LiveWatch / Google Map

P

Peter Schindler

Founder
Users Local time
Today 11:42 PM
We've been informed by Google that the GoogleMaps API v2, on which our tracking map is based, will stop working after November 19. So this may happen at any time between today and tomorrow, depending on which time zone Google uses. Right now it's still there ;)

We are working on the new map (based on API v3) for a while now, but it's a little more complex than I expected it to be - in other words: not ready yet. It should be alright in a couple of days though.

Depending on what the map will look like when the v2 API will be disabled, we may either remove the current map or leave it (disfunctional) as is. The same goes for the fleet and route net overview maps. These will take a few days more to switch to V3.

Although Google had announced long ago that the V2 support will end in May 2013 (and then extended it to November), we thought it would still be working after that - just without any support. That's why we only started to migrate our code to V3 after their last info about completely stopping V2.

Please stand by for the new flight tracking map.
We hope you won't get lost in the meantime! ;)
 
Hi Peter,

maybe OpenLayers would be a thing to consider as well, as you don't need any google api keys and stuff, the clients download the maps from google directly. You can get any other map as a layer too, not just google, but openstreetmap, openmaps, etc... Maybe even skyvectors. :) If you're using KML as the source of the routes/aircrafts, it's 10 minutes to make the change.
I made some working examples (like logging my own flights based on vatsim data polling), if you're interested, drop me a line.

Gabor
 
Gabor Somogyvari said:
... if you're interested, drop me a line.
Click to expand...
I definitely will! Thank you very much for the offer, Gabor!
At the moment we don't use KML because the first version of the LiveWatch code was based on a php class for Google's V2 API. Later we modified that to load map data and flight list (side column) via Ajax, but it's still using some methods from the php class and some kind of self-made JS library.
API keys and Google terms are not so much of a problem but, as you say, there may be more flexibility in OpenLayers. I admit I never had a closer look at it ... let alone skyvector. This could be interesting and fun ;)

At the moment I'm just trying to re-code the current stuff on V3 API as quickly as possible, regardless of any optimizations. However, we are planning a major rework of the entire website (especially scripting but layout as well) within the next year. After 5 years with a continuously growing VA it's about time ;)

I will certainly get back to you once we get to work on the maps!

Peter
 
:eek:
Red alert cancelled - everything back to Green! Google seems to be way smarter than I already thought they are. Without any of our doing the old V2 code works with V3 now. Impressive!

We will still continue work on the new code because it should be more efficient and somewhat faster, but we can take our time.
So ... back to lazy mode! :p
 
Hello

Just from curiosity I want to ask is it possible to setup Live watch this way to track the flight all the time after click on the flight. I want to see all the changes of distance track and speed. Right now when I chose a plane it is show on flag infomation exactly in the time of clicking. When the plane move the flag of the speed and distance stays on the place of clicking is it possible to update the data in real time and show for all time when you click on flight. If you don't understand what I mean I'll put photo.

Greetings
 
I just replaced the old map with the new V3 code. As a benefit, it's somewhat bigger than before.
In case of odd display or any errors, please try to clear your browser cache and reload the page.

@Rafal: From what I understand you'd like to see flight information similar to that on ATC control screens. I think it doesn't make much sense on the current map. Depending on the number of flights going on it would look pretty messy in areas where many aircraft are close together.
However, we can think about a special map variant where you only track one flight at a time. In that case it would be nice to have. Maybe next year ;)
Btw, the temporary behaviour that the flight info stayed open once you clicked on the aircraft marker is gone again. Info popups now behave like before - they disappear when you click anywhere on the map and with every data update (every 30 secs).
 
Peter I was thinking about one at a time plane situation but you can put it as very wery minor thing on you to do list :hi:
 
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