New notam website for Canadian pilots

[ZuluForPilots]

Hi everyone!

Personally, I find the notam aspect of flight planning to be an absolute chore. I also feel like when it comes to the general aviation in Canada, our tools are ancient and out dated compared to our American friends. I also happen to be a software developer and I wanted to contribute to the Canadian GA community. So the result of my motivation is this web site that I've been working on for some time. It's called Zulu for Pilots and it's an interactive Google map that displays all the notams issued by NavCanada. You can find the website at http://www.zuluforpilots.com. The About Section has also a brief description on how the site works.

The site will remain free for usage. It's also very basic but I’m already in the works on incorporating new features based on initial feedback. Of course, I would like it if this community could take a look at the website and provide any feedback. It will definitely be appreciated.

Hope everyone enjoys the site! Fly safe!

[Diadem]

I took a look at it, and I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong, but I can't get it to zoom out more than about 2/3 of the way. It defaulted to Toronto, and not being able to reposition it or zoom out to a national level made it a real chore to use. I spent a couple of minutes dragging my way across Ontario before I gave up. I liked that it pinpointed the location of each NOTAM, but if I have to spend a few minutes dragging it over to western Canada each time I'm just not going to bother.

[CpnCrunch]

Just type the airport id into the search box and you can go to any airport. It would be useful if you could search by airport name as well (that's what I tried first, and it couldn't find the airport).

It seems a useful site.

[ZuluForPilots]

Thanks for the feedback Diadem.

You aren't doing anything wrong. The zoom limit was intentional as I found the experience of looking at a high zoom level really degrading. There are currently 1533 aerodromes plus all the obstructions around. That would put quite a bit of a workload on the browser to render all the markers.

As for the default location of Toronto, yeah I understand the inconvenience. It is my plan either today or tomorrow to have your browser automatically remember the last location (using cookies). That way when you come back to the site, it defaults to where you last left off.

I am curious to know though as to why you are panning all the way to the west coast. Would it not be easier to just type in the ICAO code of an airport near by in the search bar?

I appreciate your thoughts though. Thanks!

[ZuluForPilots]

It would be useful if you could search by airport name as well (that's what I tried first, and it couldn't find the airport).

That's coming very soon! The names are already stored in the database. I just need to figure out how to deal with airports that have accents in their name (e.g. É).

Thank you!

[200hr Wonder]

Look great Zulu, I am certainly going to use it on a regular basis. One thing that would be nice is a way to build a list of pertinent NOTAMs for printing. So if I where flying from YVR - YXS I could build a list of NOTAMs to bring with me.

[CpnCrunch]

You aren't doing anything wrong. The zoom limit was intentional as I found the experience of looking at a high zoom level really degrading. There are currently 1533 aerodromes plus all the obstructions around. That would put quite a bit of a workload on the browser to render all the markers.

Have a look at markerclusterer.js - it automatically combines multiple markers into a single 'cluster' icon if there are too many close together. It's fairly simple to slot in (I've used it). You do still need to download all the xml data in the area you've zoomed to, but with broadband I don't think that should be a problem.

[beaverbob]

Well done. Thank you for your time and effort.
Bob

[Diadem]

I am curious to know though as to why you are panning all the way to the west coast. Would it not be easier to just type in the ICAO code of an airport near by in the search bar?

I didn't realize you could search for the airport ID; I tried searching the name, but when it didn't come up with anything I gave up. I'll give it another try.

[ZuluForPilots]

I didn't realize you could search for the airport ID; I tried searching the name, but when it didn't come up with anything I gave up. I'll give it another try.

I appreciate you giving it another go, thank you. I am working right now on having the website remember your last location (just about finished as I write this) & the ability to search aerodromes by name. If life doesn't get in the way, I should have it done in a few days.

Here is a link to my twitter feed and the website blog. Your choice should you choose to follow them. It's where I will be posting most updates about the website. Don't want to spam forum boards

Well done. Thank you for your time and effort.
Bob

My pleasure! I really am happy you like it. Makes staying up on those Friday nights, banging away at the code, much more enjoyable

[ZuluForPilots]

Look great Zulu, I am certainly going to use it on a regular basis. One thing that would be nice is a way to build a list of pertinent NOTAMs for printing. So if I where flying from YVR - YXS I could build a list of NOTAMs to bring with me.

Thanks 200hr Wonder.

This is a good idea! I have plans to incorporate route planning and the ability to see which notams are pertinent within a defined ## of nautical miles. Once this is implemented, not only will you see which notams fall within the route, but you will be able to print them off too. I like it.

[gustind]

...It defaulted to Toronto...

Don't you know that Toronto is the center of the universe??!!? Geez........

[Woxof38]

Just an observation. Sometimes there are large areas covered for one notam file. IE CYYN the problem you might encounter is OBST notams. One example would be to look at CYQW CYKY or CYYN. Those 3 sites are all under the CYYN header for notams. When you look at the OBST notams you have to look at the coordinates to see where it is located. The same OBST notam will show listed for those 3 airports. On another note, not quite sure anymore why there are tower notams....a pain.

[tyndall]

Interesting... CYBR doesn't exist but almost every farmer's strip does.

[donnybrook]

Pretty cool site. Would be good to be able to pan out more, though. Thanks!

[xysn]

Looks good. Great to have someone contribute!

I understand from reading the "About" page that the OBST are supposed to be displayed on the map as smaller markers, but I don't see any of them, even around the airports where the text of the NOTAM says there is an OBST.

Bug?

[ZuluForPilots]

Thanks again everyone for the feedback! It's really motivating.

Interesting... CYBR doesn't exist but almost every farmer's strip does.

You're right. This is an issue on the back-end portion. I will investigate tonight on why it's not showing up. In the mean time, I've inserted the aerodrome manually into the database. In about 30 min from the post time, it should be collecting notam data.

I understand from reading the "About" page that the OBST are supposed to be displayed on the map as smaller markers, but I don't see any of them, even around the airports where the text of the NOTAM says there is an OBST.

Bug?

Can you provide me the aerodrome you are looking at?

Just an observation. Sometimes there are large areas covered for one notam file. IE CYYN the problem you might encounter is OBST notams. One example would be to look at CYQW CYKY or CYYN. Those 3 sites are all under the CYYN header for notams. When you look at the OBST notams you have to look at the coordinates to see where it is located.

I see what you mean. It's my plan to incorporate a "Show" link next to each OBST notam. When you click on it, the map will pan and center the respective OBST notam. Do you think that would help?

[xysn]

YKZ shows one right now.

CYKZ OBST LGT U/S TOWER 435008N 792338W (APRX 1.9 NM SW AD) 125 FT AGL 790 MSL 1209181721 TIL APRX 1212171700

But I don't see the mini-marker on the map. In fact I have panned all over the place and haven't seen a single mini-marker.

I've tried on Chrome and Safari, if that helps.

[ZuluForPilots]

Turns out my optimization changes introduced a bug. It's been fixed. I guess that's what I get for trying to speed things up .

[Notta Simfalt]

Zoom only goes halfway out.
The id search doesn't bring up the airport.