How to use a route planner
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Anything is possible in the world of programming, but only a handful of things are worth implementing :-) I added this request to our "possible improvements" list to know if more users will find it useful.
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@idefix37 Could you keep the start date of route in the past? Otherwise mid voyage the start time/date can only be the present. If you are mid voyage, then it will put todays date as the start of the voyage, and not a few days ago which it actually was. This messes with the forecast and speed. The only way around this is to make a new route each day, with your current position as the start, which is not very user friendly. Thanks!
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@13693
I am afraid your proposal cannot be developed as Windy does not store past data. @marekd may confirm.
If you keep always online during the trip, the right solution, as you said, is ‘to make a new route each day, with your current position as the start’.
The advantage is that you get better weather predictions because the model updated them and also because your ‘new’ start position is more accurate than what was planned. I don’t know which is your mean of transport but it seems difficult that you can follow precisely your initial planned route specially because the Route planner is based on an average speed all along the voyage.
In the same way, at sea when the traditional navigation is used, we say that dead reckoning needs to be updated frequently or at least when it’s possible to get a new accurate position. -
@idefix37 Thanks for the follow up. Just to point out though that professional weather routing software actually does this, and keeps the original start date/time and point, but still updates to the latest forecast. I'm hoping this is a possibility, just might take some thinking through the best way to accomplish this. starting a new route every day is not a very practical option.
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@13693
So I understand you are sailing on a big commercial ship?
Don’t these professional routing software use GPS to update your position and plot a new route from this position ?
That should be a great addition to Route planner, but it would require a precise and reliable positioning by GPS in Windy. Not sure it is like that now. -
@idefix37 No they typically don't get a GPS input, so just take an estimate based on the your start time and date and speed, however you can just edit it manually as need be for adjustment. Different speeds for different legs of the route would also be helpful moving forward. Anyway, just offering suggestions to fine tune it, as it would bring in more premium users looking for a more tailored solution.
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Wind barbs are great for a general sense of what the wind will do but would it be possible to add the functionality of seeing the exact degrees of wind direction they represent in VFR and IFR route view. Perhaps if we hover the mouse over a barb to display the degrees in a label popup would be just perfect.
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Referenced by
idefix37 -
Referenced by
Gkikas LGPZ
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Hello,
I am a Captain and software developer at a large helicopter air ambulance service in Canada and our pilots routinely make use of Windy.com Thank you for all your efforts to produce this great tool.
Historically we've loaded the proposed set of flight legs to SkyVector.com for overlaying with weather layers.
I only recently discovered that I can do something similar with Windy.
Would it be possible to add a few URL parameters that our flight planning tool can populate when opening the windy.com website so that pilots don't have to duplicate the following:
- speed (in kts, other units too)
- distance tape in NM
- altitudes in ft (ceiling)
- visibility in SM
- we fly routes typically with 3 legs. to a patient, to deliver a patient and back to base. While preparing a patient for transport and dropping them off we generally have 15-60 minute period where we are not flying. It would be great to be able to supply in the URL a time delay at each set of lat/long in a route. lat1,long1,+45mins,lat2,long2,+30mins, etc.. that way the weather is representative of when we would actually be flying.
- departure time (but not really a big deal as we usually get airborne within 10 minutes)
Lastly and I appreciate that this is a bigger ask, it would be great if we could overlay the intended altitude for the flight. Most of our flying is conducted 2000' to 3000' MSL, no higher... we helicopter pilots gets nose bleeds otherwise.
Thank you for your consideration.
Owen
A139 Captain - Ornge Air Ambulance, Ontario, Canada -
Hi all,
Is there a URL parameter I can set to turn the "Show Weather Picker" on.
I've externally built the route (example below) from our flight planning tool (showing a ridiculous low level IFR route with alternates...)
But, when I change to 'Cloud Base' and click on the map it adds another point to the route as opposed to showing me the cloud base.
I'd like to get 'out' of manually picking points on the map for a route as this is always done by our external tool and have it default to 'Show Weather Picker"
Thank you,
Owen
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@opopie Hello, you can always save the route to Favorites, so every time you open it, the points will show on the map.
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Thanks for the suggestion, alas as a helicopter EMS service we go to a large variety of places and saving a route isn't applicable.
Having a means use the URL supplied route as the final route and the weather picker as a turned on by default would be most appreciated.
Windy is but one of ~10 NOTAM/weather resources that get loaded automatically for the pilots to review quickly. Our aim is to be airborne within ~10 minutes.
Owen
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@ivo Hi. How do I change leg type from Great Circle for Rumb Line? Is it possible?
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@Евгений-Роскош
Hi, there is no way to plot directly a route along a rhumb line between 2 points instead of a great circle route.
But you can place several waypoints yourself on the rhumb line: on a Mercator projection map as Windy maps, all your waypoints just need to be placed on a straight line. Use a ruler on your screen and display the lat lon grid if necessary (see Settings).
Could we know why you want to draw a route along a rhumb line? -
@idefix37 以前可以看11天的预报，现在升级为付费的了吗？全世界那个天气预报更准确？谢谢
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Yes, now the forecasts beyond 6 days are included in the Premium features, and so, are no longer free.
In medium range forecasts by global models, the model of the ECMWF is known to be the best one. But locally the other models can achieve a good performance. It depends on your location.
Then I would like to point out that further than 6 days the forecasts are less accurate and are only interesting at synoptic scale. -
Hi, I have a problem with route planner. Every time when I try to plan the route I can see on the map only waypoints and no route details are shown. Could you please advise how to display route details with weather parameters? Please see picture below.
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@Lipa1979 Your device is being recognized as mobile, that's why you see mobile UI. Did you try different browser?
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@idefix37 I'm a seaman and we were crossing Atlantic Ocean by rhumb line instead of great circle to avoid low pressure area
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Referenced by idefix37
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So, now have you tried to plot your route along the rhumb line as I explained to you in my previous post? that is to say in a straight line as one does on a paper nautical chart with Mercator projection? Which are your ports call?
