Gndmaker V2.0
To be filled in...
Gndmaker V1.1
This page takes you on a run-through of how GndMaker works. The screens here are a LOT out of date, but you will get the basic idea. For more up-to-date screenshots, refer to the online User Manual.
Click the thumbnails below to see bigger pictures.
First of all when you open up GndMaker, this is what you see. GndMaker is a 'true' Windows application - NOT written in Visual Basic. In my shop, VB has it's place as a prototyping environment, but anything else? It doesn't fit with what I typically do for a living.
This 'main' screen essentially lets you specify the [INFO] section parameters to the sector file. The right side of the screen is the main navigation list for all sector file objects that GndMaker handles.
Currently, these are:
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Other objects such as ILS's, etc are usually categorized into one of the above types.
One thing that makes GndMaker kind of cool (and the reason it was originally developed) is to allow you to create complex [GEO]-type sector file objects like taxiways. The way this is done in GndMaker is you start Microsoft Flight Simulator (versions FS95 through FS2002) and GndMaker reads the positions of your aircraft directly out of the simulator. Thenthe pilot, in map-view, slews around an airport. Then using the 'lights' and 'stobes' simulator commands,records the current aircraft co-ordinate directly into GndMaker. so really, you are actually tracing the object out then you want drawn in ProController!
When you open an existing sector file in GndMaker, it sorts and loads all the file section into the various object catagories. As you can see, there is a listing of each object for you to edit, as you will. In addition, you can see a tally of all the object of each type. This sector file is actually fairly small when compared to some I've seen.
Within the main screen you add, edit, delete, or view any of the supported sector file objects.
This is the maintenance screen when editting facilites or navigation aids (airports, waypoints, VORs, or NDBs). This dialog makes it easy to manually type in the information you want, or you can press the 'Record' button, and the current aircraft position in Flight Simulator is automatically inserted into the latitude and longitude edit boxes.
Another thing you might notice, is that there is a 'comment' field in the dialog. Most objects in GndMaker have this ability. The comment gets inserted into the record in the ProController sector file. I thought this was a nice touch since it documents just where the heck that bloody 'AD4' airport actually is!
This screen show how (what I call) segmented objects are editted. These would be objects such as GEO, airways, SIDs, STARs are editted in GndMaker. Depending on the object being editted, you can either record line segments by 'Record'ing co-ordinates directly from Flight Simulator in a batch fashion, and/or you can insert line segment endpoints directly from the loaded object database (which is the sector file you're working on).
For example, for LOWAIRWAY records, you can make up line segments either using lat/lon co-ordinates or by inserting VOR's, NDB's, or waypoints (see left picture). And you don't have to remember to type navaids twice in the sector file (for both lat and lon).
Also, in this dialog, you can set what color each line segment is that you are drawing.
Maybe I should mention now how GndMaker communicates with Flight Simulator
I've tried to make the recording of co-ordinates out of Flight Simulator as easy as possible. To this end, I've attempted to put in the ability to record entire sets of line segments without leaving Flight Simulator itself. I do this by having GndMaker look for specific keyboard commands within Flight Simulator.
Let's say you want to record line segments that make up the boundaries of a taxiway (essentially a GEO object in ProController terms).
You start up Flight Simulator and GndMaker and create a new GEO object. When the 'Segment Maintance' dialog appears (above), you press the 'Record' button and you put GndMaker into the background. Then you put your aircraft in 'slew' mode and move the aircraft directly overthe taxiway edgeyou want to start 'drawing'. To save the current co-ordiante to GndMaker, you press the 'L' key (landing lights). GndMaker sees this and retrieves the aircraft position in the dialog. This done, you slew the aircraft to the next position you want to save, and hit the lights once more. There! You've just created your first line segment for the taxiway. This continues until you have all your segments recorded.
But, what if a pesky runway, cuts your taxiway in two? Do you want the taxiway line to cross the runway? I think not.
At the last saved position before you cross the runway,hit the 'O' (strobes) key in Flight Simulator. This tells GndMaker that you want to 'pen-up' the line segment. Now you can slew to a new position, when you can start recording again (with the 'L' key).
This screen shows how runway centerlines are recorded. The dialog is smart enough that you just have the specify one end of the runway (east end) and it fills in the rest. Not only does this save time, but it also enforces the integrity of the record saved being correct.
Note that this is just to create/edit ProController [RUNWAY] records. If you are creating a higher resolution sector file, like a ground file, you can still create a GEO object that is the actual boundary of your runway. It wouldn't make much sense to do a runway boundary in a center-level file, but you get the idea.
Another major feature of GndMaker is the ability to import all supported sector file objects from either Flight Simulator BGL files or from NIMA Digital Aeronautical Flight Information Files (DAFIF) data, which is publically available on the Internet. I found this feature to really make GndMaker worth the effort!
These two screenshots show you how you set up a BGL/DAFIF object search in GndMaker. In common to the two screens is the concept of a 'bounding box' for the data import. This allows you to specify the box where all objects inside the box are imported.
The co-ordinates of the bounding box can be manually typed in, or you can slew an aircraft around in Flight Simulator to use the aircraft co-ordinate as the position of the upper-left or lower-right corner of the box. Typing the box co-ordinates is used for large boxes (e.g. center files), and slewing/recording is more useful for smaller areas, like airports, etc.
Once, you set up the search parameters, GndMaker does the rest:
Once a search has been accomplished, you do the actual import into the sector file.
In the first screen on the right, you see a list of all waypoints found in the object search. You pick and choose which objects you actually want to import, and press 'Add'. That's it!
The second of the two screens show the end result of importing all the waypoints. This is all done automatically, without editting text files, converting coordinates, typing names, etc, etc.
Once the objects are 'in the system', you can edit them to tweak names, etc. Whatever you want.
So, do you want to see just what GndMaker is capable of? Have a gander at a shot of the KDFW (Dallas-Fort Worth) ground file that I wrote. Not only does it have a very complex set of taxiways drawn, but it also has buildings, runways - even ILS's!!
Bear in mind that this took about 2 hours to write! I'd like to see ANYONE draw a ground KDFW in the same time with the same quality.
Stay tuned as I add more and more pictures. Or if you want to look through the raw screenshots, click here!