Ivan Pervov Posted January 9, 2022 at 03:25 PM Posted January 9, 2022 at 03:25 PM Hi. This is my first topic here so I'm glad I finally have something to say and add up to a community I so much appreciate being a part of. My question/suggestion is about the new, updated version of SimAware. In general, SimAware for me is one of the most important parts in planning the flight before I take one on the net. I often go there and see where the most activity is taking place, which ATCs are currently online, and how long they've been controlling. However, sometimes I want to fly in some remote and unusual places, in bad real-world weather conditions... The new version of SimAware is missing a function that allows you to view the names of cities/countries as in the previous version. Now you have to spend extra time checking Google maps to see what country or city is the one you're looking at. (the VATSpy application doesn't have such a function also). And it's one thing when there is a notification about some event above the airport (red dot) or if especially there is an ATC online (even if it's just atis). In this case, you can see what city it is (if you don't know the area). But if there is none, you will either have to entrust your geography knowledge or go to Google maps to compare. SimAware and flights on the Vatsim network are helpful not just in a way of better understanding the geography in general, but also mastering it. I can now more clearly see why "Aviate, Educate, Communicate" is the main slogan of the network. And the function I'm talking about here doesn't play the last part in this. Summing up... I sincerely ask devs of the website to bring this feature back. I understand that just a couple of weeks ago the website was still in a beta condition and a lot was missing and not working, but on the other hand, why launch a new website (with the old one disabled!!) if not all functions have been transferred and are working properly. ____________________________ And since I brought up the topic of SimAware, I would like to say a few words about the new design. Already closing eyes to the fact that many functions sometimes work intermittently (SIGMET, for example) and it takes ages to load them up, why was it necessary to move the "search" button from the upper corner to the bottom one... or, for example, the "streamers" tab. In the previous version, if there was a streamer on the network, you could click on the link above and go directly to the video (the SimAware tab opened, from where you could go to Twitch if needed). Now you have to first open Twitch and manually enter the streamer's nickname. Indeed in the old version to open a tab with a streamer's video, it was sometimes necessary to wait until they were listed on the top, and if there were a lot of them, it could take some time. But now you can't do it at all... Once again, I'm glad we have this website. And if the things I've described are improved and added soon, that would be awesome. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maius Wong Posted January 9, 2022 at 08:45 PM Posted January 9, 2022 at 08:45 PM Quote The new version of SimAware is missing a function that allows you to view the names of cities/countries as in the previous version. Now you have to spend extra time checking Google maps to see what country or city is the one you're looking at. (the VATSpy application doesn't have such a function also). And it's one thing when there is a notification about some event above the airport (red dot) or if especially there is an ATC online (even if it's just atis). In this case, you can see what city it is (if you don't know the area). But if there is none, you will either have to entrust your geography knowledge or go to Google maps to compare. This feature is coming back. I didn't think it was a major concern; but you, among others, have voiced opinions otherwise. Quote Already closing eyes to the fact that many functions sometimes work intermittently (SIGMET, for example) Convective SIGMETs are US-only and won't show up if there are none there. I'm currently working on some of the issues that people are experiencing with load times. This isn't something that can be easily caught with the beta; the website sees about 10x what the beta site saw during its development. Quote why was it necessary to move the "search" button from the upper corner to the bottom one... This change was necessary because the top bar was getting crowded and would routinely overflow on smaller displays, and to work better on mobile devices. Quote or, for example, the "streamers" tab. In the previous version, if there was a streamer on the network, you could click on the link above and go directly to the video (the SimAware tab opened, from where you could go to Twitch if needed). Now you have to first open Twitch and manually enter the streamer's nickname. I will re-add the ability to open a Twitch page. The previous SimAware had a page that would display flight information alongside the video; this was removed because Twitch routinely stops playback after a few minutes and asks you to watch the video on their website. Thank you for your feedback. I'm currently one developer, and a beta has been available for the past few months. Not all features are transferred because, (1) again, I'm one developer and this is just another step in the process in getting this project out the door, and (2) some features simply aren't used enough to justify them transferring over. 3 Maius WongWebmaster Minneapolis ARTCCDeveloper simaware.ca / map.vatsim.net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan Pervov Posted January 9, 2022 at 08:58 PM Author Posted January 9, 2022 at 08:58 PM 8 minutes ago, Maius Wong said: This feature is coming back. I didn't think it was a major concern; but you, among others, have voiced opinions otherwise. Convective SIGMETs are US-only and won't show up if there are none there. I'm currently working on some of the issues that people are experiencing with load times. This isn't something that can be easily caught with the beta; the website sees about 10x what the beta site saw during its development. This change was necessary because the top bar was getting crowded and would routinely overflow on smaller displays, and to work better on mobile devices. I will re-add the ability to open a Twitch page. The previous SimAware had a page that would display flight information alongside the video; this was removed because Twitch routinely stops playback after a few minutes and asks you to watch the video on their website. Thank you for your feedback. I'm currently one developer, and a beta has been available for the past few months. Not all features are transferred because, (1) again, I'm one developer and this is just another step in the process in getting this project out the door, and (2) some features simply aren't used enough to justify them transferring over. Oh, I see now. Didn't know that it's one-man-hands work there. Thank you so much for such an informative and friendly answer. We appreciate all you do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John McMurdo Posted January 12, 2022 at 10:54 PM Posted January 12, 2022 at 10:54 PM I love the new look, and really glad the location labels are back, helps with my geography which I found has improved greatly since flying on VATSIM. I noticed the update rate has increased too which is great. And ATIS data and ATC frequencies now too!!! 😁 A great resource, thanks 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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