Highlights of LK8000 v3.0

PC version "easy use": simply copy the LK8000 folder anywhere, even on the desktop, enter folder and run PC exe.

LK will start up using demo configuration, ready to be evaluated. Nothing else to download, nothing else to install.

No Microsoft install procedure, no registry usage, easy to remove.
Almost 500 maps are ready to be downloaded for 55 countries!

Executable size is amazingly small: less than 1.5 megabytes (1500k). Code was optimized, and speed was greatly improved.
LK will run perfectly even on old 200mhz PPC devices.
On an average PNA, it can load maps twice bigger than 2.2 version, and even 10 thousands waypoints.
Translation updated for English, French, German, Portuguese, HUngarian, Dutch, Croatian, Czech, Russian, Polish, Italian.
Serbian, Espanol, Greek and Sweden are partially mixed with english until new translations are completed.

Some important features were added during these 10 months of hard work.

Powerful startup profile system for selecting aircraft, pilot and device setup independently.
(Full reset to default configuration is available in System profile)

Smooth panning mode
New graphics, and bitmap icons for CUP waypoints
New "ungestures" for flipping pages: no need to "swipe", a simple touch on left or right screen will do;
much faster than gestures, that are still available of course.
A lot of new customkeys

Overlay indicators for safety altitude and safety MC in use.
Fully configurable user interface (infopages, bottom bar, custom keys)

Thermal history page (new infopage 3.3)
It will list up to 50 thermals, relative to the current flight.

Each thermal listed is showing usual values as in the nearest page, and the average lift.
You can sort by distance, bearing, lift and name.

The thermal name is the local time you entered the thermal , example: th1437 if you entered
this thermal at 2:37pm .

Selecting as usual a thermal will pop up a page where you can SELECT it.
Once selected, the thermal is assigned to the L> multitarget, and you are instantly brought
to L> moving map.


Totally redesigned airspace engine

• New infopage 2.4 for airspaces, like for waypoints.
• Simplified airspace warning confirmations
• Individual airspace enable/disable/select, saved to configuration
• Nearest airspace / Selected airspace H and V distances as infoboxes
• FLY/NOFLY zones

Sideview of airspaces
Vertical and horizontal illustration of airspaces, terrain, obstacles and glide slope along the flight path,
toward the selected waypoint, the nearest airspace or the current heading.
Helping to have a better situation awareness.


Sonar acoustic aid for flying near by an airspace without crossing its borders

LK FLIGHT LOGBOOK

LK has an accurate free flight detection calculation, in real time, which is working also for winch launches.
For this reason, we can calculate towing times, towing altitude, etc.

Each time that a landing status is detected, three files are created/updated automatically inside _Logger folder.

LOGBOOK.LST is a notepad formatted file, textual, where each flight is saved on a single line.
It can be read using Info 2/2 LogBook "LogBook List" menu button.
Only relevant informations such as date, flytime, takeoff, landing, pilot, location and aircraft rego are written.
The pilot has all the flights listed here, similar to other instruments logbooks.
The LOGBOOK.LST can be reset by user request in LK, using reset button in Logbook menu.

LOGBOOK.TXT is a notepad formatted file, textual, and it can be read from LK using
Info 2/2 LogBook "LogBook Details" menu button.
This file is reporting aircraft type, time of takeoff,
landing, flytime, pilot, towing time, towing altitude, max altitude reached, odometer, OLC distance ,max height gained.
Each flight is on a single dedicated note page, and it is possible to browse through all flights using the arrow keys.
The LOGBOOK.TXT can be reset by user request in LK, using reset button in Logbook menu.

LOGBOOK.CSV is in Comma Separated Value format, and can be open as-is by any spreadsheet.
It is never reset by the software.  It is made for external usage.





ORACLE
The "Oracle" is printing informations about your position, by examining both topology and waypoints,
and figuring out a reasonable position reporting to be used via the radio.
Oracle is creating a verbose description of your position.    
An Oracle response for example can be:
"YOUR POSITION:
9 Km South-West of the city of Lecco
5 Km East of the city , over lake of Pusiano
10 KM North-East of the airport of "


New ALTITUDE ALARMS (config page 15)
There are 3 available altitude alarms available.
An alarm will be triggered everytime the configured altitude is reached or crossed.

Powerful location markers
To mark the current position in a waypoint, use the button on the main menu or the customkey.
A virtual waypoint called MK123456  will be created , assuming in the example that the time
was 12:34.45 (local time).
The waypoint detail's description field will report the nearest known waypoint
(for example   Near: London).
Markers will appear as waypoint inside both 2.3 TPS and 3.1 COMMON pages.
Markers are inserted in the COMMON 3.1 pages as Last-in First-out.

All markers are also saved to a CUP file called with the current date, like LKyyyymmdd.cup .
So each flight in a different day will have its own markers cup file, that can be reloaded as
an ordinary waypoint file anytime.



New Color scheme for GA: relative terrain.
This scheme will show red any terrain above current altitude.
Anything below, up to 500ft below, will be graded to yellow.
This scheme is NOT good for gliders, because it does not consider the loss of altitude while gliding.
It is intended to be used by general aviation mode, optionally activated by a button.
It is practically identical to the Garmin's Aera terrain feature.

Support for OziExplorer waypoints format

Magnetic declination internal calculator for truewind

Smarter calculation of BestAlternative landing point

Paragliders functions:
Redesigned autozoom facility
New touchscreen lock mode
Optimized routes for paragliders.
Leaning on AAT locked target and virtual waypoints, a pretty effective result.
Optimization can be enabled in Paragliders config menu 23, and as a customkey.
When enabled, the T> overlay, the Next waypoint distance, altitude diff, bearing etc.
are all related to the optimized turn point on the cylinder.
The correct optimized point of turn is visualized also.
The optimized turnpoint is named with a "!" leading. Example: turnpoint name is "JACKHILL"
as optimized point it will appear as T>!JACKHILL   and also in turnpoint list and nearest pages.
This is a virtual waypoint, like thermal, takeoff etc.




Total energy button: will calculate roughly extra height converted from spare speed, on demand.
Flap setting calculator, suggesting the best flap notch

SIMULATION mode improved
Added also FLARM objects if FLARM on Map is enabled in system config menu 13.
Four flarm objects are added around the plane. One of them will become a ghost and a zombie quite soon.
Objects are moving a bit, but just to let you experiment with traffic on LK.
Page 4.1 TRF is of course enabled, and FlarmNet is used as in real life.
Overlay multitarget F> is also enabled, and need an object selected in 4.1.
Selecting a target in 4.1 will show it in page 4.3 and 4.2 .
All of this is useful for making practice with FLARM traffic and explore the 4.3 sight page.

In simulation mode, the glider will sink in the air using its polar values, for a real flight effect.
Thermals are simulated with sinking air around, weak and strong values up to the core.

NEW DEVICES

. New priority based automatic selection of baro altitudes, when more than one baro altitude is available
. support for LX 16xx device
. support for Medion S3747 aka Royaltek BV-3200 aka other brands. Baro altitude is managed.
. support for Holux FunTrek aka CompeGps rebranded device, full support for battery power,
resolution, baro altitude etc.
. support for Zander ZS1 including MC and Wind
. IMI ERIXX logger support, also for task declaration      

AND MANY, MANY ENHANCEMENTS and FIXES.