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NEW: PSX_Wheramium, a moving map

Started by martin, Sat, 21 Mar 2020 16:32

martin

UPDATE 13. August 2020
A (small) update to PSX_Wheramium v.02 is now available.
See the
updated documentation for details and download link.
Have fun! Martin


Original announcement:

Greetings,

over the last weeks I have struggled to "pare down" PSX_Tellurium to a simple (ha!) 2D moving map, the outcome being PSX_Wheramium.

Making "simpler" an application cobbled together* five years ago is a complicated task at the best of times, but the fun was greatly increased by frequent system crashes suffered during the work on this little project; sometimes several per day, sometimes one in three days (always when I thought the issue had finally been solved). No CTDs, no BSODs, just uncommanded reboots; thus no diagnostic screens, and also no traces in the Event Log etc. (other than the informative message, post factum, that "the previous system shutdown was unexpected", which I generally had already noticed).

Eventually some "distributable" was produced nevertheless, but I am rather suspicious of the product. It still seems to put undue loads on the CPU (an i7-8700 at 3.2 GHz; perhaps not quite cutting edge but no slouch either), frequently pushing it into uncomfortable temperature ranges (up to 80°C and sometimes even beyond). Then again, perhaps it's just me: gamers seem to regard this as an OK temperature. Still, some serious optimisation is clearly indicated, but equally clearly beyond my paygrade (a.k.a. level of cluefulness).

Moreover, even with modest settings (details in the doc.s) the map runs rather stuttery (obviously also depending, among other things, on the aerial/satellite images having already been cached vs. being downloaded for the first time).

So, normally I would not release anything like this to an unsuspecting public.

However, there are indications that these problems have to do with my specific computer rather than with the program. I had the same issues (and worse) when I tried the old PSX_Tellurium on this (new) machine, but I know that at least three other fellow PSXers can still run that with no problems.
Besides, very recently, for crash #21 (of the 24 over the last four weeks), Windows actually managed to generate a dump file, and this (if it can be trusted) seems to point to a video driver issue**, to be sorted out later.

So in a way it might be overly "harsh" to withhold Wheramium (only because of my issues) from those who were kind enough to clamour for a moving map and thus meaningful taxying.

But you have been warned. Proceed at your own discretion and risk.

The documentation is here.
(The ZIP file contains a local copy.)
Please do read before trying, even though it looks the same as the Tellurium doc.s.
It isn't.   :D
It also contains the download link.   ;)

Good luck!

Cheers,
Martin "M---ovi-n---gM-a--p" E.
(Moving Maps as Expl.OS.ive Devices a specialty)

* Java, webpage serving, Javascript, webpage clienting, CesiumJS API,
     threads, HTML, jQuery, CSS, AJAX, HTTP, TCPIP,  ...

** "VIDEO_TDR_ERROR", which I interpret to mean that the video driver does not talk to Win10 every 2 seconds at the latest, because it (the driver, not Win10) is trying to do something useful, such as some actual work for the user and his application. Upon which Win10 goes into high dudgeon, throws that error and thus crashes the box.

Pierre Theillere

Hi Martin,

Wow, it's running fully fine under MacOS 10.14.6 and Safari 13.0.5! I tried using my Android tabled with Chrome, and I get a big "Go Away" (in yellow with red background), will try with some old iPads gathering dust to see how it goes...
Pierre, LFPG

martin

Bonsoir, Pierre,

thanks for the encouraging feedback :)

Quote from: PierreI get a big "Go Away" (in yellow with red background)

That's a feature, as a (sort of) security measure (same as it was for Tellurium earlier):

The  built-in webserver has a list of the Wheramium files which it may serve on request.
If it gets a request for anything else, it will only send that red "Go Away" page.

So the question is now, what "illegal" request had been made... Or was it a mistake?
(I think we had the same issue once with Tellurium; I'll try to find out more.)

EDIT: Found it, see this post .
In that case, a wrong URL was used; let's hope it's something equally simple now...

Cheers,
Martin

cagarini

#3
Wow !  Martin !!!  Ya did it again !!!!!

I am back to PSX with my preferred visuals !!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you so so much !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tested it in a small circuit around LPMA and it was super smooth - no CPU heat detected ( i5 2500 2011 model ) and no problems with the GPU either ( GTX 960 4 GB ).

For browser I used EDGE.

Superb!


Will

Will /Chicago /USA

Robert Staudinger

Hi Martin,

it is not possible to open the PSX_Earth documentation, no URL found.

Wheramium suggests to read Tellurium and Tellurium suggests to read PSX Earth.

So I'm not able to configure Google Earth.

Everything else looks good: After starting Wherarium.jar and loading Wherarium.html into the browser there is a correct connection and correct Lat/Lon position showing, the same as in PSX.

Regards Robert


Hardy Heinlin

Hi Martin,

thank you for the nice add-on. I'm using your default settings, and it works fine on my iMac and Firefox. Quickly started, no heat, no frame rate problem.


Regards,

|-|ardy

Avi

A short test run on Chrome and no problems.
However, can you increase the zoom out?

Cheers,
Avi Adin
LLBG

martin

#8
Hello Robert,

Quote from: RobertTellurium suggests to read PSX Earth.

Ah yes, sorry, that's a glitch in the documentation.
I was trying not to re-write all of the old doc.s for the new Wheramium, hence the pointer to Tellurium (just for background info), but I forgot that Tellurium (which is five years old) in turn still points to the PSX_Earth doc.s (which are four years older still, more or less from the time when mammoths roamed the Earth...).

But the PSX_Earth documentation is no longer really relevant (except for the historian), and therefore I had removed it from the website long ago, but forgot to change the Tellurium reference.

UPDATE: For the sake of history buffs and nostalgicians, the PSX_Earth documentation has now been restored. :D

In fact, much even of the Tellurium doc.s is not relevant for Wheramium either any more, because all the complicated "3D view" and "Belly Cam Control" stuff has been thrown out in Wheramium.

So if you are not interested in the general background and history, it should not be necessary to refer to the PSX_Earth or Tellurium doc.s at all in order to run Wheramium.
But if any questions remain, please ask here on the forum!.
I'll fix the Tellurium doc.s and will remove or comment the pointer to PSX_Earth. Or may be I'll even restore the PSX_Earth documentation, but only for trips down Memory Lane... :D

Quote from: RobertSo I'm not able to configure Google Earth.

Note that Tellurium already had switched from Google Earth to Cesium as the map provider.
(That was in fact the reason to develop PSX_Earth further into to PSX_Tellurium: Google had stopped the support for the kind of interface that PSX_Earth needed.)

Wheramium is still based on Cesium. But it should not be necessary to configure anything on the Cesium side*.
All you have to do is to set up PSX (the Boost server) and Wheramium itself (the INI file); both of which already works for you (i.e. the coordinates do show up properly); so you are just missing the map from Cesium for some reason.

Cheers,
Martin

* Obviously your browser (and tracking blocker, firewall etc., if you use them) must allow the display of Cesium data (maps), as these come from external 3rd party servers (Cesium and Bing). But they use a normal webpage type connection, so for the browser it's just usual content, nothing special.

martin

Hardy and Avi,

thanks for the good news! :D
It is becoming clearer by the day (and user feedback) that I need to work on my ability to stay cool.

Quote from: AviHowever, can you increase the zoom out?
Technically not a problem (I think...), but by how much?

E.g. when I am at FL340, I can see, at max zoom-out, most of Europe already now:
(Click image for full size.)

So, probably you need it for zooming on the ground at some airport?
But as mentioned, I have found the current zoom range to be sufficient (for taxying) even at EHAM, which I thought to be the airport that needs the most zooming out (even if initially at 1x it looks "broken").

So, what would be the specific situation you are referring to?
Just to give me an idea what  may need changing by how much.

Cheers,
Martin




Hardy Heinlin

Quote# POLLINTV: interval (msec) at which the Wheramium _PSX client_ requests coordinate updates from the PSX _Boost server_

This note surprised me a bit because the boost server doesn't provide any request functions. It just sends its stuff as per the frame rate limit setting in the PSX preferences. Maybe you meant to write that one part of your software copies data from another part of your software at the defined interval?


|-|ardy

martin

Quote from: Hardythe boost server doesn't provide any request functions

Yes, bad terminology (hopefully not design) on my part, a misplaced residue from the Javascript/HTTP side where there are genuine GET requests... (and perhaps the term "POLL"is not much better).
The Boost server is of course sending data all the time, at the rate set in PSX.

But my client actually consumes them and passes them on for further processing in Wheramium only every POLLINTV milliseconds.  The idea being* that Wheramium would probably choke on 72 "records" (lines) per second, but throttling the PSX frame rate merely for the purpose of a moving map seemed inappropriate...

INI file with improved(?) wording is here.
(I don't want to repackage the whole ZIP file, so this "update" is an exclusive bonus for the readers of this thread! :D )

Cheers,
Mar..POLLINTV..tin

* This is all grounded in my thermophobia, i.e. the fall-out from those >80°C experiences...

Robert Staudinger

Hi Martin,

works now perfect. Most useful for taxi.
But now another question: is it possible to show the map on a screen of my second PC within the network.

Notebook(win10, very powerful) : PSX and Wherarum.jar

PC(win7, old)

The reason for all this is due quarantine in my summerhouse because of Corona.

Cheers, Robert

Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers

Just curious. Why the Boost server? Main not detailed enough (in time) for smooth motion on the ground?

Hardy Heinlin

The Cesium map runs at 10 Hz or higher. The PSX main server's position data output runs at 5 Hz.

martin

Hello Robert,

Quote from: Robertis it possible to show the map on a screen of my second PC within the network.

Good question. Unfortunately I can't test it as my second box died some time ago.
But it "should" work... Let's see:

Wheramium needs to know where to find PSX (i.e. the Boost server).
It finds this info (IP address and port number) in its INI file.
(This INI file must always be in the same folder as the JAR file.)

When PSX and Wheramium are on the same machine, this address is usually 127.0.0.1 and the port is 10749.
So now Wheramium can talk to PSX.

The browser then needs to know where to find Wheramium.
This is the address (URL actually) you put into the browser address bar.
If it is also on the same machine, the URL would be
http://localhost:10314/PSX_Wheramium.html
(localhost is just another name for 127.0.0.1, and 10314 is the port for this connection).

If PSX and Wheramium sit on different computers, then the URL for the browser would look e.g. like this
http://192.68.1.17:10314/PSX_Wheramium.html
(Replace 192.68.1.17 with whatever the actual address for the PSX machine is in your network.)

The browser will get the Wheramium webpage from wherever, as long as the address is correct, just like when you surf on the Internet.

And if it all works, you can then try and have PSX, Wheramium (JAR file and INI file) and the webpage with the map on three different computers... ;D

Good Luck!

Cheers,
M------ar---------tin


martin

#16
Quote from: HoppieWhy the Boost server? Main not detailed enough (in time) for smooth motion on the ground?

My answer would have been "for hist{o|e}rical reasons". When I started with the old PSX_Earth v.1 (using stand-alone Google Earth), or possibly even earlier*, my impression at the time was that not all systems (including mine) could handle the Boost frequency (or may be Boost was not even available yet?)**.

So I ended up, later, making two Tellurium versions, one for use with the Main and one for the Boost server. But later the Main variant became sort of obsolete, and thus only Boost survived. Obviously a true (fake) 3D "cockpit view" requires all the update speed it can get; a moving map is less critical (and has less to do anyway).

But as Wheramium is based on Tellurium I stuck with Boost even though it's now merely for a 2D map. Otherwise it would have become a major re-write. (It did so anyway, but I didn't know that :D ).

Of course Hardy's reply above is much more to the point. That was the rationale for my decision! :D

Cheers,


* Only when reviving the PSX_Earth doc.s earlier today, I was reminded that there had even been a PS1_Earth before that; I can't remember for the life of me what that was and how it worked. Must excavate!

** Actually it wasn't all that hist{e|o}rical, I did have good reasons after all (forgotten by now).
If you have social-distance time to kill, you can read this detailed justification (for the Main / Boost split).



Robert Staudinger

Hello Martin,

thanks for all your advice but unfortunatly it does not work. I tried all this some hours ago already.

In the beginning everything looks good: After starting Wherarium.jar and loading Wherarium.html into the browser on the second machine I get a correct connection and correct Lat/Lon position showing, the same as in PSX. But it does not open Cesium.

By the way, my setup here in the mountains consists of two computers with three screens.

Cheers Robert


Hardy Heinlin

Do you run a PSX client on your second computer? If so, you can use the boost server of that PSX client for your Wherarium on that second computer.


|-|ardy

Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers

Yup, worked. Interesting that if you switch labels on, they appear as graphics, not à la Google Maps as overlays that remain oriented up. Not that I mind.

Next... use aeronautical maps and charts instead!    :-P

https://skyvector.com

Hoppie