, or maybe I'm wrong and we do need normal mode for some reason.

We don't know of a single AP that requires fast mode, so I don't see why you can't use normal.

As Brantel very correctly points out, if you are outside of the USA, you need to go and download terrain for your area. There is a low-res base map for the whole world (you know, the same resolution many systems use as their high-res stuff   ) but the high-res is so large we can't fit the whole world on one system. We don't show SynVis in this low res-mode.

We included a 4GB USB memory stick to help you download this data.

 

[jakej]

Peter

"if you are outside of the USA, you need to go and download terrain for your area. There is a low-res base map for the whole world (you know, the same resolution many systems use as their high-res stuff Wink ) but the high-res is so large we can't fit the whole world on one system. We don't show SynVis in this low res-mode."

As DS points out, you won't get the resolution that most of the adverts show - maybe it's about time the manufacturers acknowledged this in their adverts, could save a bit of aingst.

Jake J

 

[dynonsupport]

Jake,
We have full, hi-res for the whole world. Same resolution as the USA. It's just that it doesn't ship on the unit. All he has to do is go to our website, download the file, and put it on the unit. When he does this it will replace the USA data.

You absolutely will get the resolution the advertisements show.

 

[pbennett]

Well, it's one of those good news/bad news stories.

The good news is that the terrain resolution and synthetic vision problem is fixed after downloading the correct terrain file. I am seriously impressed with both the quality of the display and the resolution of the terrain. It really is a superb platform for the future aviation map software. Thanks for sorting that out.

The Skyview starts up showing the correct terrain if the G 695 is set to "normal". It shows the Californian terrain if the GPS is set to "fast". This is not acceptable. At the very least there must be an error message to the pilot.

If after boot up I change the GPS from "normal" to "fast", the Skyview behaves normally as far as I can test it on the bench. I can accept that the HSI would not work if I could test it.

I use "fast" because my TruTrak instructions say to do so. Apparently the "normal" 2 second update can cause hunting during turns. I've never tried "normal", but I will now.

I would suggest that
1. The manual be updated to include terrain installation instructions (a pointer to the website would do).
2. In the meantime the information be included with the errata sheet that comes with the manual.
3. An error message be included to warn if the current location is not within the high res database
4. The software be modified so it can never boot up with the wrong location.
5. Notes be added to the installation manual indicating what NMEA sentences are required for what functions.

Peter

 

[dynonsupport]

Peter,
Thanks for your feedback.

Something is very weird if it's showing CA. We'll do our best to figure this out ASAP. I think we can get a 696 easily so hopefully we can recreate it quickly.

We are a bit short on engineering for the next week or so with the holiday, but I promise it's a priority.

 

[dynonsupport]

Peter,
We're able to re-create this problem, so we'll get it fixed for the next release. Thanks for all your information. You are correct that once you go into normal mode once, it will work in normal or fast for the rest of the power cycle.

 

[jc2da]

Sorry, I am new to this EFIS world.

Peter, what do you get when connecting a G695 to Skyview? Do you have the Dynon GPS receiver too?

Also, I thought Dynon only supports Dynon AP's, so how can you use a Trutrack?

Thanks for the info!
jae

 

[Brantel]

The Dynon will work with any stand alone AP...After all, they are stand alone and do not require anything from the EFIS to work.

Just don't expect to have any integration between the EFIS and the stand alone AP.

 

[dynonsupport]

Right now all we use the 695 (or any other GPS for) is position, which gives you Synthetic Vision and the terrain map. You don't need the Dynon GPS puck if you use an external device.

In the future these external units can be used to drive the HSI or our internal autopilot.