Moving Lines, version 1.62
Get the compiled versions for MAC OS and Windows at:
[https://github.com/samuelleblanc/fp/releases/tag/v1.44] compiled versions not longer maintained, use conda install now (see below)
Flight Planning software for creating flight plans for Airborne Science
Creates a visual map interface and backend calculations to a spreadsheet flight planning tool Takes advantage of clickable map for creating a flight plan, and already existing Excel software
- If you don't have a anaconda / miniconda / mamba install, please do so. Recommendation to install miniconda following this link [https://www.rho-signal-effective-analytics.com/modules/pre-course/miniconda-installation/].
Ensure that the base environment is activated:conda activate - From the command line, create a new environment based on python 3.9, activate it, then install the movinglines package (using mamba is faster than conda).
conda create -n ml python=3.9 conda activate ml mamba install -c samuelleblanc movinglines
for current conda/anaconda install, without mamba/miniconda/miniforge replace last line with
conda install samuelleblanc::movinglines
if you encounter errors with conda, ensure that you have the conda-froge channel in conda (it is automatic for mamba)
conda config --add channels conda-forge
for ensuring that you only use conda-forge, without breaching licensing issues with anaconda default channels, please look at: [https://conda-forge.org/docs/user/transitioning_from_defaults/]
- Go through and accept the install of the required packages
- at the command line, start the lines software by typing
ml
or
-
Download appropriate zip file and extract to desired location
-
run the executable (ml for OSX, ml.exe for Win) for OSX: -
run from command line, must cd to directory hosting the ml exectuable- executable version of OSX is being phased out, please use the conda install method above for Windows: - double click the ml.exe iconor
pip install movinglines(or the conda method descried above)- at a command line, start the moving lines software by typing
ml
1) Select the mapping profile (defaults to most recent campaign), can change the map boundaries, take-off time, utc offset, projection
2) wait about 30seconds
3) Enter date of planned flight in dialog in format yyyy-mm-dd
4) wait for map to initialize and excel to load
5) move cursor over map to refresh map
6) create points, move points by clicking, or by manually entering in excel spreadsheet
7) Once happy save all the figures, files, excel files, kml files by either selecting each point, or by pressing the 'saveall' button
1) click and drag on map to create new point
2) modify altitudes, speed, or other properties of new point in excel spreadsheet
or
1) enter lat and lon in excel spreadsheet, optionally altitude and speed, delay time, start time
2) move cursor over map area to refresh *or* press green refresh button
or
1) Press the 'add' button next to 'points:'
2) Follow the dialog *tip: use the 'between 2 points' for easy adding*
or
1) add a flight module with the button 'flt_module'
2) see below or follow dialogs
1) Click on point on map, and then drag
or
1) change coordinates in Excel spreadsheet
2) move cursor over map area to refresh
or
1) Use the 'Move' button and select points to move, then follow dialog
1) delete line from the excel spreadsheet
2) move cursor over map to refresh
1) Select button: 'Add flt module'
2) select the flt module from the radiobutton list
3) enter the quantities demanded from the flt file
1) in the flt_module folder create a text file
2) the text file name should be descriptive of the macro with an extension '.flt'
3) first line starts with the percent sign '%' then a list of variables to be used
4) Comments can be included, but only at the start of the line, denoted with a hash '#' sign
5) each subsequent line is a move command, which can use simple math and the variables defined in the first line
6) format of the lines are: bearing,distance,altitude
where the bearing is the azimuth angle of the plane
where the distance is the length of that leg
where the altitude (which can be omitted) is the altitude of the plane for the next waypoint
7) enter number of points desired for macro then save in the flt_module directory. It is ready to be used in the software without the need for a restart.
8) if desired, make a screenshot of the resulting flt_module and save it with the same name in the flt_module folder as a .png
1) Press the 'New Flight Path' button
2) Enter name of new flight path. If it contains the name of a plane (e.g. p3, er2, dc8, c130,baer), will use the predefined speeds for that plane
3) New flight path will have different color
1) select 'WMS layer' for widely availabel layers.
or 1) select 'MSS models' or 'MSS Profile' to use bespoke map layers. MSS Profile loads the vertical profile.
2) choose which website to load the web map service (from the WMS.txt or MSS.txt file).
3) follow dialogs for selecting the right times, layer, level, etc.
1) Select the image add buttons (Froecast from Bocachica, trajectory image, image, or Tropical tidbit). For general images select 'image button'
2) Select the image file
3) if prompts, select the most appropriate image style, if not then use the 'manual' selection and follow those prompts to indicate projection and image file corners.
4) wait a few moments for image to appear, if not use the 'image' button. Not all image files are compatible, however most .png work.
1) open the file 'image_corners.json'.
2) this json file contains, list of named images, with the corner of the image file in a list (lower-left latitude, lower-left longitude, upper-right latitude, upper-right longitude), or in a dict-like with projection information.
1) locate the platform.txt file.
2) in the file, there is a series of python dict formats with each a defined list of variables that sets the flight characteristics of the plane/platform
3) modify exisiting pltform dict, or create a new one based on the template and the guidance shown in the file.
1) select the button: "Satellite Tracks"
2) wait for a moment until the sat.tle and sat.json is loaded.
3) toggle the satellite tracks that you wish to see by clicking on the legend entry next to that satellite
1) Press the button related to the flight path desired just above the 'New Flight Path' button
do not switch with Excel Spreadsheet
1) Buttons at the bottom of the map are used for navigation
2) from left to right: Home screen (first image seen), Previous view, Next view, Pan, Zoom, subplots properties, save map
3) Can use the scroll in to zoom into point, or scroll out.
If zoom is selected, draw rectangle to desired location, will not be able to make new points until zoom unselected
1) Press the 'Save all' button to create all figures and save them
2) Follow dialog to find the desired saving location
1) Press the 'Save pptx'
2) Follow the prompts to where you want to save the items. This will create new figures, similar to the 'save all' button.
1) Press the Excel File: 'Open' button.
2) select the Excel file
3) will take some time to populate the flight paths
4) Might need to press refresh button after loading
1) Press the 'Save' button next to Excel File
or
1) Save the Excel file, from Excel using normal dialog
1) open the platform.txt file
2) follow the documentation in the header for creating or modifying any line defining the platform
3) save the file as platform.txt and share
4) put the new platform.txt in the sam folder as the ml.py script or ml executable
- clicking on the first point will create a waypoint to it
- second point to be added will have the default transit altitude for that aircraft (if available)
- when holding down the mouse button, range circles will appear, along with the sun's azimuthal location at that time denoted by the yellow star and dashed lines
- Saving to: ICT button will create a sample ict file with 60 seconds points interpolated between each waypoint
- plots of solar angle and altitude profiles is created with the Plots buttons
- compiled version run windows 64 bit, (32 bit not tested) (Windows 7,8,10)
- Microsoft Excel
- optionally Google Earth
- compiled version tested on El Capitan Mac OSX v10.11, 64bit (others not tested)
- Microsoft Excel
- optionally Google Earth
- Python 3.9
- Numpy
- Scipy
- matplotlib
- ~~basemap from matplotlib (http://matplotlib.org/basemap/)~~ cartopy
- Tkinter (usually included in python)
- simplekml, pykml
- gpxpy
- owslib
- xlwings
- Pysolar (distributed with source)
- See requirements.txt for full modules dependencies
- labels.txt : csv files with points on map to be labelled. Each line represent one point, Format: name, longitude, latitude, marker and color symbol
- aeronet_locations.txt: csv files with location of aeronet sites. found from : http://aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov/aeronet_locations.txt
- sat.tle: Selected data for satellite tracks in form of Two Line Element set from http://www.celestrak.com
- sat.json: (new in v1.62) for geostationary satellite footprint definition, saved as a json, with wkt format of their footprint, and proj4 for its projections.
- profiles.txt: text file containing dictionary assignment for map setup defaults. each profile linked to a field mission, python dict format.
- platform.txt: text file containing dictionary assignment for details on each platform: max altitude, max speed, speed profile, vertical speed profile, turning rate
- WMS.txt: list of possible WMS servers for getting map images from the internet.
- arc.ico: icon file
- file.rc: plotting defaults file (python matplotlib.rc format)
- map_icons: folder with icons for use on google earth (optional)
- flt_modules: folder with multiple flt files. To use when creating the flt_module paths.
- ~~map_???.pkl: files to enable faster initial loading of the basemap~~
- ml.py : Main program. Used to setup the interface, link to the excel spreadsheet and start the program
- map_interactive.py: Basemap plotting and interactive map clicking support
- excel_interface.py: interfaces with Excel, Core of the calculations, *contains speed and altitude calculations*
- gui.py: Handling the button events and functions. Has the saving routines interfaces
- map_utils.py: various map utilities, like bearing calculations, great circle calculations
- write_utils.py: writing utitlies, expecially for ICT file creation
- load_utils.py: loading of various format utilities and conversion of input formats
- aeronet.py: loading and presenting the aeronet real time AOD on the map
- add platform info button next to flight paths (to change its settings)
- add ship tracks, or position of ships
- add capabilities to load hdf files and put contour as background
- add remove flight button
- Sometime slow starting up, especiallly when excel is not open
Written: Samuel LeBlanc, 2015-08-07, at NASA Ames Research Center, from Santa Cruz, CA
Copyright 2015 Samuel LeBlanc
Modified (v0.7b): Samuel LeBlanc, NASA Ames, 2015-09-06
Initial presentation of software. Added smooth dragging and some calculations, with image overlay
Modified (v0.8b): Samuel LeBlanc, NASA Ames, 2016-06-15
Corrected speed trace.
Added sun position calculations
Modified some gui placement
Added ICT file creation, and save all button
Modified (v0.9b): Samuel LeBlanc, NASA Ames, 2016-06-22
Added flt_module command for creating parts of flights via macros
Modified (v0.95b): Samuel LeBlanc, NASA Ames, in transit to WFF, 2016-07-11
Added platform information file to facilitate modification of
default platform parameters (cruising altitude, speed profile, climb time, turning rate)
Added button to remove the satellite tracks
updated the sat.tle file
bug fix for recognizing platform after excel file load, tried to fix bug in altitude and speed calculations
Added selections for altitude in feet/meter and distance in nm/km for flt_module loading.
Modified (v0.97b): Samuel LeBlanc, NASA Ames, at Santa Cruz, CA, 2016-07-18
bug fix for improper parallels and meridians drawing.
Some speed improvements
updated aeronet site locations and sat.tle satellite predictions and icon
Modified (v1.00): Samuel LeBlanc, NASA Ames, CA, 2016-07-22
bug fix to sza and azimuth calculations
bug fix to aircraft bearing calculations
new icons and kmz saving
new modes for WMS loading with GEOS and other
extracted definitions of platform speeds and altitude to a seperate file
Modified (v1.03): Samuel LeBlanc, NASA Ames, CA, 2016-07-22
bug fix to excel file loading and improper time zone correction
new Special Use Airspace button
generalized WMS interface for loading maps from the internet
special excel spreadsheet fiel saving for pilots
Modified (v1.1): Samuel LeBlanc, NASA
bug fixes to presentation and file saving
faster updating of the map screen and draggable legend
User modifiable default aircraft propeties (platform.txt) and map properties (profiles.txt)
Included loading of special map severs (special use airspace, WMS, GEOS)
Modified (v1.2): Samuel LeBlanc, Sao Tomé, 2017-08-16
for_pilots spreadsheet now can be configured to save either in decimal minutes or decimal seconds (defaults to decimal minutes)
bug fix in add point button
saveall button on mac now has error control
Modified (v1.21): Samuel LeBlanc, Sao Tomé, 2017-08-16
map plotting bug fixes, and Special Use Airspace (SUA) error mitigation. Bug fix when using 'save all' button
Modified (v1.22): Samuel LeBlanc, 2019-06-03, Santa Cruz, CA
- Bug fixes for line picking and climb time calculations.
Modified (v1.23): Samuel LeBlanc, 2019-08-05, Bathurst, NB, Canada
- added one line saving for pilots.
Modified (v1.25): Samuel LeBlanc, 2021-04-08, Santa Cruz, CA
- added buttons for quick adding the IMPACTS "tropicaltidbits.com" imagery
Modified (v1.28): Samuel LeBlanc, v1.28, 2021-11-08, Santa Cruz, CA
- bug fix for deletion points
Modified (v1.29): Samuel LeBlanc, v1.29, 2022-01-11, Santa Cruz, CA
- bug fix for saving multiple excel sheets
- adding scroll to zoom
- adding custom color to labels.txt points
Modified: Samuel LeBlanc, v1.30, 2022-02-03, Santa Cruz, CA
- bug fix to for_pilots excel spreadsheet
Modified: Samuel LeBlanc, v1.40, 2023-05-30, Santa Cruz, CA
- added new projections
- added new variables to the profiles.txt format
Modified: Samuel LeBlanc, v1.41, 2023-06-08, Santa Cruz, CA
- added surface elevation to elevation plots
- added plotting of select kml files
- added FIR boundaries plotting.
- added the AERONET v3 debugging and defaults
- modified plotting of satellite tracks for esthetics
Modified: Samuel LeBlanc, v1.42, 2023-07-20, Santa Cruz, CA
- added support for the MSWMS from MSS
- added extra selections options for the WMS loading.
Modified: Samuel LeBlanc, v1.43, 2023-07-27, Hampton, VA
- bugfix for Mac OS laoding of files, and pkl map files.
Modified: Samuel LeBlanc, v1.44, 2023-08-04, Snta Cruz, CA
- Adding the loading and compatibility with setuptools for pip integration and reglar python modules
Modified: Samuel LeBlanc, v1.45, 2023-08-10, Santa Cruz, CA
- Debugging and change of folder systems for pip install
Modified: Samuel LeBlanc, v1.46, 2023-08-15, Santa Cruz, CA
- Debugging for MACos and newer matplotlibs
- Added conda deployment
Modified: Samuel LeBlanc, v1.47, 2023-11-03, Santa Cruz, CA
- adding simple version output from command line (used for testing on conda deployments)
Modified: Samuel LeBlanc, v1.48, 2024-02-22, Santa Cruz, CA
- bug fix for forcing max speed, and base speed as start.
- Added error handling during 'save all'
- sped up interactivity and point adding
- Added init time parsing for the MSS models in WMS.
- upgraded plotting of figures under map for better viewing of text
- added plot vs alt for all combined platforms and highlight of coordinated points
- refined speed parameters for G3 and Learjet
Modified: Samuel LeBlanc, v1.49, 2024-04-09, Santa Cruz, CA
- bug fix for speeds of turns and timing
- bug fix for missing comments
- Added file format outputs in csv for FOREFLIGHT and UFP
Modified: Samuel LeBlanc, v1.50, 2024-04-10, Santa Cruz, CA
- general speedup of software
- new pilot files bug fix for waypoint naming (only 5 digits) and lat/long flip
- added file output for honeywell FMS for GIII
- added better handling of satellite tracks defaulting to not visible for speed
- speeded up interactions with changing labels update
- added snapping to labeled points
- added midpoint between 2 points
- added waypoint name row in excel
Modified: Samuel LeBlanc, v1.51, 2024-05-14, Santa Cruz, CA
- Added new automated powerpoint presentation generation
- improved G3 speed calculations.
Modified: Samuel LeBlanc, v1.52, 2024-06-04, Pituffik, Greenland, Danemark
- Added more accurate bank angle and speeds for the G3, and smaller changes to P3
- changed some automated processing of the powerpoint generations
- added modules for the P3 and G3 used during ARCSIX
- Refine pilot files to remove double waypoint names.
- updated flight speeds for G3
Modified: Samuel LeBlanc, v1.53,
Modified: Samuel LeBlanc, v1.54, 2024-08-04, Pituffik, Greenland
- Bug fix to table removed extra lines
- change kml generation to be named waypoints
Modified: Samuel LeBlanc, v1.54, Pituffik, Greenland
- Bug fix to table removed extra lines
- change kml generation to be named waypoints
- added feature to change day when loading previous file.
Modified: Samuel LeBlanc, v1.55, Pituffik, Greenland + Santa Cruz, CA
- Added fix to coloring of the for_pilots file, and formatting.
- added an ER2 specific file format.
- Added longer timeout for mss profile
- Added ability to add magnetic heading indicator to pilot formats, with magnetic declination in profiles.txt
Modified: Samuel LeBlanc, v1.56, NASA Langley Research Center, Virginia
- Added 2 bespoke NURTURE flight modules.
- Added modifications to zeroth longitude of the North Polar Stereo.
- Slight modifications to turn bank angles for G3.
- setup files for NURTURE 2026.
Modified: Samuel LeBlanc, v1.60, 2025-10-01 (first day of a government shutdown) Santa Cruz, CA
- bug fix for plotting in multiple different projections, while keeping the great circle lines.
- New feature - North Atlantic and Pacific-Oceanic routes, based on flightplandb API.
- New feature - modified the image_corners.json file format to handle different types of projections from input images.
- Bug fixes to MSS Profile init time checking.
- Added projection handling in MSS models.
- Updated the labels.txt for arctic locations that may be important to NURTURE.
- Added an initial try at a parameterized NASA 777 flight characteristics.
- Changed defaults of NURTURE projection to lamber azimuthal equal area.
Modified: Samuel LeBlanc, v1.61, 2025-10-07, Santa Cruz, CA
- Modifying the build environment for ensuring deployment to mac os, via conda
- Add the simplying read of mss.txt to skip interface if only one url is present.
Modified: Samuel LeBlanc, v1.62, 2025-10-20, Santa Cruz, CA
- Adding manual headwind inputs and calculations
- Adding explicit turn type and turn time descriptions.
- Improved turn time calculations for the different turn types
- Adding new excel columns to habndle the headwind, turn types, and potential for time points.
- Added sat.json for handling the geostationary satellite types
- Adding multiple new satellites descriptions.
Cite as:
Samuel LeBlanc and millercommamatt (2024) “samuelleblanc/fp: Moving Lines: Turn speed bug fix and new pilot formats”. (v1.49) Zenodo. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.10951716.
BibTex: @misc{samuel_leblanc_2023_1478125, author = {LeBlanc, Samuel}, doi = {10.5281/zenodo.1478125}, publisher = {Zenodo}, title = {{samuelleblanc/fp: Moving Lines: NASA airborne research flight planning tool release (v1.44)}}, url = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1478125}, year = {2023} }