On 10/19/04 at 11:57 AM Chris Metzler wrote:
> >I'm wondering whether we know what the X-Plane format really *is*. >Since the beginning of September, Robin Peel has been saying that a >new set of files are coming out "next weekend, September 18." But he >also says that these files won't work at all with earlier versions >of X-Plane. That may simply be because of the new information content >in fields that were basically dummy (see below) choking reads that >don't know how to handle them; but it made me wonder if there's a file >format change coming up. At the very least, his comments about being >able to declare aprons separate from taxiways suggest a new record type. > Well, I guess we'll find out eventually. Converters are easy to write, if somewhat tedious. The current X-Plane format contains a flag indicating whether to include runway distance remaining signs or not, so the change to it should be good for you in that respect. >On a related note, since the X-Plane files are apparently going to support >this soon, is there any possibility of being able to "label" taxiways with >identifiers (e.g. "taxiway A")? I know that right now, we don't do >anything with that information; but we might in the future, with sign >placement or ground control instructions or whatever, and if people have >that information and the opportunity to add it to the database, we might >as well, rather than having to go back and add it later. Something >along these lines (re: taxiways and aprons): > >http://baron.flightgear.org/pipermail/flightgear-devel/2004-July/029106.htm l > I think that your idea to put a taxiway designator in the 'xxx' (bet this message gets flagged as spam now!) part of the record is an excellent one. The downside of course is that it would require X-Plane itself to understand it before it could be applied to the master dataset. On the other hand, genapts could be made to understand it as an extension to the default format. And if as you say the X-Plane format is likely to contain it soon then that's excellent. What I suggest is that the TaxiDraw project file be allowed to keep extra information such as this, perhaps in xml format. Then, when exporting one can simply export the information relevant at the time for the format exported to. One could possible generate the airport signage directly from the TaxiDraw project files, or maybe by exporting the extra data into the X-Plane data as an extension that genapts understands. Once X-Plane format officially includes it, it can be exported from the TaxiDraw project files into whatever format it uses to understand it. Some of the other issues you bring up in the archived post you mention are similar to those that Paul Surgeon brings up in this thread - I'll think about it and reply again. Cheers - Dave This message has been scanned but we cannot guarantee that it and any attachments are free from viruses or other damaging content: you are advised to perform your own checks. Email communications with the University of Nottingham may be monitored as permitted by UK legislation. _______________________________________________ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel 2f585eeea02e2c79d7b1d8c4963bae2d
