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Android Apps For Flight Prep

Geico266

Geico266

Well Known Member
I thought I would pass on a nice Android app I found for flight planning. Ipad users enjoy several nice apps, but Droid users have been waiting. Check out;

Open Flight GPS (good)
Naviator (awesome GPS, moving map, flight planning, route storing)

Available in Market.

Any other Droid apps for us die hard Driod users?

I think it is important to use every device you own for safe flights, and flight planning as we fly our RV's. ( A weak, lame attempt to keep his thread RV related :)
 
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Thanks larry, I will try those.
Last weekend I tried to use my Android phone's GPS in-flight (as an experiment) at about 6k ft, just using the default navigation software. It couldn't get a location - I'm guessing the GPS receiver in my phone can't deal with RV speeds? Hopefully it's a software and not a hardware limitation - I'll test it with the software you mentioned next time I go flying.
 
There is a learning curve on the Naviator, and it takes a couple of hours to DL all of the maps ( you can just pick the maps you need, but I picked all of them) so make sure you use WiFi or unlimited data plan. ;)
 
Naviator

I liked that the Naviator had a 30 day free trial.

I used it for a 800NM trip on the free, and was convinced enough to sign up before the return. They're pretty good about getting back to you via email if you have questions about the software.

I have it running on a Nook Color with CM-7 on a micro SD together with a bluetooth GPS.

I think Foreflight has a few more whistles and bells and might be a little easier to use, but this is an excellent setup and it performs very well.

Dan
 
prkaye said:
Thanks larry, I will try those.
Last weekend I tried to use my Android phone's GPS in-flight (as an experiment) at about 6k ft, just using the default navigation software. It couldn't get a location - I'm guessing the GPS receiver in my phone can't deal with RV speeds? Hopefully it's a software and not a hardware limitation - I'll test it with the software you mentioned next time I go flying.
Click to expand...

I'm not that familiar with Android devices but I'm assuming it's using "Assisted GPS". You can google it to read more, but basically AGPS uses cell towers to get your approximate location which dramatically accelerates the time required to get a GPS lock. If you're not able to ping cell towers at altitude, you may not be able to get a lock. I bet if you start your app on the ground it would work fine at altitude. This has been my experience on my iPhone.
 
anybody know if there is a bluetooth gps receiver that you could use with an android phone instead of the internal gps?
 
I have to second Andy's mentioning of Avilution AviationMaps. Not quite up to iPad ForeFlight level. But enough to make my instructors and others at the flight school turn heads and put it on par with ForeFlight for most flying.

As for GPS, I have an Asus EeePad Transformer tablet, and its internal GPS is quite accurate - sometimes even more accurate and stable in flight than the one in my instructor's iPad sitting right next to me.

--Scott
 
Jamie said:
I'm not that familiar with Android devices but I'm assuming it's using "Assisted GPS". You can google it to read more, but basically AGPS uses cell towers to get your approximate location which dramatically accelerates the time required to get a GPS lock. If you're not able to ping cell towers at altitude, you may not be able to get a lock. I bet if you start your app on the ground it would work fine at altitude. This has been my experience on my iPhone.
Click to expand...

That makes total sense. Thanks for the tip! :D
 
anybody know if there is a bluetooth gps receiver that you could use with an android phone instead of the internal gps?
Click to expand...

I picked up the XGPS150. As advertised, it works with Android. In reality, they are having problems getting it to connect with Android devices. In theory it is related to the Honeycomb OS, but I'm running Gingerbread so I'm not sure that I buy that explaination. They are working on the issue, but I'm beginning to look for a different bluetooth GPS
 
Naviator

Thanks for the recommendation Mike! I have Naviator downloaded, but have not used it with the GPS yet. I like the app!
 
Mike,

How is the battle going with Nav Canada for the Canadian VNC's? Once you have that on board, I am all for the app! Great work!
 
I've been using Avilution lately too. But today NC was covered up in Presidential TFRs and none of them showed up on the sectional. Not sure what's going on there...
 
I must say I have been in contact with Mike abut a couple of issues I had and he explained what I needed to know very quickly and was eager to hear of my "suggestions" .

One thing that may help others is to make sure you down load the map of north America as a scale out reference. It is under the "Global" map data area. Then you won't have the blank white screen when you scale out.

Thanks Mike! Us Droid guys have been waiting patiently.
 
Free Apps for the Cheap

For mapping I like "Locus Free" available on the market. It allows you to download maps to your droid for use when you are offline. It has many maps to choose from including VFR and IFR charts. It isn't great for navigation but does give you situational awareness. Also download the "Locus - addon Map Tweak".

I use "GPS Status & Toolbox" so I can see what the Droid GPS is seeing. Free at the market.

For weather I like "iMap Weather" which is free at the market. It provides looping radar, lightning strikes and current conditions while following you over a Google moving map. I believe it updates every 5 minutes.

If you look at airport web cameras often you might like "IP Cam Viewer Basic". Once you enter the information for the cameras you want it allows you to very quickly access those webcams at your favorite destination and even control pan, tilt, zoom funtions if the camera allows. Excellent for preflight weather checking. Free at the market.
 
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