iFly GPS Forum

I flew about 16 hours last week, ending last night using the IFly on my Android. Got lots to stick time on it!

Especially during some turbulence I found it hard to get the airport information screen to come up. You are suppose to press over the airport and hold your finger until the little dots circle around and then release. I dont know how many times I wasnt able to do this, my finger let go or slid around or something, and ended up grabbing the course and it asking me to add another point to the plan.

I dont know about anyone else, but I would prefer that you switched the function around. One quick tap over an airport would bring up the weather/airport info screen, and the long holding tap with the red dots would rubberband the course, or give you spot location information. I bring up the airport info/weather reporting screens much more often than wanting to know position information on a point, or changing my course by selecting the course line.

Hope that explanation makes sense

Now hold on; don't be so quick to withdraw that request. You are onto to something...the number of screen taps required to get basic information for an airport. It seems that at least 3-4 screen taps, followed by scrolling down on a screen, are required to get basic information such as Tower/CTAF, ATIS/ASOS, and Ground Control frequencies. It should be a lot easier to get that data...one (or no) screen taps.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I am currently evaluating iFly strictly for its vector screen capabilities, so I know that if I used a Sectional or low IFR screen that information should be available to me...if I can find it ruthlessly buried among tons of other non-essential data provided in Sectionals for very busy airspaces over heavily populated areas.

So, might I humbly suggest that either user options are available to display these frequencies all the time on the vector map for all airports (possibly depending on how zoomed in your are)...so this is the zero-tap solution, or, a single quick tap on an airport provides 3 or 4 lines of frequency information on the top of the Possible Actions List.

Might I also humbly suggest that a single tap outside of an airport returns the Approach frequency for that area, without having to drill down through multiple menus to get that data.

And since we are on the Wish List topic, display VORs along with their frequencies on the Vector Map, and prioritize TFR areas over the VFR/IFR shadings over airports. As I pointed out in a different thread, TFRs are not visible if you use the "Weather" Map Mode. For example, if Joe Biden is visiting your airport, and bringing his 3-mile radius TFR with him, you will not see the TFR....you will see the 5-mile VFR/IFR color shade instead.

Lest you dismiss me as a malcontent, I did have an opportunity to test fly iFly as a passenger on a recent flight. It has some unique and great features. Just having the Vector and Vector with Weather Map Modes is great. I feel those modes need to be built up a little more, and a little attention to usability (for a bright, bouncing plane) should be considered.

Thanks,

Dave

I think it is more than sympathy; this is starting to sound like a conspiracy :-)

What you describe is still 3 taps, and would be 5 taps if you want both weather and airport information.

I want this all with 1 tap.

If you quick tap anywhere on the screen, you get some information...not sure exactly what, but it looks like distance from your current position, a heading, an altitude and what looks like a latitude/longitude... of something...not sure of what. You also have an OPTS button that takes you to the Possible Actions menu.

What I very humbly propose, in the name of usability, is that a single quick tap gives you that same pop up box, but in addition to that altitude and lat/long stuff, other important information that you are interested 95% of the time is displayed without having to press the OPTS button. I would suggest:
- METAR or ASOS/AWOS information of closest airport (in raw format to save space)
- Tower or CTAF frequency of closest airport
- Ground Control frequency of closest airport
- Approach Control frequency for current position and altitude
- Upper and lower limits of controlled airspace (if any) for the location you tap on.

That's about 5 lines...all with a single quick tap on the screen.

I am sure others will have different preferences, for example, someone will insist on the phone number of the closest AVIS office to your current position instead of the Approach Control frequency, and maybe down the road iFly can make the contents of this box user configurable. But I think a quick win would being able to get, with one screen tap, what 90% of the pilots need 90% of the time. At the end of the day, the app with the best usability will crush all.

Dave