Windy launches Route Planner
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I use Windy for sailing (currently crossing Indian Ocean). There are several things I find problematic with Distance & Planning:
- Map and data are synchonised only when time cursor is clicked and held down. If you let go the time cursor the display is confusing.
- Are you building a weather-routing tool for yachts? Some commenters think you are and want to see polars or some kind of sail performance built in. IMHO this is an entirely different tool to what you have now and requires a focus on weather as seen subjectively by the boat at a selected time and place, along a precalculated and optimized route. There are several apps that try to do this and they all incorporate those two phases: route calculation and then subjective weather along that route.
- Assuming that you restrict Windy to displaying forecast along a manually defined route, and assuming that you provide some means of specifying the speed, then it would reduce confusion to lock the time and distance together so that as the time cursor is moved both the map and data table change in sync.
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@marekd
Hi, Marek
The route planner tutorial gives some explanation about relative wind settings. But this is not clear for me. I understand what is the absolute direction of the wind referring to the North direction and the relative direction of the wind referring to the direction of the mobile, but this text is very confusing for me:
The tuto says:
« BOTTOM TO TOP = relative direction of wind, when the azimuth of the user in exact point is turned upwards, ie. when the user is moving from the west to the east and the wind is blowing from the north to the south, the direction of the wind will be showing from left to right
LEFT TO RIGHT = it’s the same situation, just the azimuth is rotated 90 degrees to the right, ie. if the user is moving from the west to the east and the wind is blowing from the north to the south (same situation as previously), the direction of the wind will be showing from the top to bottom »Do you have any comment or explanation about it?
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@Francfo said in Windy launches Route Planner:
Maybe, absolute direction of the wind (north up) should be default setting for Route Planner?
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@marekd said in Windy launches Route Planner:
Maybe, absolute direction of the wind (north up) should be default setting for Route Planner?
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@idefix37 It is not so easy to explain this. And we have selected inappropriate images for this in the tutorial. Mabe some screens will help.
Left to right:
Bottom to top:
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@marekd
Thanks for the screenshots. They are better than those in the tutorial. But frankly if "it is not easy to explain", it would be better to have the absolute direction of the wind as default settings. Maybe this way of showing relative wind direction is basic for pilots and aviation specialists?
Using your screens I have tried to understand how this «relative wind » is shown.
When the direction of trip is set from left to right, you have to imagine projecting the motion of the mobile (car, plane, boat) on a horizontal axis oriented from left to right. And then to transfer the angle made by the wind with the course of the mobile on this horizontal axis. It gives the angle which is shown in the diagram of the route planner.
When you consider the direction of the trip from bottom to top you have to imagine projecting the motion on a vertical axis oriented from bottom to top. And to transfer the relative angle on this vertical axis in the same way.
Am I right?
All these questions because I have to translate this tutorial into my native language and I hate to translate something I don’t understand. -
@idefix37 You are 100% right :-) That is exactly how it works! Maybe we use your pictures for the tutorial if you would agree :-) Thank you. You are also right with the target group of users. It is basicaly for pilots. Once you change the default direction, it should respect your setting forever. But it is not probably bad idea to change the default setting to absolute wind. At least it will make sence to everyone. And who would want to play with this feature, still can.
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@marekd
You may use my pictures, they are free of charge for you :-) -
At same time, please change the explanation text of the tutorial which is not clear.
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Just a note from a real novice.
I just started studying your "Route Planner" and am using it on my boat's smart TV with my iPhone's "hot spot." I don't have the vocabulary to precisely express my sincere "thanks" for your team's success in creating such a fantastic tool for Yachtsmen. Note: After I plan a route & leave the Internet, upon my return, my TV's menue has a button for "Book Marks" & one for "Most Visited." By clicking either one, up comes the routes I previously planned which can be updated by simply moving the date bar to a desired point in time. That is unbelievable! not unlike Space X's automatically returning their boosters back to the launch pad after a launch! Thanks again...extremely well done!
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Can you put in the speed of the boat in boat mode on route planner?
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@cvelas19 Hello, the speed parameter cannot be added yet.
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Awesome feature, using it for VFR flying!
On the iPad i use the webiste instead of the app and that works well.Just to clarify: The „cloud base“ is in relative height to the terrain? Or is it altitude above sea level?
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@Codger2 said in Windy launches Route Planner:
Just a note from a real novice.
Note: After I plan a route & leave the Internet, upon my return, my TV's menue has a button for "Book Marks" & one for "Most Visited." By clicking either one, up comes the routes I previously planned which can be updated by simply moving the date bar to a desired point in time.
That is a good tip, but I wish I could properly save a route with other settings so I can then pick it up on the app, and share the route with others.
Just route planning for a friends returning back to Europe across the Atlantic and this is quite frustrating.
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🎉 Update released! 🎉
It took us a while until we returned back to the route planner. Thank you for your patience. What is new:
- add speed option (the most wanted feature here in this thread)
- add 250hPa flight level for IFR view
Thank you all for your feedback, it helps us a lot :-)
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@marekd
Thank Marek, great job ! Now with the addition of the speed, it's really a useful tool. I have played with it for virtual trips by boat and hike/car. The addition of intermediate waypoints is perfect by clicking on the track.
Personally I would prefer to have the wind direction shown in degrees instead of, or in addition to, the small arrow, but this is not crucial.
L&R arrow keys allow to make the layer changing but not the mobile (car, boat, plane) moving along the track. It's necessary to use the mouse to make everything changing according to the time stamp. Could this be improved? -
Even if it is obvious to set the wind direction reference on "north up" when using Route planner for sailing, I find quite useful to check also the wind direction with its direction reference set on "bottom to top". This feature shows if the chosen course is not too close to the wind or even heading into the wind (a sailboat cannot sail approximately at less within 45° of the true wind). Wind arrows turn more red when the boat is heading into the wind, but showing the direction in degrees would be useful too.
Any plan to include the Route planner in the app, at least for iPad or similar?
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@idefix37 I always use "North Up" and never get confused. I mean I get very accurate conditions for the whole route then obviously during my sailing trip I do what I have to do to get maximum efficiency on the sails. But using this feature is simply amazing and I love it. Is this all possible on Android App? I don't think so right?
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@Zepp
Of course North up is the right setting to plan a route when sailing. It was just an additional remark to say that Bottom to top is also useful and easier to check that you are not to close to the wind when you sail upwind and need changing tack.
In your example it is clear that you are downwind as shown by your route plan from Malta to Sicily. You can sail with a straight course.
The route planner is not available on phone app, Android or else.
