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"status.txt" with URLs to VATSIM Data no Longer Available


Andreas Breitschopp
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Andreas Breitschopp
Posted
Posted

Hello,

 

I'm one of the main developers behind the Instructor Station product FS-FlightControl that also includes a moving map with the option to display VATSIM pilots and ATC data.

 

Since few days we are getting complaints by users that no VATSIM data would be displayed anymore.

 

After checking what is wrong we found out that the global VATSIM status file

https://status.vatsim.net/status.txt

that contained all available servers hosting a current "vatsim-data.txt" file is no longer available.

 

As a quick fix we could hard-code one of these servers into our product, of course, but that does seem a very good solution as we followed the recommendation to load-balance between all servers in this status file above.

 

Therefore I wanted to ask what is the reason that this file is no longer available?

Was it deleted intentionally or maybe just accidentally?

 

Looking forward to any reply or idea on that!

 

Best regards and thanks in advance

Andreas

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Bradford Lee
Posted
Posted

Jamie mentioned there was something acting up with it, I'll give him a shout to chime in with more information.

Brad Lee

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ZJX ARTCC

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Andreas Breitschopp
Posted
Posted

Hello Ross,

 

first thanks a lot for your quick reply!

 

Interesting, it even work with the full URL

http://status.vatsim.net/status.txt

as long as you use only "http" and not "https".

 

We will change that with the next FS-FlightControl update, but perhaps you could also just add a redirect from the "https" to the "http" version to your website. As it worked before also with "https" there might be a lot programs like us using this URL.

 

Anyway, as I see in your footer that you are also a developer of vPilot and especially VAT-Spy, I would have another question for you:

We are displaying VATSIM data in the FS-FlightControl moving map similar to what you are doing in VAT-Spy. So beside other VATSIM pilots also ATC including the corresponding FIR boundaries.

 

And here is the problem:

All FIR bounderary data that you can find is really outdated and I see that also VAT-Spy uses a very outdated "FIRBoundaries.dat" version from 2008. The only page that seems to have more accurate FIR data is http://www.vattastic.com.

 

Here two example screenshots from right now:

Vatastic compared with VAT-Spy

 

You can see that the FIR boundaries of EDGG_E is correctly displayed on Vatastic, but not in VAT-Spy:

A quick check in your "FIRBoundaries.dat" shows that "EDGG" is just not defined there.

 

Therefore the question is:

Is there a way to get updated FIR boundary data somewhere (that Vatastic seems to have already)?

I mean I don't see a reason why VATSIM does not share this data officially for everybody to use. There is no reason to "hide" this information, is it?

 

Best regards and again thanks a lot for the quick replies

Andreas

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Jamie Fox 811029
Posted
Posted

We're aware of a configuration problem with status.vatsim.net on HTTPS, which should be fixed soon.

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Ross Carlson
Posted
Posted
Interesting, it even work with the full URL

http://status.vatsim.net/status.txt

as long as you use only "http" and not "https".

 

Yeah, have a look at this thread for details:

 

viewtopic.php?f=68&t=73493

 

We will change that with the next FS-FlightControl update, but perhaps you could also just add a redirect from the "https" to the "http" version to your website. As it worked before also with "https" there might be a lot programs like us using this URL.

 

Note that I'm not in control of the servers in any way ... I'm just a developer. You would need to make your suggestion to the VATSIM staff.

 

Is there a way to get updated FIR boundary data somewhere (that Vatastic seems to have already)?

 

I'm not sure where they get their data ... have you checked with them? The data used by VAT-Spy came from ServInfo, so that's where I got it originally. I haven't looked for an updated source since then. There have been some efforts by the VATSIM community to collate updated data, and you can find those here in the forums. I would suggest reaching out to them to see if you can use the data that they have gathered from members.

Developer: vPilot, VRC, vSTARS, vERAM, VAT-Spy

Senior Controller, Boston Virtual ARTCC

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Andreas Breitschopp
Posted
Posted (edited)

Hello Jamie,

We're aware of a configuration problem with status.vatsim.net on HTTPS, which should be fixed soon.

Thanks a lot for confirming this problem with HTTPS.

Looking forward to it getting solved again (and we no longer getting complaints by FS-FlightControl users ).

 

Best regards

Andreas

Edited by Guest
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Andreas Breitschopp
Posted
Posted

Hello Ross,

 

first thanks a lot for your reply!

 

Regarding the server issue, Jamie confirmed the problem already - so I just wait till the HTTPS server config is working again.

I'm not sure where they get their data ... have you checked with them? The data used by VAT-Spy came from ServInfo, so that's where I got it originally. I haven't looked for an updated source since then. There have been some efforts by the VATSIM community to collate updated data, and you can find those here in the forums. I would suggest reaching out to them to see if you can use the data that they have gathered from members.

Would you be so kind and point me to the right post/thread that I can catch up with the people there if we have some more current data there we could use?

 

Best regards and again thanks for your quick reply

Andreas

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Ross Carlson
Posted
Posted

I don't have it at my fingertips, I would just do a search for "vatspy update" ... I'll leave that to you.

Developer: vPilot, VRC, vSTARS, vERAM, VAT-Spy

Senior Controller, Boston Virtual ARTCC

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Sachin Gnath
Posted
Posted

Hello Andreas,

 

If you are looking for an updated VATSpy data files which contain the latest FIR"s etc, you can get it by following this link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/dnndvmk2d0u1pm6/VATSpy%20Update%202017.zip?dl=0

 

Hope this helps.

Regards, 

S G

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Andreas Breitschopp
Posted
Posted

Hello Sachin,

If you are looking for an updated VATSpy data files which contain the latest FIR"s etc, you can get it by following this link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/dnndvmk2d0u1pm6/VATSpy%20Update%202017.zip?dl=0

Thanks a lot for this link!

 

This indeed looks very helpful.

 

I directly see the FIR boundaries of "EDGG" which were missing in VAT-Spy.

 

Best regards and thanks a lot again

Andreas

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Jamie Fox 811029
Posted
Posted

Just to confirm, as of last night, the problem with HTTPS is resolved and https://status.vatsim.net should be working again as normal.

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Ross Carlson
Posted
Posted

Working great, thanks Jamie.

Developer: vPilot, VRC, vSTARS, vERAM, VAT-Spy

Senior Controller, Boston Virtual ARTCC

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Alex Brown
Posted
Posted

Could this also have an effect on the AivlaSoft EFB? Been having a 'no URL Status b' file problem. Not reading any Vatsim data

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Jamie Fox 811029
Posted
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Yes, that's certainly possible, but the problem has been fixed since 15th March, so if you're still seeing a problem since then it must be something else.

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Andreas Breitschopp
Posted
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I can also confirm that everything is working fine again in our product FS-FlightControl.

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Alex Brown
Posted
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Yea...just checked..still got 'No URL available in b status file'

Thinking I should uninstall/reinstall? Did google search and that seems to be what to do. Though I'd ask first.....

Thanks!

EDIT.....My version of EFB was out of date. Downloaded new version...all good!

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