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Enabling Terrain
Dec. 27, 2016 share
Customize the Aeronautical Map
OLD VIDEO: This video was made before the "More" tab was redesigned from a single page to a pull-out menu, but all of the capabilities you access from "More" are the same as they were before. Visit the ForeFlight Mobile Pilot's Guide.
ForeFlight's data-driven Aeronautical Maps allow you to customize which map elements you show or hide. You can also choose between Light, Dark, and Classic map themes and toggle terrain features on and off. With the Aeronautical layer selected you can add or remove airspace, view high or low airways, and adjust label text size. Try mixing and matching the new map settings to find the combination that works best for you.
Color Inversion
Enabling Terrain
Basemap and Terrain Improvements
The ForeFlight map engine has a significantly upgraded basemap, which now renders more quickly, smoothly, and with sharper depiction of features such as major roads, railways, national parks, and state and national boundaries. There’s also a new “Shaded Terrain” option, which uses grayscale shading to depict terrain, providing the same level of detail as the colored terrain option with less visual distraction.
In the Map Settings menu, choose from multiple presentations: Colored, Shaded, or None.
High Resolution Basemap
ForeFlight’s High Resolution Basemap depicts ground features and cultural elements in much greater detail for improved inflight reference.
The default basemap provides a basic depiction of major roads and urban areas, while the High Resolution Basemap dramatically increases the level of detail, exposing minor roads and individual railway lines, increasing the resolution of coastlines and urban areas, and highlighting national parks and forests in green. The High Resolution Basemap also adds terrain peak markers with altitudes so you can easily identify the highest points in an area. You can disable these within Terrain settings in the Map Settings menu.
Organized Track Systems
Organized Track depictions in ForeFlight provide a valuable reference for pilots who utilize these track systems. Organized Tracks are available on mobile and the web with ForeFlight’s Performance Plus and Business Performance subscription plans.
ForeFlight displays three different track systems: The North Atlantic Organized Track System, the Pacific Organized Track System, and the Australian Organized Track Structure. Individual tracks are color-coded based on direction: East-bound tracks are purple and West-bound tracks are green. Zoom in to the start of each track to see labels for the track’s name and direction. Each waypoint in the track is also labeled.
Learn more about ForeFlight's Performance plans here.
Scheduled Flight Search
ForeFlight now allows you to search for aircraft tail numbers, call signs, and flight numbers on the Maps view to see recently filed flight plans.
Internet Traffic via FlightAware
Stream live global aircraft traffic directly in ForeFlight with the Internet Traffic feature. In partnership with FlightAware, ForeFlight allows you to view airborne traffic around the globe, and ground traffic at thousands of airports worldwide, to help you gauge airport activity like active arrivals and runways, see how ATC vectors traffic around weather, or assist with planespotting on the ground. Internet Traffic is included in all ForeFlight subscription plans.
Global Airspace Details
ForeFlight provides advanced global airspace details for FIRs, UIRs, and other airspace types, with important information about frequencies, cruise altitudes, and operational notes.
Tap-hold anywhere on the map to open the Add to Route window. The names and altitude ranges of any airspace at that location appears in the Airspace section. Tap on each name to highlight the airspace on the map. Tap the Details button to view more in-depth information about the airspace.
Automatic Airspace Highlighting
Airspace Highlighting in ForeFlight helps declutter the map and keeps you aware of the airspace affecting your route.
Available as part of ForeFlight’s data-driven Aeronautical map layer (available with ForeFlight "Plus" subscription plans), Airspace Highlighting changes the contrast of airspace boundaries based on whether your route intersects the airspace at your planned altitude. Airspace that you won’t pass through is dimmed, and airspace that you will pass through or pass near is highlighted.
Controlled Airspace Alerts
Fly more confidently around controlled airspace with multi-stage visual and audio alerts that proactively warn you of approaching airspace with Controlled Airspace Alerts.
Like TFR Alerts, Controlled Airspace Alerts are enabled by default for all ForeFlight users. To toggle or configure these and other alerts, scroll to the bottom of the Map Settings menu to find the Alerts menu, which is also available in the main Settings view, and scroll to the Airspace & NOTAMs section.
Hide Airspace by Altitude
You can declutter ForeFlight’s Aeronautical Map by hiding any airspace above a selected altitude, making it easier to focus on airspace closer to you. Combined with other airspace features like Auto Highlight and selectable airspace types, customizing the map to show only the most relevant airspace is easier than ever.
Aeronautical Maps Enhancements
Smart Airway Labels
Global Procedure Advisor
All ForeFlight customers can now access international departures, arrivals, and approaches using Procedure Advisor, expanding the scope of ForeFlight’s global planning capabilities.
These global flight planning features are further enhanced by adding Jeppesen’s industry-leading charts to your ForeFlight account. Check out our other videos on purchasing Jeppesen charts through ForeFlight and linking an existing Jeppesen account to learn more.
Weather Layer Time Slider
ForeFlight’s radar and satellite layers now use an interactive time slider tool that provides more control when viewing and animating weather timestamps.
Icing, Turbulence, and Surface Analysis Layers
ForeFlight’s weather capabilities now include five new layers for icing, turbulence, and surface analysis forecasts, available on Pro Plus, Performance Plus, and Business Performance plans. The Icing and Turbulence layers each have a US and global option, and the Surface Analysis layer provides a global view of isobars and associated pressure readings, and a more detailed view of pressure centers, fronts, troughs, and other features for North America. All five of the new layers are also available on ForeFlight’s web application.
Distance Rings
OLD VIDEO: This video was made before the "More" tab was redesigned from a single page to a pull-out menu, but all of the capabilities you access from "More" are the same as they were before. Visit the ForeFlight Mobile Pilot's Guide.
Keep an eye on how far you are from nearby airports, obstacles, and landmarks using distance rings. You can set the rings to automatically grow and shrink as you change zoom level, or set them to display flight times rather than distances. This simple tool is a must-have for maximizing inflight situational awareness.
TFR Alerts
New In-Flight Alerts
Weather Frequency Callout
Device Disconnect Alert
Devices that provide wireless inflight data like GPS and weather to your iPad can sometimes disconnect, whether due to a dead battery, connection issues, or human error. Whatever the reason for the loss of signal, the Device Disconnect Alert allows you to quickly take steps to restore the connection or switch to an alternative data source.
Map Touch Action
Improved Planning Features
OLD VIDEO: This video was made before the "More" tab was redesigned from a single page to a pull-out menu, but all of the capabilities you access from "More" are the same as they were before. Visit the ForeFlight Mobile Pilot's Guide.
ForeFlight now offers an enhanced flight planning workflow thanks to improvements to aircraft, the Maps view flight plan editor, and the File & Brief view, which is now called “Flights”.
This video is for ForeFlight customers with subscription plans other than Performance Plus, including the original plans and the Basic Plus and Pro Plus plans. If you have the Performance Plus plan, or want to see what is different with that plan, check out our Performance video series.
Procedure Preview
Marked Positions
Drop detailed markers along your route and view or share them after the flight using ForeFlight’s Marked Positions feature. Perfect for noting points of interest, conducting search and rescue operations, or plotting your position on oceanic flights, Marked Positions provides a highly-flexible solution for many use-cases. Marked Positions is available with ForeFlight Performance Plus plans.
Map Annotations
Take notes on the fly and mark up charts using ForeFlight’s Map Annotations feature.
Maps Sidebar
Tap to learn about airspace, map elements, and more using the Maps view’s information Sidebar, which lets you dig into details while still interacting with the map.
Tap on most map elements or tap-hold anywhere on the map to open the sidebar. A pulsing green circle indicates the marker or location you tapped, and selecting airspace within the sidebar will highlight it green on the map as well. Tap on other map elements with the sidebar open to load their information into it. Tapping on airways or legs in your route line will highlight those segments with a green outline rather than a circle.
User Map Layers
Visit foreflight.com/map-shapes for additional information about this feature and to download sample KML files.
Import Custom User Charts
In addition to user waypoints and user map layers, ForeFlight now allows you to import User Charts that you can manage and display on the map.
The User Charts feature supports MBTiles, an open source file format developed by MapBox that allows for efficient compression and distribution of large charts. The feature does not yet support vector charts, which can also use the .mbtiles extension. A great tool for creating your own MBtiles is MapTiler, which is free to download and allows you to quickly georeference and export raster charts.
Synthetic Vision
Global Aeronautical Maps
Color IR Satellite
Getting Started with ForeFlight (January 2024)
Join ForeFlight support staff to learn everything you need to get spun up and off the ground with ForeFlight. They will demonstrate the essentials of critical workflows like using the map, setting up your aircraft, the multiple approaches to route planning, as well as tips and tricks to maximize your use of ForeFlight in no time.
Configure Chart and Data Downloads
Setting up your downloads in ForeFlight is easier than ever with new separate menus for Chart/Data selections and Region selections.
ForeFlight for Student Pilots
Join Kendall Stovall and Alex McMillan, both ForeFlight experts and active CFIs, as they explain what every student pilot needs to know about ForeFlight. They will walk you through setting up an aircraft and weight & balance, finding and uploading documents, and other features needed to plan your first flight. Kendall and Alex will also point out helpful features to help users on any subscription plan get the most out of ForeFlight.
New Customer Webinar: Basics of Flight Plan Filing (August 2022)
Enhanced and Integrated Weight & Balance
ForeFlight’s Enhanced Weight & Balance capability is now available for all customers, allowing you to more easily create, edit, and plan with your W&B profiles. The new W&B contains features like Standard Weights and Saved Loads to save you time when inputting load information. Migrate legacy W&B profiles or easily set up new ones using our pre-built templates for hundreds of aircraft.
Additionally, with ForeFlight Performance Plus you can integrate your Weight & Balance profiles with Flights, simplifying your preflight workflow and producing more accurate time and fuel calculations.
Improved Planning Features
OLD VIDEO: This video was made before the "More" tab was redesigned from a single page to a pull-out menu, but all of the capabilities you access from "More" are the same as they were before. Visit the ForeFlight Mobile Pilot's Guide.
ForeFlight now offers an enhanced flight planning workflow thanks to improvements to aircraft, the Maps view flight plan editor, and the File & Brief view, which is now called “Flights”.
This video is for ForeFlight customers with subscription plans other than Performance Plus, including the original plans and the Basic Plus and Pro Plus plans. If you have the Performance Plus plan, or want to see what is different with that plan, check out our Performance video series.
Customize the Aeronautical Map
OLD VIDEO: This video was made before the "More" tab was redesigned from a single page to a pull-out menu, but all of the capabilities you access from "More" are the same as they were before. Visit the ForeFlight Mobile Pilot's Guide.
ForeFlight's data-driven Aeronautical Maps allow you to customize which map elements you show or hide. You can also choose between Light, Dark, and Classic map themes and toggle terrain features on and off. With the Aeronautical layer selected you can add or remove airspace, view high or low airways, and adjust label text size. Try mixing and matching the new map settings to find the combination that works best for you.
Enabling Terrain
Using the Airports View
OLD VIDEO: This video was made before the "Airports" tab was redesigned, but all of the capabilities you access from "More" are the same as they were before. Visit the ForeFlight Mobile Pilot's Guide.
The Airports view is your all-in-one source for any kind of information about airports. From current and forecast weather to runways, procedures, and FBOs, the Airports view is one of the most important places in ForeFlight when it comes to flight planning.
Helpful Web Features
iPad Setup Tips
This video covers some basic iPad settings we recommend to get the best experience from ForeFlight Mobile.
Distance Rings
OLD VIDEO: This video was made before the "More" tab was redesigned from a single page to a pull-out menu, but all of the capabilities you access from "More" are the same as they were before. Visit the ForeFlight Mobile Pilot's Guide.
Keep an eye on how far you are from nearby airports, obstacles, and landmarks using distance rings. You can set the rings to automatically grow and shrink as you change zoom level, or set them to display flight times rather than distances. This simple tool is a must-have for maximizing inflight situational awareness.
Improved Planning Features
OLD VIDEO: This video was made before the "More" tab was redesigned from a single page to a pull-out menu, but all of the capabilities you access from "More" are the same as they were before. Visit the ForeFlight Mobile Pilot's Guide.
ForeFlight now offers an enhanced flight planning workflow thanks to improvements to aircraft, the Maps view flight plan editor, and the File & Brief view, which is now called “Flights”.
This video is for ForeFlight customers with subscription plans other than Performance Plus, including the original plans and the Basic Plus and Pro Plus plans. If you have the Performance Plus plan, or want to see what is different with that plan, check out our Performance video series.
Flight Planning Enhancements
You can now preview all route options visually on an interactive map with Route Advisor. Simply tap through the list to highlight each route on the map, then tap “Select Route” to add it to your flight plan. An interactive Route Preview map in the Flights view provides a quick visual reference of your route, showing the departure and destination airports overlaid on a simple basemap with radar.
There are also enhancements to the flight planning workflow in the Flights view: the airport fields at the top have smart search functionality to help you find the right airports, and the Add Next Flight button makes it faster and easier to plan multi-leg flights by carrying forward departure, aircraft details, payload, fuel policy, and more. You can also export your flight plan in the official ICAO format and print, email, share via AirDrop, or save a copy in ForeFlight Documents.
Using the Airports View
OLD VIDEO: This video was made before the "Airports" tab was redesigned, but all of the capabilities you access from "More" are the same as they were before. Visit the ForeFlight Mobile Pilot's Guide.
The Airports view is your all-in-one source for any kind of information about airports. From current and forecast weather to runways, procedures, and FBOs, the Airports view is one of the most important places in ForeFlight when it comes to flight planning.
Helpful Web Features
Pack Charts & Weather on Flights
To further streamline your planning workflow on Flights, you’ll find a quick access button to Pack directly below the Flight Log. Just like the ‘suitcase’ button on the Maps view, tap ‘Pack and it will analyze your route and package up all of the charts, data, NOTAM, and weather information (including Icing and Turbulence for Pro Plus and Performance Plus customers) you’ll need to access offline during your flight.
Customize the Aeronautical Map
OLD VIDEO: This video was made before the "More" tab was redesigned from a single page to a pull-out menu, but all of the capabilities you access from "More" are the same as they were before. Visit the ForeFlight Mobile Pilot's Guide.
ForeFlight's data-driven Aeronautical Maps allow you to customize which map elements you show or hide. You can also choose between Light, Dark, and Classic map themes and toggle terrain features on and off. With the Aeronautical layer selected you can add or remove airspace, view high or low airways, and adjust label text size. Try mixing and matching the new map settings to find the combination that works best for you.
Enabling Terrain
Basemap and Terrain Improvements
The ForeFlight map engine has a significantly upgraded basemap, which now renders more quickly, smoothly, and with sharper depiction of features such as major roads, railways, national parks, and state and national boundaries. There’s also a new “Shaded Terrain” option, which uses grayscale shading to depict terrain, providing the same level of detail as the colored terrain option with less visual distraction.
In the Map Settings menu, choose from multiple presentations: Colored, Shaded, or None.
Hazard Advisor Altitude Preview
Manually control Hazard Advisor’s altitude before a flight to find a minimum altitude route around terrain, then revert to Auto mode during a flight to lock Hazard Advisor to your actual altitude.
Hazard Advisor is available with Pro Plus subscription plans and above.
Scheduled Flight Search
ForeFlight now allows you to search for aircraft tail numbers, call signs, and flight numbers on the Maps view to see recently filed flight plans.
Dark App Theme
ForeFlight now allows you to apply a dark theme to the entire app. Go to More - Settings and tap App Theme at the top, then tap Dark. This darkens the background colors on most pages while maintaining highlight colors and prominent white text, so important information is easily visible.
Aeronautical Maps Enhancements
Global Aeronautical Maps
Global Procedure Advisor
All ForeFlight customers can now access international departures, arrivals, and approaches using Procedure Advisor, expanding the scope of ForeFlight’s global planning capabilities.
These global flight planning features are further enhanced by adding Jeppesen’s industry-leading charts to your ForeFlight account. Check out our other videos on purchasing Jeppesen charts through ForeFlight and linking an existing Jeppesen account to learn more.
Specify Approach Minimum
Specify an altitude minimum in Procedure Advisor when adding an IFR approach to your route to display the minimum directly on the map for quick reference during final approach.
The Minimum Altitude field is available with ForeFlight Performance plans.
Alternate Advisor
ForeFlight’s Alternate Advisor simplifies the process of choosing a good alternate airport by providing a list of suggestions to help you narrow your options. Alternate Advisor is available with all ForeFlight subscription plans.
Global Graphical NOTAMs
Previously limited to Europe, Graphical enroute NOTAMs are now supported globally with the new NOTAMs map layer. NOTAMs are color-coded based on type, severity, and active times, with new type-based filters available in Map Settings.
Visual Approaches and Traffic Pattern Altitude
Easily add a visual approach or traffic pattern entry to your route with a customizable pattern altitude.
Map Touch Action
Weather Layer Time Slider
ForeFlight’s radar and satellite layers now use an interactive time slider tool that provides more control when viewing and animating weather timestamps.
Icing, Turbulence, and Surface Analysis Layers
ForeFlight’s weather capabilities now include five new layers for icing, turbulence, and surface analysis forecasts, available on Pro Plus, Performance Plus, and Business Performance plans. The Icing and Turbulence layers each have a US and global option, and the Surface Analysis layer provides a global view of isobars and associated pressure readings, and a more detailed view of pressure centers, fronts, troughs, and other features for North America. All five of the new layers are also available on ForeFlight’s web application.
User Map Layers
Visit foreflight.com/map-shapes for additional information about this feature and to download sample KML files.
Import Custom User Charts
In addition to user waypoints and user map layers, ForeFlight now allows you to import User Charts that you can manage and display on the map.
The User Charts feature supports MBTiles, an open source file format developed by MapBox that allows for efficient compression and distribution of large charts. The feature does not yet support vector charts, which can also use the .mbtiles extension. A great tool for creating your own MBtiles is MapTiler, which is free to download and allows you to quickly georeference and export raster charts.
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