Introduction

Welcome to Balloon Navigator documentation! This page explains everything it is to know about Balloon Navigator. Use the 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]

Requirements

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.

  • Google Chrome is recommended and fully supported browser for Balloon Navigator on Mac and Windows.
  • The app should also work on Microsoft Edge and Opera, but it is not guaranteed.
  • Safari is recommended for iPadOS.
  • Safari and Firefox do not support Serial Ports, so you won’t be able to fly with your USB GPS (on iPad, you can connect wireless GPS such as Garmin GLO using Bluetooth and use internal GPS source in app).
  • Safari might delete all your data after 7 days, unless you install Navigator as an app (see below: Installation).
  • Chrome on iOS doesn’t support installing the app.

Balloon Navigator is designed to work on bigger screens like those on laptops and tablets. Support for phones is very limited.

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. Balloon Navigator can use maximum of 60% of total free disk space on your computer. If the limit is reached, in theory some data might be deleted by your operating system (which is unlikely, but can happen).

Installation

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.

How to install on PC

Open app.balloonnavigator.com in Chrome and click small computer icon with a down arrow on the right side of address bar

Installation

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).

How to install on iPad

Open app.balloonnavigator.com in Safari and in top right corner, click Share button, then select Add to home screen.

Be advised: installed app does not share data with browser app!

Overview

Overview

App window is divided into few main components. From the left:

Left sidebar menu

This is the place where you control and access everything in Balloon Navigator. 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.

Map

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

Panels are overlayed 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. Blue panels show data related to air (ex. altitude, speed). Yellow are related to time, and Orange relate to ground (ex. coordinates).

Windreader keeps track of your flight on different altitudes (rounded to 10 meters / ~30 feet) and shows average of last 20 measurements for each altitude. Columns show, from the left: altitude, direction of flight in degrees, speed in m/s, time since last measurement in minutes.

Selected waypoints

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.

GPS & View

From the left, GPS button shows current status of GPS tracking. Click on it to quickly start/stop GPS connection.

Next, three buttons:

  • Follow position (F): if enabled, map follows your current GPS position
  • Follow rotation (R): if enabled, map rotates along your current heading
  • Set North (N): click to disable follow rotation and set map view to have North UP.

Last element is cursor position in both LonLat and UTM formats.

Keyboard shortcuts

Most common actions can be activated from keyboard.

On MacOS, ALT is replaced by OPTION (⌥)

  • SHIFT + ALT + mouse drag: Rotate view around center of the map
  • ALT + A: Create new waypoint
  • ALT + Q: Draw Point on map
  • ALT + C: Draw Circle on map
  • ALT + L: Draw Line on map
  • ALT + P: Draw Polygon on map
  • SHIFT: Hold when drawing, it will keep current action active so you can draw multiple waypoints
  • ALT + G: Enable/disable GPS
  • ALT + M: Open Maps
  • ALT + W: Open Waypoints
  • ALT + T: Open Tracks
  • ALT + S: Open Settings
  • ALT + I, ALT + E: Open Import/Export
  • W: Show/hide Windreader
  • G: Show/hide GPS data
  • F: Enable/disable Follow Map
  • R: Enable/disable Follow Rotation
  • N: Set map orientation to north
  • S + N: Navigate to selected waypoint
  • S + E: Edit selected waypoint
  • S + C: Center view on selected waypoint

Map controls

Basic controls such as zoom and pan work exactly like every other app on your system.

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

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:

Download your own map

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.

Upload custom PMTiles maps

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.

Requirements for custom maps

Balloon Navigator uses OpenMapTiles schema with additional entries for powerlines:

  • power_line
  • power_minor_line
  • power_tower
  • power_pole

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).

Connect GPS

To setup GPS connection, open Settings (ALT + S) from the left sidebar.

There are three ways to obtain your position in Balloon Navigator:

Internal GPS

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.

External GPS

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 proper. Default values should work with most receivers on the market. Your GPS manual should provide you with connection details, too.

GPS Simulator

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.