Welcome to Balloon Navigator documentation! This page explains everything it is to know about Balloon Navigator. Use menu on the left to move between sections.
If you have any questions not covered here, feel free to send an email to [email protected]
Balloon Navigator is a Progressive Web App, which means it works inside internet browser. It doesn’t need to be installed to work offline. However, it relies on certain technologies which are not supported by all browsers on the market.
You need to have enough free disk space to save offline maps and waypoints. Minimum 2GB of disk space is recommended for small maps. More disk space is needed for country maps, as they can reach up to 2GB per file.
While Balloon Navigator will work fully online and offline without installation, it is recommended to install it on your system as separate app. This will make it easier to launch (no need to remember web address, just app name) and ensure your browser won’t delete stored data if you didn’t use the app for a longer time, or when you clear cookies and browser history.
Open app.balloonnavigator.com in Chrome and click small computer icon with a down arrow on the right side of address bar
You will be prompted to install Balloon Navigator:
Click Install. App will open in separate window.
Balloon Navigator can now be started from the launcher, home screen, start menu, or launchpad (depending on your system).
Open app.balloonnavigator.com in Safari and in top right corner, click Share button, then select Add to home screen.
App window is divided into few main components. From the left:
This is the place where you control and access everything in Balloon Navigator. You can expand it by hovering your mouse over, clicking the sidebar menu icon on top left or pressing D
key.
At the top, you will find buttons to create waypoints and areas. Next, buttons to show and hide panels (Windreader and GPS). Next, access to Maps, Waypoints and Tracks. Last part is Settings, Import/Export and other links.
Left sidebar expands on hover and hides when you move mouse away, but you can click “hamburger” menu icon (four horizontal lines in top left corner of the app) to manually expand or hide it.
Interactive map. Works like any other map software you know already, like Google Maps. You can draw new waypoints and select them, zoom around the map etc.
Panels are overlaid on map window and you can show/hide them with single button click (W
for Windreader and G
for GPS) or from left sidebar menu.
GPS Panel shows data from your GPS device. Learn more
Windreader keeps track of your flight on different altitudes. Learn more
If you select any waypoint on map, its data will appear in the right sidebar. It shows everything you need to navigate to target.
You can have two waypoints there: one you navigate to, which is always first, and one selected, which is always below. That way, you can see navigation data for two waypoints at the same time.
From the left, GPS button shows current status of GPS tracking. Click on it to quickly start/stop GPS connection. Learn more about GPS button
Next, three buttons:
Last element is cursor position in both LonLat and UTM formats.
Most common actions can be activated from keyboard.
On MacOS, ALT is replaced by OPTION (⌥)
Basic controls such as zoom and pan work exactly like every other app on your system or device.
On Windows:
On Mac:
On mobile:
Additionally, in top left corner of the map there are +/- buttons and slider to zoom.
If map is rotated away from North, small arrow will appear and will always show direction of North. If you click it, map will rotate back to North Up.
Basemaps are map backgrounds, with the world data on it. You can open Maps menu by clicking Maps
(ALT + M) on the left sidebar.
Balloon Navigator provides some built in maps to help you get started. To change map, simply select it from the list (more maps will appear when you scroll down).
Every map has power lines embedded to it. Powerlines show only when you zoom close enough and are represented by red dashed lines.
By default, all maps are online and require internet connection to work. Click blue Download
button on the right to save map for offline use.
Only maps which are less than 2GB can be downloaded. If map of region is bigger than 2GB, it’s marked as Online Only
and cannot be used offline.
If map of your region is not available, refer to Download your own map below:
If you need custom offline map of an area, you can generate one yourself inside an app.
On the left sidebar, click on Maps (ALT + M) and select Download custom map
tab.
Follow the instructions on the screen. Entered coordinates mark middle of the map. You can set coordinates on your current position by clicking blue button on the bottom.
When you’re done, click on Download map
button. New map is generated on the server and it will take few minutes to download. File size is around 300MB and when it’s done, it will be added to list of maps in Basemaps
tab.
Open Maps
from left sidebar menu and click on blue Add map file
button:
Pick your map file and select Open
. Custom map will appear on the list and you can use it right away.
Balloon Navigator uses OpenMapTiles schema with additional entries for powerlines:
You need to provide PMTiles file with these layers if you want power lines displayed on map. power_tower
and power_pole
are currently not used (not rendered).
To setup GPS connection, open Settings
(ALT + S) from the left sidebar.
There are three ways to obtain your position in Balloon Navigator:
If your device has built in GPS receiver (ex. tablet), you can use it by simply clicking Enable internal GPS
button. Most of the time, however, internal GPS has low accuracy, not good enough for flying.
Balloon Navigator can receive NMEA data through serial ports. It’s the most common way of connecting GPS receivers to computers.
When you connect your GPS to computer, first, you have to select correct serial port where your receiver sends data by clicking Select External GPS Serial Port
. Then, make sure connection settings are set properly. Default values should work with most receivers on the market. Your GPS manual should provide you with connection details, too.
The last option is to simulate GPS by manually providing heading, speed and initial position coordinates. Click on Start GPS Simulator
after you provide those. Simulator has 1Hz refresh rate and hardcoded altitude of 500m (1640ft) AMSL.
GPS Button is in the bottom left corner of the app. It shows current status of GPS tracking, and works as the ON/OFF button for GPS.
Click on GPS button to enable/disable GPS tracking
Available GPS statuses:
Status | Description |
---|---|
ON | GPS is enabled and tracking |
OFF | GPS is disabled and no tracking data is being sent |
WAITING | GPS is enabled, but not receiving data |
WAITING FOR FIX | GPS is enabled and is receiving data, but no fix has been obtained yet |
NO FIX | GPS is unable to get position data |
STALE | GPS is enabled, but did not receive new data for over 5 seconds |
ERROR | Could not enable GPS (ex. serial port is not available) |
SIM | GPS Simulator is enabled |
Current position is marked with black arrow, specifically on the tip. Green line starts from the arrow tip and goes 5 km forward.
You can create new waypoints using elements on top of left sidebar:
First option, Add waypoint
(ALT + A), let’s you create points and circles. It will open new window where you can enter waypoint details: name, description, coordinates, altitude, elevation and radius (for circles).
Coordinates can be switched between Longitude/Latitude, UTM and short UTM formats with a dropdown input.
Short UTM will select zone based on where the map is centered on.
Small button on the left (with a mountain icon) will find ground elevation on provided coordinates and fill the elevation field automatically. It queries online API and needs internet connection to work.
Second small button (with pin icon) will copy your current GPS position as coordinates for waypoint.
Select (ALT + Q) to draw simple points on the map. Hold SHIFT when placing point to keep drawing enabled, that way you can mark multiple points faster.
Select (ALT + C) to draw circles. First click on the map will mark center, then move your mouse to create radius. Second click will finish drawing.
Select (ALT + L) to draw lines. Click on the map to keep drawing segments. Double click to draw last segment and finish.
Select (ALT + P) to draw polygons. Polygon is similar to line, but it has to be closed (last segment meets first). Double click or click on first coordinate to finish drawing.
Select (ALT + U) to draw freehand. Hold click to draw a line, release to finish. Freehand line will snap to existing waypoints if close enough.
Select Waypoints (ALT + W) from left sidebar to show a list of all waypoints in your database:
With buttons on the right, you can:
To select a waypoint, click on it on the map. Its label outline will turn green and waypoint details will appear on the right sidebar:
Sidebar will show various navigation details for selected waypoint. At the top, there is a name, description, coordinates, altitude and radius (if circle).
Blue panels show data related to air. Green are headings, red are speed and distances, yellow are time. Orange are ground related.
Distance to target is different based on waypoint type. For Points and Circles, distance is measured to the center of waypoint (right on Point or middle of circle). Circle has additional metric distance to edge which displays closest distance to reach its radius. For Polygon, Line and Freehand, distance is measured to the closest point of the shape.
Descent/Ascent to target tells you how fast you have to ascent or descent to reach target precisely at its altitude, based on your speed, distance and altitude difference.
DROP IN panel is Drop Calculator and shows data only if waypoint has elevation data filled in. It will calculate the closest point you can reach when dropping a marker and will tell you when to drop based on your altitude, speed and target elevation. Hover over small i
icon to learn what’s the best possible result of the drop.
Buttons at the bottom are:
Navigating to waypoints is very similar to selecting them. The differences are:
You don’t have to use this mode, as simply selecting waypoint already shows all the data. The idea for navigating is to use it for the current target you’re flying to, and always have it on top. At the same time, you can select different waypoints and quickly compare data without losing track of your current primary target.
To edit a waypoint, click on blue outlined button with a pen. You can find this button on waypoint list or right sidebar, when waypoint is selected.
Window to edit works the same way as the one when creating new waypoint.
Short UTM zone is based on current waypoint coordinates or, if there are none, on where the map view is centered currently.
To delete, click red trashcan button on waypoint list or right sidebar, when waypoint is selected. You will have to confirm it by clicking on the button again.
Tracks are saved automatically whenever GPS is enabled and position changes. Trackpoints are recorded on every GPS update (with minimum 500ms between updates), with coordinates, altitude and time.
Tracks appear on map as orange line:
You can display list of all saved and imported tracks by selecting Tracks (ALT + T) on left sidebar:
Click blue button on the right side to show selected track on map, red trashcan button to delete track.
Windreader keeps track of your flight on different altitudes. You can show/hide it with W
key.
Altitude is rounded to 10 meters / ~30 feet and shows average of last 20 measurements for each level. Columns show, from the left: altitude in feet, direction of flight in degrees, speed in m/s, time since last measurement in minutes.
GPS Panel shows data from your GPS device. You can show/hide it with G
key.
Blue panels show data related to air (ex. altitude). Red is speed. Yellow are related to time, and Orange relate to ground (ex. coordinates).
Balloon Navigator supports importing waypoints and tracks in GPX and OziExplorer formats.
Open Import/Export menu from the left sidebar (or ALT + E) and upload file using blue Import file
button. Format will be automatically recognized from file extension.
When reading, GPX routes (<rte>
) are converted into Lines, and GPX tracks (<trk>
) into tracks in app. Any properties on route and track waypoints are ignored.
.wpt
files are converted into waypoints and .plt
files into tracks. Custom styles are applied for waypoints only.
You can export all waypoints and tracks to GPX or GeoJSON files.
You can access user account menu from the left sidebar:
New window will appear:
From here, you can sign up for a new account or log in to existing one. New account requires clicking on a link in email message to confirm email address.
After you login for the first time, all your waypoints and tracks will be assigned to this account and start syncing to Balloon Navigator online database.
All new waypoints and tracks will be synced to server in real-time as long as you are connected to the internet.
Additional two-way sync happens on app launch and every 10 minutes. You can also trigger a manual sync by clicking Sync now
button on User account panel (it’s visible only when logged in) or with ALT+V:
You can update your name and balloon registration on Profile tab in User Account menu.
Your name will be visible on other pilots’ maps when live tracked (see below).
Live tracking allows you to see other users on the map, track their flight path and see flight details such as altitude, speed and heading.
Share your position with another user by entering their account’s email address in the input field at the bottom.
After being invited, user has to accept invitation before position is shared.
List in the middle shows list of users you share your position with (up arrow) or which share their position with you (down arrow).
Refresh list
button to the top right of the list.
Live tracked users are shown on map with blue arrows and blue tracks.
If you click on the icon, user will become selected and will show as waypoint on the right sidebar. Apart from the usual data, it will include their heading, speed, altitude and last time their signal has been received.
If that happens, it means that your device does not have enough RAM to process map file. You have to either download smaller map or switch to newer, more powerful device.
If you have reached down to this point, I can only assume you are pretty invested in Balloon Navigator now :)
Please let me know about your ideas for features and improvements at [email protected]!