Euroscope NAT Plugin

[Michael Freudeman 1142721]

A plug-in for Euroscope 3.1d to show the current North Atlantic Tracks.

 

http://www.nyartcc.org/bigapple/showthread.php?t=9628

 

Instructions, screen-shots and download link are in the link above.

[Even Rognlien]

Hmm, tried to open the link, but got a blank page with this:

 

Fatal error: Out of memory (allocated 786432) (tried to allocate 1245184 bytes) in /var/www/nyartcc.org/htdocs/bigapple/showthread.php on line 1818

 

Edit: Now it works! Great work, must be a fantastic tool for the oceanic controllers!

[Adrian Barnett 1037621]

Hmm, tried to open the link, but got a blank page with this:

 

Fatal error: Out of memory (allocated 786432) (tried to allocate 1245184 bytes) in /var/www/nyartcc.org/htdocs/bigapple/showthread.php on line 1818

 

Edit: Now it works! Great work, must be a fantastic tool for the oceanic controllers!

 

The plug-in works GREAT!!!

[Stephan Boerner 945550]

Hm, is there anything that needs to be done that is not in the docomeentation? I can load the plugin, I can open the options dialog, but no NATs displayed.

[Phill Powell 849479]

Sorry to resurrect this thread.

 

I'm unable to register on NYARTCC site to list a possible bug.

 

This plugin works great, but if I use .natoptions it overwrites my ipaddr file.

 

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[Mark Walsh]

Any chance on getting EuroNat updated to v3.2 for the new Euroscope version?

[Merik Nanish 1184142]

It is my pleasure to announce a new version of EuroNAT plug-in is released today, which is compatible with EuroScope 3.2.

 

What is new?

Apart from being updated so it would work with ES 3.2, the plug-in has also been updated in the following ways:

 

• It does NOT use a database anymore. All NAT waypoints are stored in memory, so the plug-in is only a single DLL file now, which is easier to maintain.
  
• It uses the same data source as VRC to download the NAT tracks.

 

Where can I download it from?

Download the plug-in from: http://nyartcc.org/sectorfiles/euroNAT.zip

 

Questions / bugs / feature requests

If you have found a problem with the plug-in, have a question about how it works, want to create a similar plug-in and would like to see euroNAT's source code, or would like to request a feature to be added, please reply to this thread.

 

Using euroNAT

To enable the euroNAT plugin, go to OTHER SET > Plug-ins... then click on Load to load the plugin. Then in the same dialog, to the left the Load button, find the row which has the title euroNAT and click on it. Next, in the box on the lower right side double-click on Standard ES radar screen so it would move to the box on the left, titled "Allowed to draw on types". Then hit the Close button.

 

By default, once you load euroNAT it will show eastbound and westbound NATs, but not the Concorde routes. You have two ways to change these (and other) settings: using the Options dialog, or using text commands.

 

To use the Options dialog, type .natoptions in the Message area (bottom of main EuroScope window) and press Enter. You can also type .natshow gui (both commands do the same thing). Then you can modify the options.

 

To modify the options using text commands, you can use the following commands:

 

• .natshow east will only show the eastbound tracks (and hide the westbound tracks)
  
• .natshow west will only show the westbound tracks (and hide the eastbound tracks)
  
• .natshow all will show both eastbound and westbound tracks
  
• .natshow none will hide both eastbound and westbound tracks
  
• .natopt linestyle dotted will change the lines to dotted style
  
• .natopt linestyle solid will change the lines to solid style
  
• .natopt linestyle none will erase the lines (only NAT fixes will be shown, with no line in between)
  
• .natopt letters show will show the one-letter identifier of each NAT (A, B, C...)
  
• .natopt letters hide will hide the one-letter identifier of all NATs

 

Screenshots

 

Westbound tracks (using live data for today 6PM Zulu):

 

Eastbound tracks (using live data as above):

 

You also have the option to see the full waypoint names (55N50W) instead of short name (50W):

 

This screenshot shows the Options dialog for euroNAT, as well as the Concorde tracks (static, never get updated). In this case, NATs are shown as solid lines, not dashed lines (using the settings in the Options dialog):

[Tom Seeley]

Outstanding work Merik! Thank you for all the research and effort you put into this.

[Andreas Fuchs]

Thanks for this and keep up the good work!

[Mark Walsh]

Merik,

Excellent work as always. Will try it out and see how it works.

 

Question though, these are obviously new tracks that commenced May 2014. Does the DLL grab the track data online or just the current and valid NAT letters? If the latter, are you aware of the tracks changing in their fixes along the way?

 

Regards, Mark Walsh - CZQM/QX

[Merik Nanish 1184142]

Mark,

 

I have not been closely monitoring NAT data for long, so I cannot tell you how often the fixes change. But they do change quite often. During the few weeks since I started working on this plugin, they have changed a lot. Track "T" in the pictures above was LOMSU 50W 40W ... PIKIL SOVED"; Track T this evening is ALLRY 51/50 52/40 53/30 53/20 MALOT GISTI.

 

Unfortunately, my knowledge of Oceanic procedures is minimal; for instance, I don't know how Shanwick Center (EGGX) and Gander Center (CZQX) decide which fixes to use, how tracks are adjusted for weather and winds, etc.

 

And to answer the latter part of your question: yes, the DLL does get the entire NAT data from the internet. It uses live data.

[Mark Walsh]

Awesome work and much appreciated from all of us in the Moncton / Gander FIR!

 

Mark Walsh - CZQM/CZQX

[Alec Walker]

Hi Merik,

 

Sorry to be a pain but is there any chance that this can be release to comply with ES3.1d? I am forced to use that due to other plugins I use not being 3.2 compatible and it would be useful to be able to see the NATs!

 

Cheers,

 

Alec

[Merik Nanish 1184142]

Alec,

 

I think I have the 3.1d version somewhere in my files. If you send me your email via private message, I can send you the DLL.

[George Complin]

Hi Merik,

 

I'm using version 1.2 of your plugin and the NAT track data seems very out of date. The site I'm referencing for accurate data is this one: http://blackswan.ch/wordpress/?page_id=73. I've tried the .natrefresh command but it doesn't seem to do anything - am I doing something wrong?

 

Thanks.

[Matthijs Pals 1260467]

Hey,

Nice work on the plugin!

 

Is it also possible to change the font size of the fixes? If so, how? I would like to have them a bit smaller as they are a bit distracting. I already had a look in the symbology settings, but wasnt able to change it.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Matthijs

[Merik Nanish 1184142]

Not with the current version, no. However, I am working on a new version in which it will use the same font size and color that you use for other fixes.

 

The reason that version is not released already is because the source of NAT data (which is a VATSIM source) is outdated and I have asked for it to be fixed. If that doesn't get fixes, I might end up creating my own data parsing mechanism and release the next version altogether.

[Andreas Fuchs]

Is the euroNAT Plugin still not receiving current tracks?

[Mark Walsh]

Just tried, getting concord tracks, no NAT tracks.

[Andreas Fuchs]

Yeah, the Concorde Tracks are hard-coded as they never change. So, still no current NATs

[Mark Walsh]

Unless there's a newer release (within last year) of euronat that I don't know about...

[Andreas Fuchs]

Hi all,

 

Merik has given me feedback that he is no longer involved with VATSIM and that he also does not have time to maintain the plugin.

 

He was generous enough to share the source code of the plugin: https://bitbucket.org/merik/euronat/src

 

Would anyone here be able to modify the URL that the plugin uses to fetch current NAT data? An official source for tracks would be https://pilotweb.nas.faa.gov/common/nat.html

[Nick Botica]

Hi guys,

 

I've been working on this for a few months on and off. I'll release it under a beta tag first as lots of code has changed.

Please download from here (there's a zip file on the page)

https://github.com/nickbotica/euroNAT/releases

 

And see the instructions here: https://github.com/nickbotica/euroNAT/blob/develop/README.md

 

Feedback welcome!

 

Cheers,

Nick

[Johnny Coughlan]

Hi guys,

 

I've been working on this for a few months on and off. I'll release it under a beta tag first as lots of code has changed.

Please download from here (there's a zip file on the page)

https://github.com/nickbotica/euroNAT/releases

 

And see the instructions here: https://github.com/nickbotica/euroNAT/blob/develop/README.md

 

Feedback welcome!

 

Cheers,

Nick

 

Thanks for this Nick, really appreciate it.

 

Is there a plugin for taking position reports?.

[Andreas Fuchs]

Cool! I am currently out flying and won't be able to test it before Sunday.