Published Sep 10, 2021
Navigraph’s Plans for the new Microsoft Flight Simulator
What are Navigraph’s plans for the upcoming Microsoft Flight Simulator? How are Charts, NavData and Simlink used on the new platform? What is Navigraph’s vision on supporting addon developers in this new era? Magnus Axholt, CEO of Navigraph, provides some answers to these questions and more.
In a few days the long anticipated Microsoft Flight Simulator will be released. Microsoft did a good job in building up the anticipation. Little by little the flightsim community was let in on the developments and this simulator looks nothing short of amazing! I think what first draws the user’s attention are the stunning visuals. Streaming satellite imagery from Bing Maps interpolated with artificial intelligence looks awesome!
This simulator is going to be great for VFR pilots which is good because in our mind that’s the stepping stone from being a casual flyer, say maybe a gamer on Xbox, into exploring aviation a little deeper. There is no question about it - the launch of a new flight simulator is going to attract a lot of new users to the flightsim community. Many of them are going to be complete beginners, and a simulator with accurate and realistic visuals is great for navigating by looking out of the window. We here at Navigraph are super excited about this new influx of users, because this means more people flying, more people controlling, more people using our services, and more people curious to start developing for the new platform. In short - more friends to share this amazing hobby with!
Aside from new users, there is also going to be a fair amount of existing users migrating from other simulation platforms. In the Navigraph FlightSim Community Survey 56% of the respondents stated that they would “Likely” or “Very Likely” change over to the new platform. We are very curious to see if these predictions hold. If you want to brush up on the stats I have provided a link to the survey. These users have grown accustomed to Navigraph providing a certain level of service and we will continue to deliver on that expectation. We were here when FS9 launched in 2004 and we have grown and evolved with it and its successor FSX - and we will do the same with FS2020.
One aspect which makes the new Microsoft Flight Simulator particularly exciting is that the virtual world is constantly being updated. While the visuals are generated by satellite imagery from Bing, the other part of the reality, the invisible but omnipresent navigational data, is also kept up to date. This means that the simulator will have current information about waypoint locations, airways, frequencies, and procedures for departure, arrival and approach. Finally we are flying as real as it gets! This is great news for IFR pilots! We here at Navigraph are super excited about this update because it puts focus on the importance on navigational data and will make our service more important than ever, and I will tell you why:
First of all you have to appreciate that the flight simulation ecosystem is bigger than just the flight simulator. In addition to the flight simulator software, be that Microsoft, Lockheed Martin Prepar3D or Laminar Research X-Plane, there is also a set of addon software that are a part of the total experience - I am talking about aircraft, flight planners, instructor stations, various avionics, and other projects which do a little bit of everything. Not all of them can or will read from the Microsoft Flight Simulator default dataset, either because they simply don’t exist together and cannot interface; or because the Microsoft SDK doesn’t fit the developer’s needs; or because the addon software needs more data than Microsoft can provide. This means that you can potentially be getting different experiences in various parts of the ecosystem unless you consistently use data from Navigraph.
I am not only talking about apparent factors in the raw data such as different geographical coverage, waypoint naming conventions, policies for interpreting minima, and leg encoding; I am also talking about how the particular addon data format is encoded and interpreted. We have spent the last decade and a half developing more than 100 different addon formats and worked closely with all major addon developers to ensure that they get the information they need.
When you choose Navigraph you know that you will have consistent high quality data! We will make sure that you have unified data everywhere in the ecosystem, both inside and outside of the simulator, whatever simulator you fly, and whichever network you decide to connect on.
We see it as our responsibility to continue to supply the flight simulation community with a unified dataset across all parts of the ecosystem.
Secondly, we understand that if there is one thing pilots appreciate it is flexibility. If your preference is Jeppesen data, which seems to be the case by the way based on our recent survey, we will make sure Jeppesen data is available to you - both as navdata and charts - in the new simulator, or in any simulator for that matter. You may have good reasons, or strong personal preferences, to go with other data providers, and you are of course free to do so, but you should know that Jeppesen data, which is the largest database in the world and the most commonly used and preferred data provider in the flightsim community, is available through Navigraph.
To be more specific, here is what we are doing:
For all addon developers, new and existing, we are offering APIs which can be integrated directly into the addon software. This API is already up and running and is being used in production, for instance in X-Plane Mobile, so - developers - get in contact with us on dev@navigraph.com if you would like to use it.
We will of course also continue delivering navdata using our FMS Data Manager, just like before, so that option will also exist with any simulator, also the new Microsoft Flight Simulator.
Ok, but what if you did your flight planning in an external addon software using Navigraph data, and now you are flying an addon aircraft with a navigational database from Navigraph, how will that align with the default data in Microsoft Flight Simulator? Well, for a perfect correspondence we will shortly be offering a method to update the default navdata in Microsoft Flight Simulator as well. Yes, that’s right, if you have a Navigraph subscription you will be able to load Jeppesen data into the flight simulator, the same way we offer updated navdata to X-Plane.
Why would you want to replace the navigational database in Microsoft Flight Simulator? Well, one reason I have already explained - you want to have unified data across the entire flight simulation ecosystem, also in software, networks and websites outside of the simulator. The other reason is charts! If you update your simulator to run on Jeppesen navdata Navigraph Charts will have matching plates and enroute charts! It is always good to have charts and navdata from the same supplier because the data will always be in correspondence; and subsequently the navigational data in the flight simulator and Navigraph Charts will match. Also, the Jeppesen chart database is by far the largest one available in the world.
Speaking of charts - Navigraph Charts is, as you know, a standalone software which runs as a desktop app, on iPad or Android tablets, or in a web browser. You can use it with any flightsim, including Microsoft Flight Simulator. It is ready to use. Navigraph Charts lets you view and organize airport charts, has a night mode, has a route planner and displays your location on an interactive enroute chart and on georeferences airport plates - that’s what we call moving maps. We have made an update to Simlink to fit the new simulator. It’s being tested to be ready for launch, or shortly thereafter.
Ok, so I know I said that Charts is a standalone software, but actually it is possible to view the charts also from inside the simulator. We offer a Charts API to developers who wish to display Navigraph charts in virtual EFBs. Aircraft from PMDG, Aerosoft and QualityWings are already doing this. AviTab is another example. If you as a developer also want to incorporate Navigraph charts in your software, get in touch with us at dev@navigraph.com.
Last but not least, we will also be releasing a new version of Navigraph Charts. It is going to be available from our website as well as from the marketplace inside the simulator. Exactly how this version of Navigraph Charts integrates with the new simulator will be detailed later, but it will contain VFR charts to match the simulator’s stunning visuals.
Ok, so let’s summarize:
Charts - Yes, you will be able to use Navigraph Charts in the new simulator. Simlink has been updated and moving maps works.
NavData - Yes, we will continue supporting the flight simulation community with navdata from Jeppesen. We are offering developers an API to facilitate the integration for software which cannot access the internal Microsoft navigational database, and we are also offering users the possibility to change the default Microsoft Flight Simulator navdatabase to Jeppesen. The FMS Data Manager will also continue to work as before.
We are also offering an API to view Jeppesen charts inside the simulator, and will launch a version of Charts via the marketplace which will include VFR charts and which will integrate closer with the simulator. Details to follow.
We have been here since 2003 and supported the ecosystem surrounding all things flightsim - including the two previous versions of Microsoft simulators. It is the modularity and openness of the flight simulator platform which ensures longevity. Our AIRAC updates are the heartbeat of the flight simulation community and we will continue to support all developer initiatives.
If there is anything you as a pilot need, let us know in our support forum. If you are a developer and want to use our navdata or charts API, drop us a line at dev@navigraph.com.
Blue skies everyone!