ForeFlight (merged thread)

Hi all,

I wanted to share the release notes from the latest iOS release earlier today:

ForeFlight 12.2

3D Approach Preview

• 3D Preview now displays markers for each waypoint in your route, including labeled approach fixes, allowing you to better visualize every step of your approach down to the runway.
• Preview any planned route in 3D from either the Maps or Flights views by tapping the 3D button on each page, and preview only an approach procedure by tapping the procedure’s name in the Maps view Bubble Editor and tapping “3D Procedure Preview” at the bottom of the popup menu.
• 3D Preview displays each waypoint along your route using the same labeled markers as shown on the map, including speed and altitude restrictions for approach fixes that have them. The translucent “curtain” representing your route is also colored orange, magenta, or blue to indicate past, current, and future legs as you play through the route.
• 3D Preview also features an interactive navlog in the top-right (or at the bottom of the screen on iPhone), allowing you to view each waypoint and the distances between them. Tap on any waypoint in the navlog to jump to that leg of the flight.
• If you manually change the flight’s altitude at specific waypoints using the Set Altitude/Speed option, 3D Preview will incorporate these changes and display them in 3D.
• 3D Preview is available with ForeFlight Performance plans.

Airspace Frequencies

• Easily locate frequencies for many kinds of controlled airspace by tap-holding on the map to see them listed in the Add to Route popup.
• The Airspace section of the popup shows at least one frequency for each terminal control zone at the place where you tapped, and you can tap into the details of an airspace to reveal more information and any other frequencies associated with it.
• The Add to Route popup also now includes European FIS airspace with associated frequencies.

New Basemap Elements

• ForeFlight’s High Resolution Basemap includes new terrain and cultural elements such as mountain passes for Europe and the U.S., cables and gondolas, labels for major motorways, and additional bodies of water for improved inflight reference.
• Enable and download the High Resolution Basemap for any region in More > Downloads.
• Mountain pass and cable icons are oriented to indicate their direction, and also include the pass name and elevation in feet. Like mountain peak markers, you can enable or disable mountain passes and cables using the switch in Map Settings > Terrain.

Expanded Jeppesen VFR Data Coverage

• ForeFlight’s Aeronautical Map includes new Jeppesen VFR data covering Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, and North Macedonia.
• Jeppesen’s digital VFR data includes VFR waypoints, entries and exits, traffic circuits, VFR routes, and more, and is included in the “Nav Database Supplement – Europe” download.

Just a note that we are still working on getting Airspace Frequencies and Base Map to Web so these will follow in a future release.

So @Xlr8tr, when I said shortly, I really meant later today :)

More improvements to come soon! I hope everyone stays happy and healthy!

Josh

Josh, I’m a US user and while I understand that you’re trying to upsell everyone to a Performance Plus plan, you should also understand that 80% of what that can do are irrelevant to most GA pilots. Either bring out an intermediate plan (Performance Light ?) or keep the bizjet stuff in Performance Plus but add the GA stuff to the lower plan(s).

Three-fourths of the new features are available to all subscribers. Only the 3D Approach Preview requires a Performance Plus plan. The ratio seems to be ok.

Some inconsistency with what was posted further back e.g. you don’t get fly-by waypoints in autorouting in the basic version.

Without FB waypoints, autorouting is usable perhaps half the time, which means few will continue to use whatever existing method they have, which is Rocketroute (which already more or less owns the TP market in Europe) or the Autorouter (which is free and does all this).

Peter24-Mar-20 07:14 158
Some inconsistency with what was posted further back e.g. you don’t get fly-by waypoints in autorouting in the basic version.

Without FB waypoints, autorouting is usable perhaps half the time, which means few will continue to use whatever existing method they have, which is Rocketroute (which already more or less owns the TP market in Europe) or the Autorouter (which is free and does all this).

You don’t get ANY auto routing capabilities in SkyDemon nor in the basic Rocketroute products let alone flyby waypoints. ForeFlight performance plus, the top package, costs less than Rocketroutes piston Europe plan and yet offers so much more functionality. Autorouter? fantastic free service but to say it ‘does all this’ makes me wonder what exactly you expect/get from your efb?
I have no association with Foreflight other than being a paying customer, what I see is a company that is constantly listening to its customers and striving to improve its product. It still has some way to go to catch SkyDemon for VFR use in Europe but they are aware and are working on it, their engagement on this forum is a testament to that.

I am all for FF making good progress. One of the reasons is listed in the “threads possibly related” below i.e. this FF has a great product, but IMHO they won’t be successful if they charge a price approaching or equalling RR for full autorouting functionality. It is indeed excellent that FF has a presence on EuroGA.

For IFR in Europe I have never needed an “EFB”, and have no room for anything with a big screen in my plane anyway (TB20). During a flight I run VFR charts for emergency and general interest reasons, and for CAS avoidance when I fly VFR in the UK, on an old tablet.

Xlr8tr wrote:

what I see is a company that is constantly listening to its customers and striving to improve its product.

I fully agree.

A quick question for you @Josh_Tahmasebi_ForeFlight, is there a way to get standalone DMEs to show on the map page?

Specifically, WFJ 113.750 in Switzerland can be found with a search and added as a waypoint, but does not appear on the map nor does it appear in the “Add to Route” box if one touches the map. It does appear on the Swiss ICAO chart.

No offense meant to anybody, but I can’t understand why people complain about pricings of programs like ForeFlight or SkyDemon, especially in the aviation community.

Coming from the IT industry, I know fore sure that Creating, managing and updating such feature rich apps is a massive endeavor which requires a lot of smart and expensive people for development, testing and data updates. We’re talking here about a price difference of $200/year in ForeFlights case from the smallest to the biggest plan. That’s about one hour of 172 flying or just two beer in a bar less per month.

Compared to what vendors like Garmin charge for their avionics, ALL of those (in my opinion incredibly useful) EFB apps are a bargain, even with the highest plan.

So please think twice about complaining that some features are only available in higher plans. Only my 2 Cents.

I have not seen anyone posting that they cannot afford €200 or €300 or whatever. Anyone in that position won’t be flying anyway.

What I wrote was "but IMHO they won’t be successful if… " which is quite different.

It is perhaps more like “marketing advice” from an “industry observer”

It is worth what anyone is paying for it but I’ve been in business since 1978 and have picked up a few things in those years. One of them is that a product will nearly always fail unless it delivers something decisively better. Along with many others I would be happy to see FF succeed, but if they don’t then they might just drop European support and retreat to the US and other places. The US accounts for c. 75% of the world’s GA, they already own it, and it is an easy market.