RunwayFinder mapping broken?

Need tech support using the forum? Check for answers here or post a question.
Post Reply
davidtg

RunwayFinder mapping broken?

Post by davidtg » Wed Apr 06, 2011 5:23 pm

Hi, all --

Since RF has come back online (yay! :-) I haven't seen any successful request maps. For instance, going to

http://www.pilotsnpaws.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11582
http://www.pilotsnpaws.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11593

and clicking the RF map option just gives me an

Error: Duplicate locations in route.

bar at the bottom. My guess is that the interface has changed. Thoughts?


TIA & HTH & HAND

Steve Foley
Webmaster
Posts: 118
Joined: Sun Aug 17, 2008 10:39 am
Foster?: No
Pilot?: No
Distance willing to fly one way: 0

Re: RunwayFinder mapping broken?

Post by Steve Foley » Thu Apr 07, 2011 9:40 am

This has to do with the way runwayfinder resolves locations. There is no way to definitively tell runwayfinder that the location being passed is a zipcode. When I originally write the interface, I used the tag "zip=xxxxx", however this failed on many zipcodes, including the zipcode to my home airport (01602). ZIP=01602 resolves to 1602 Zip Ln, Madrid, IA 50156, USA.

I changed the tag to zipcode to get around this, and it worked well for a while. Unfortunately, runwayfinder is now resolving zipcode to Zipade, Cordesville, SC 29461, USA. So runwayfinder now thinks every flight originates and terminates in Zipade, Cordsville, SC , hence the duplicate message.

If I can get a definitive specification on specifying locations on runwayfinder, I'll probably re-tool the interface to use it. Unless that happens, I simply can't keep re-writing the interface based on guesses.

davidtg

Re: RunwayFinder mapping broken?

Post by davidtg » Thu Apr 07, 2011 12:12 pm

Steve, et al --
Steve Foley wrote:...
If I can get a definitive specification on specifying locations on runwayfinder, I'll probably re-tool the interface to use it. Unless that happens, I simply can't keep re-writing the interface based on guesses.
Gotcha. That makes sense to me, and I certainly wouldn't keep stabbing in the dark, either. We'll see what develops.


Thanks again & HAND

jlspence
Posts: 152
Joined: Tue Jul 27, 2010 2:59 pm
Foster?: Yes
Pilot?: Yes
Distance willing to fly one way: 0
Location: Madison, AL

Re: RunwayFinder mapping broken?

Post by jlspence » Tue May 10, 2011 3:30 pm

If you have not already done so, perhaps you can contact Dave Parsons at [email protected] to find out how to get this to work properly. I can make Skyvector work for PnP flight planning but always preferred RunwayFinder when it was operating. It'd be nice to get it working again. :D
Jeff S.
Cessna 172/Huntsville, AL - Moontown Airport (3M5)
VFR Only

Steve Foley
Webmaster
Posts: 118
Joined: Sun Aug 17, 2008 10:39 am
Foster?: No
Pilot?: No
Distance willing to fly one way: 0

Re: RunwayFinder mapping broken?

Post by Steve Foley » Tue May 10, 2011 4:27 pm

I corresponded with Dave Parsons when I originally wrote the interface. He said he simply used a google function to lookup the location. He was not aware of the 'zipcode=' tag.

I've found clicking on the link and editing the url to remove the zipcode= tags sometimes works. the url would have "zipcode=01602;zipcode=55532' change to '01602;55532'. Sometimes it works, sometimes you get strange results.

jlspence
Posts: 152
Joined: Tue Jul 27, 2010 2:59 pm
Foster?: Yes
Pilot?: Yes
Distance willing to fly one way: 0
Location: Madison, AL

Re: RunwayFinder mapping broken?

Post by jlspence » Wed May 11, 2011 9:13 am

It looks like if you modify your interface to remove the "zipcode=" and just use the originating and destination zipcodes with a semicolon between them, with no spaces, it works just fine.
Jeff S.
Cessna 172/Huntsville, AL - Moontown Airport (3M5)
VFR Only

Steve Foley
Webmaster
Posts: 118
Joined: Sun Aug 17, 2008 10:39 am
Foster?: No
Pilot?: No
Distance willing to fly one way: 0

Re: RunwayFinder mapping broken?

Post by Steve Foley » Wed May 11, 2011 10:02 am

The first attempt at an interface did exactly that xxxxx;yyyyy. Unfortunately that didn't work consistently. Some locations came up completely wrong, which is why V2 used "ZIP=XXXXX;ZIP=YYYYY". That one had problems too, and V3 used "ZIPCODE=XXXXX;ZIPCODE=YYYYY". For some reason, ZIPCODE now translates to Zipade, Cordesville, SC 29461, USA. (More helpful spell correction?).

Hopefully next month I'll have some time to work on it.

Steve Foley
Webmaster
Posts: 118
Joined: Sun Aug 17, 2008 10:39 am
Foster?: No
Pilot?: No
Distance willing to fly one way: 0

Re: RunwayFinder mapping broken?

Post by Steve Foley » Wed May 11, 2011 2:40 pm

I made a change to use latitude and longitude on the runwayfinder link. This should work until they break it again.

jlspence
Posts: 152
Joined: Tue Jul 27, 2010 2:59 pm
Foster?: Yes
Pilot?: Yes
Distance willing to fly one way: 0
Location: Madison, AL

Re: RunwayFinder mapping broken?

Post by jlspence » Wed May 11, 2011 2:56 pm

Awesome Steve. Thanks!
Jeff S.
Cessna 172/Huntsville, AL - Moontown Airport (3M5)
VFR Only

Post Reply