True, but Track Up will never do anything until you are moving.
And North Up (the only option on the ground unless you have a static heading source) is no good for situational awareness especially on the ground.
It seems clear that my KMD550 system is set up for Heading Up, until GPS is computing a track and then it becomes Track Up. On the ground, if not moving, and before the compass system produces a heading, it is North Up.
Peter that sounds like a great setup, the worst of all three worlds combined – now it’s not a quick glance on the map, you actually have to focus on the north pointer to find out what the avionics is doing.
I prefer everything north up. That way, there are no surprises, it’s always the same mental task. You don’t rotate the approach charts too, don’t you?
On the ground, particularly with something like Safetaxi, I really want it in heading/track up. Obviously if those two are not aligned on the ground then you have bigger problems than the chart orientation!
now it’s not a quick glance on the map, you actually have to focus on the north pointer to find out what the avionics is doing.
It is always Track Up when flying, which is what matters.
You don’t rotate the approach charts too, don’t you?
That’s a good point, but Jepp (who own the Universe) have chosen to not deliver the data as a vector database so everybody has to live with that 
IMHO flying North Up all the time is too great a price to pay for solving this particular issue which affects maybe only 1% of a typical flight’s duration (but yes I admit it carries a lot more than 1% of the risk).
Obviously if those two are not aligned on the ground then you have bigger problems than the chart orientation!
There must be a threshold GPS GS at which Track Up takes over from Heading Up. I have no idea what that is – presumably because I am always looking at the runway disappearing underneath when the switchover happens.
I think track up applies when the GPS track is set ie after you have input a flight plan.
edited: Maybe not. Will test tomorrow and let you know .
You don’t rotate the approach charts too, don’t you?
I do. No matter if paper or electric. Especially for VFR, I want to see at a glance if the lake or the motorway is supposed to be on my left or my right, and when I identify towns, I want to see how the railway crosses the town or in what direction there is a motorway passing the town. With a North up setup, I can’t do this easy. Of course, when you are flying fully automated IFR with big screens, it might not play that big role, but traditional VFR is a lot easier when your map matches the landscape.
I could imagine – this is pure theory to me – that you might want to use track up or heading up, if you have a weather radar, because that essentially gives it’s information heading up. Turning that information about any angle and mentally overlaying it with a north up map does not seem like workload reduction, and probably at a time, where you need mental capacity for plenty important stuff.
What I never understood are devices and software that are incapable of displaying track up. It is so easy with tablets and PNAs, that even the first moving maps of garmin and Co could do that. I don’t understand, why software like VFR-NAV or Sky-Map on a Thinknavi T7 did not bother. They did lose quite a few customers that way.
There must be a threshold GPS GS at which Track Up takes over from Heading Up. I have no idea what that is – presumably because I am always looking at the runway disappearing underneath when the switchover happens.
I have said before, that I use a backup software called FlyIsFun (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gps.ils.vor.glasscockpit&hl=de) on my phone. The developer has a selectable speed at which the display changes from heading up (as precise as the device allows it) and track up. You could even switch to North up, if you like. Not suitable anything IFR related, I think, but a nice tool in a VFR cockpit.
What I never understood are devices and software that are incapable of displaying track up
The answer to that is in the way map copyright is held in Europe.
The holders have the maps on CAD systems, obviously, and layered, obviously. But they release the product only as a flattened image, which (due to text labels) cannot be rotated.
IMHO they do it to make piracy harder, because if you released the individual layers then it would be easy to update the map on a DIY basis, and the vendor would lose update subscription income.
Even a pixel map can be turned, and although I don’t know much about programming graphics (other than plotting mathematical functions and computer analysis), I can’t imagine this option being too hard to program, in comparison to the other gimmicks incorporated into the softwares, that noone really uses anyway. Especially if you charge 160 Euros for the software without any data. (Okay, Skymap now does support track up, but the version installed in the aircraft had not). So the 160 € software is outclassed by a 16€ app.
Sure; a flattened image can be rotated, but unless the text is on a separate layer (and with some other conditions met) that will end up upside down, and useless.
Not more or not less useless than a turned paper chart, I figure. ( I can’t see something wrong with this picture, aslong as I fly a SE heading :-) ) I think it’s just a bad business decision not to sell a product to people who rather have track up and occasionally read an inverted writing. For me, not having that option is a deal breaker. It is just a matter of choice.
