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Post by texxasal on Dec 1, 2017 2:28:47 GMT
Having recently purchased and installed the product, I am making my way slowly through the manual.
If my question has already been covered within the documentation, please feel free to respond with:
"It's in the manual. dummy!!! Look on page # xxxxxx"
Otherwise, here goes:
I am looking for a way to find out the locations of some/all of the ships at a given DTG (Date/Time/Group).
What I'd like to be able to do (probably somewhere on an additional page to the spreadsheet), is to enter a date and GMT hack, press a button, and get a listing of what ships are where (Geo coordinates, direction of travel, speed, destination).
I believe this will make planning for blue-water operations much easier.
Thanks in advance.
Al
San Antonio, Texas
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Post by Ripcord on Dec 1, 2017 12:53:28 GMT
Al,
This would make like a lot easier, if we had this feature. We don't.
It is a good idea that is worth looking into, just to see what we can come up with for future versions.
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Post by hangar200 on Dec 2, 2017 18:27:33 GMT
If I may… Once an AI ship starts moving, provdind a exact future position is next to impossible. To explain this, I am afraid I will need to use a Navy term called PIM (Position of Intended Movement) In the Navy, we calculate PIM for a specific transit. We take into account various course and speed changes. For carriers, we can adjust PIM for flight ops, i.e. course changes to put “the wind down the angle” during launches an recoveries. Most importantly, if we fall “behind PIM” we can speed up to put us back “on PIM”. On the bridge, the Quartermaster of the Watch normally plots the ship’s position every 15 minutes. This plot provides the basis for changes to get back on PIM. in the FSX/P3D world, none of that happens. From the time an AI ship leaves port, it begins falling behind PIM. Most Fleet Traffic ships transit at 25 kts. However, you cannot just do a time-distance calculation based on 25 knots. First the ship has to accelerate, which takes time. Then there are turns, Watch an AI vehicle–plane, boat, automobile–turn. They get to a point, pivot to the new course, accelerate to their assigned speed. All that takes time and since there is no AI Quartermaster of the Watch saying, “we are falling behind PIM and need to speed up.”, the longer an AI ship transits, the farther behind PIM it gets. A long way to say that while it is certainly possible to develop such a spreadsheet algorithm, it would produce locations of blank ocean. BTW, in the real world, we get behind PIM often enough that Fleet Traffic is actually a fair representation of reality.  BLATANT PLUG: A few years back, I wrote the Power Users Guide to QuickPlan. QuickPlan is an app by FSWidgets that, while designed as a VFR flight planner, is a very powerful tool. In the Power Users Guide, I wrote a chapter on military flight planning that includes a fairley simple method to develop flight plans to find ships. The ship’s given speed and track are all that are needed - both are included in HGS FT. END OF BLATANT PLUG Hope that helps. R/ Hangar200 |
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Post by Ripcord on Dec 3, 2017 1:20:33 GMT
I am looking for a way to find out the locations of some/all of the ships at a given DTG (Date/Time/Group). What I'd like to be able to do (probably somewhere on an additional page to the spreadsheet), is to enter a date and GMT hack, press a button, and get a listing of what ships are where (Geo coordinates, direction of travel, speed, destination). I think something could be derived with some work. If you are familiar with traffic explorer, this does provide all this info -- but only for units that are loaded into the sim, within some proximity of the user's location. But I'm not sure that is adequate. I think here you are looking for something that lends itself better for planning purposes. Al, I know you are one of the community gray beards over at VRS -- how do you do this now? I mean, I can sit down and bang out any number of VRS TP scenarios for you, that's no trouble -- just using Google Earth and some simple math. Would a pack of those VRS TP scenario files be of any use? I'd been planning to knock out couple packs of them at some point. |
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Post by texxasal on Dec 9, 2017 11:47:01 GMT
Sorry for not replying sooner, but I've been occupied with family stuff.
Regarding the TP scenarios using Google Earth, they would be very much appreciated, and well used.
Anything that would show up via .kmz traces on Google Earth will help greatly.
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.
Sometime when I'm over near Houston (Pearland, Alvin, Sugarland, Rosharon), we should get together over an adult beverage.
Regards,
Al Rosenberg
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Post by Ripcord on Dec 9, 2017 12:03:28 GMT
Al, I'll buy the first one.
Did you see the KML tracks in your Haze Gray Studios folder?
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Post by texxasal on Dec 9, 2017 13:26:15 GMT
Yes I did see the traces, which gave me the idea about my request.
Is it possible to get a hold of the .kmz files directly? If so, I think I can use them for our planning purposes.
I'm not looking for a full-blown JMCIS or JOTS capability (way beyond the scope of the product). But, some accessibility to information about "where the damn boat is SUPPOSED to be will help us with operational planning.
BTW, I should be over your way next weekend (12/16-17), and will be staying in Pearland. Maybe we could meet someplace?
Regards
Al
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Post by Ripcord on Dec 9, 2017 14:00:21 GMT
Al, I had planned to do a simple video tutorial on how I plan these flights, but that was going to wait a bit until I'd made some more progress on my docks/piers. Might need to move that up, we'll see.
I'll be around next weekend, sure. I'll send my cell phone by message.
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Post by hangar200 on Dec 9, 2017 15:05:41 GMT
Ripcord - if you can pull that off, more power to you. @ texxasal - The KMZ files are located in the Haze Gray Studios Documentation folder in your main flightsim folder. Use with the Traffic Timetables spread sheet as your guide. The reason why a JOTS / JMCIS display is not possible (BTW, as of 2014 when I retired, the latest acronym was GCCS-M - Global Command & Control System - Maritime - pronounced "Geeks M") is that the AI units do not self report their locations. In a previous post I provided a full explanation as to why developing a DR-based app does not really work. Suffice to say, once an AI ship starts out it starts to fall behind PIM. The farther it goes, the farther behind PIM it gets. It is possible to roughly DR a ship's location at any point along its track - some math, trial and error, and copious use of "Slew" and the overhead view. |
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