srgalahad
Charter Member 2022
For all you navigationally
challenged folk out there (including those who wish they weren't dependant on the MSFS "
Map" and GPS)
FSWidgets has got just the thing for you --AND for the upcoming MacRobertson race-- GMap has been around for a bit in FSX but "In recognition of the large proportion of folks in the community still using FS9, it was only a matter of time before the FS2004 incarnation would join the existing FSX and X-Plane versions."
I just did a 700nm run across the barren deserts of Iran (Z16E to OIKK) at 360Kts GS and had no problem following GMap alone to within a mile of destination (decent wx and solely map-reading) using the "terrain" display for most part.
Install is simple: copy one .exe from the zip file to ANY folder on your computer (make a shortcut so you can 'find' it), copy one .dll to your FS9 Modules folder, start FS, start Gmap and Bingo! Works great with multi-monitors - I had it on my second monitor. It zooms, runs as amoving map OR can be disconnected (as I did) so you can do the 'purist' VFR navigation.
The only possible glitch I saw was that for the first few minutes of the flight there seemed to be some conflict with the Altimeter setting in FS (autopilot chased altitudes and required a few hits on the "B" key). This MAY be a bug, or just that my sim was having problems reading the Jepp wx. I suspect a bit of both as GMap uses IE7 and there may be some small issues. About halfway into the flight it seemed to stabilize until a wx update.
Framerates? My FS is a Dell XPS630 (Q9300, 6Gb Ram, 9800GT) and with Firefox, MSFS, Thunderbird, GMap (IE7) running I MIGHT have seen a hit of 0.5 FPS.
Accuracy? I'll post a few comparative screenies in a bit but with FSGenesis I was able to identify individual hills (Google Maps and FSGenesis share essentially the same SRTM mapping) for checkpoints.
Read the documentation to get a feel for the display and a few conditions. However, it's pretty intuitive and looks great. Oh, it also has a "stay on top" function that can be switched on/off.
FlightSim.com press release
http://www.flightsim.com/main/notams09/fswi1002.htm
Download page:
http://fswidgets.com/shop/download_files.php#gmapfs9
9.5/10
Rob
challenged folk out there (including those who wish they weren't dependant on the MSFS "Map" and GPS)FSWidgets has got just the thing for you --AND for the upcoming MacRobertson race-- GMap has been around for a bit in FSX but "In recognition of the large proportion of folks in the community still using FS9, it was only a matter of time before the FS2004 incarnation would join the existing FSX and X-Plane versions."
I just did a 700nm run across the barren deserts of Iran (Z16E to OIKK) at 360Kts GS and had no problem following GMap alone to within a mile of destination (decent wx and solely map-reading) using the "terrain" display for most part.
Install is simple: copy one .exe from the zip file to ANY folder on your computer (make a shortcut so you can 'find' it), copy one .dll to your FS9 Modules folder, start FS, start Gmap and Bingo! Works great with multi-monitors - I had it on my second monitor. It zooms, runs as amoving map OR can be disconnected (as I did) so you can do the 'purist' VFR navigation.
The only possible glitch I saw was that for the first few minutes of the flight there seemed to be some conflict with the Altimeter setting in FS (autopilot chased altitudes and required a few hits on the "B" key). This MAY be a bug, or just that my sim was having problems reading the Jepp wx. I suspect a bit of both as GMap uses IE7 and there may be some small issues. About halfway into the flight it seemed to stabilize until a wx update.
Framerates? My FS is a Dell XPS630 (Q9300, 6Gb Ram, 9800GT) and with Firefox, MSFS, Thunderbird, GMap (IE7) running I MIGHT have seen a hit of 0.5 FPS.
Accuracy? I'll post a few comparative screenies in a bit but with FSGenesis I was able to identify individual hills (Google Maps and FSGenesis share essentially the same SRTM mapping) for checkpoints.
Read the documentation to get a feel for the display and a few conditions. However, it's pretty intuitive and looks great. Oh, it also has a "stay on top" function that can be switched on/off.
FlightSim.com press release
http://www.flightsim.com/main/notams09/fswi1002.htm
Download page:
http://fswidgets.com/shop/download_files.php#gmapfs9
9.5/10
Rob
. I just did another flight and after landing on the runway the Google map showed me about 400 ft left of it on the ramp. Since VFR flight minima are 1000 & 3 it shouldn't be a problem.