Avare Donate
To support chart updates and ongoing Avare development, please
Click here to
Donate.
Thank you.
Notice
All GPS applications on any handheld non-certified devices like smartphones and tablets are not approved by the FAA for IFR flights. None of the operating systems on such devices are tested according to rigorous FAA standards, hence any software running on them is unfit for use as a primary flight navigation tool. It is unwise to solely rely on any such device or any app running on one, during the critical phases of a flight.Please do not download any charts/plates that you do not need. Downloading only the needed files will help us keep server hosting costs down, which along with donations helps us keep Avare and chart updates free to all. Thank you.
The user must ensure that Avare is always updated to the latest version, and ensure that all Avare databases and charts are kept current. If Avare and its databases and charts are not of the exact same version, the GPS position displayed may be inaccurate, because the FAA sometimes changes the format of their materials. Avare does not automatically fetch any databases and charts when they are expired, so it is the user's sole responsibility to update any expired charts and databases. To do so, ensure that your device has an internet connection and then just press the Map, Options, Download and Update buttons in Avare.Please check out our other apps:
Avare External I/O Plugin
Avare Releases
6.0.0 Allows pilots to file flight plans, and get weather briefings from the FAA (1-800-WX-BRIEF) online.Avare Help Choices
Below is a list of your choices for Help with Avare (pronounced "AvAir"). Nearly all are available Offline (without internet access on your device), such as when you are flying or your device is in Airplane Mode. Only the last tree Help items on the list below require that your device be Online because they display internet video demos; our website and Forum for interactive Help; and online FAA chart reference maps to help you select Downloads in Avare.•Quick Start - Intro
•Help - More Intro
•New Features - Recently Added
•Fly There - Address & Landmark
•
Online * - FAA Chart Maps
Note: Under the Downloads list on the FAA website, select the chart type for which you'd
like to see a map legend. For example, to see a map showing the area covered by each of the
FAA Sectional charts, click on the "Sectional Raster Charts" link.
*Requires internet
Quick Start -
Intro
•When you first launch Avare, after reading the disclaimer just click OK if you agree to the terms. Before using Avare the first time, you must have an internet connection on your device (WiFi or Data) to Download the free Database and at least one of the free charts. Later you can add any airport diagrams, terminal procedures, and other files you'll need. Please get only the materials you need because downloading all available materials will use both your online resources and ours, overloading our servers. Help us keep Avare and the FAA resources free for all users.
To get these free resources: Press the Options button (square button on the lower left side of the Map screen), press the Download button, select one or more items you need from the list, then press the Get button to begin downloading. Note that the Option button is only available in the Map view, so if you don't see it just press the Map button at bottom-left first and Options will appear above it. When you're done Downloading, just hit the Back key on your device to see the Map view. After doing this, no data connection is required to use any of the materials you've downloaded with Avare.
Notes:
- New charts and features are being added frequently, so check often to ensure that you have the latest Avare version and Downloads. In the Downloads screen, any categories containing items that are outdated will be shown in red. Any red items indicate that you need to ensure your device has an internet connection and then press the Update button.
- Sometimes after installing or upgrading Avare, you may be taken to the Download screen automatically. After pressing Update to ensure that the Databases file and any other materials you need are current (green Checkmark), press the Back key to exit to the Map screen.
- If you forgot to ensure that GPS is on in your device's Settings, Avare may remind you to do that because it is unable to display your position accurately without GPS. To possibly speed up internal GPS acquisition on some devices, you can ensure that all services (WiFi, cell service, and data) are at least temporarily turned on too. Once required data has been Downloaded and GPS location has been acquired, Avare works fine in "Airplane Mode" with cell and data service turned off and only GPS turned on.
•Move around or change zoom on the Sectionals simply by holding a point on the chart and dragging or two finger pinching, just like when viewing photos on your device. If your version of Avare displays a minus/plus rocker button when you press the Options button, that will provide extended zoom capability by changing the zoom range available using the pinch zoom method.
Note: Either the default horizontal Landscape or vertical Portrait mode display is available, selected in Preferences.
•The square Center button at the bottom-center of the screen will center the location icon and continue tracking your current GPS location (if the GPS is on and has acquired your location) on the "moving map" chart.
Note: While GPS is acquired in Avare, the map will constantly track from your currently displayed location. This is very handy in flight, because you can drag the map to place the location indicator icon at any spot on the screen (or even completely off the screen) and the map will continue tracking beneath it. So for example if you are flying northwest, you can put the location icon at the southeast corner of the screen and see a greater distance ahead on the map at any given zoom level. To instantly center your location icon again, just press the Center button.
•The "Pan" (Pan/Draw) button allows you to jot quick notes on charts. In the Maps screen, tap the Pan button at the lower-right. When the Pan button changes to the Draw button, the charts will not pan, and the Map screen becomes a touch operated pen for writing or drawing on charts. Draw or write notes on the screen with your finger. Notes length is limited due to memory size.
To erase all notes and drawings in Draw mode, long press the screen and then press the Clear button that appears.
To temporarily hide your notes/drawings and return to normal Map functioning (Pan mode), just tap the Draw (Pan) button again.
•Long-press any point on the chart (with GPS acquired) to display text at the top of the screen giving approximate compass direction and distanceFrom, followed by exact GPS bearingTo, that point in relation to your GPS location. Very handy when contacting ATC or making CTAF calls!
Note: The current Destination used by Avare for various features can be set after a long-press on the chart. Just tap either the button that pops out containing the name or coordinates of the location you pressed; or the button that pops out containing the word "Plan" to send that Destination to the
•The "Find" button in the bottom Menu
activates a search box for a 4-digit
Destination Airport code (or Navaid code, Fix code, etc.)
that Avare uses to display a course, bearing, etc. This
code also determines the Destination airport Avare uses when you display A/FD
info. If you do not remember the airport code for an airport,
enter part of its facility name to search for it. Avare offers some capability
for offline facility search (try using just the first letter and
scrolling down through the list) and when online, Avare automatically taps into
Google Maps if needed to search for airports and even cities or complete street
addresses (see "Fly There"
in the Help menu above). You can also specify radial/DME pairs in
destination like BOS275010 for BOS VOR, 275 degree radial, 10 miles.
To input a Destination airport, just tap the Find button in the Menu and then input the four digit airport code (example: KLAX, not LAX).
Note that a selection list of your recently input Destination codes is displayed before you begin to input a new one. Familiar symbols are used to indicate the various types of Destination codes such as VORs and intersections. Airports have an empty round symbol. For convenience in selecting VORs, etc., airports are sorted toward the bottom since they can be quickly selected with a long-press in Map view.
To Delete a Destination, from the list of previously used destinations in the search list, long-press it, and a list of buttons will appear. Select "Delete" to delete that destination.
To clear a
Destination once it has been set,
long press at the destination in Map view. A "Delete" button will
appear. Press the "Delete" button to clear the currently set
destination.
Note that when there is no Destination set, the current chart name may be displayed at the top-left (e.g. "Los Angeles" to indicate that Avare's currently displayed location is on the LA Sectional).
•Press the Options button (square button on the lower left side of the Map screen), and a list of buttons for additional features and Preferences will appear.
≡ The "Preferences" button in the Options list displays a list where you can choose among available Preferences (details below).
≡ The Help button in the Options list activates a web browser app to display in-app Help with a few links to online resources. Press the Back key on your Android device to return to Avare.
≡ There may be an Extended Zoom (- +) button in the Options list, that enables you to extend the zoom range provided by using the normal two-finger pinch zoom feature.
≡ The North Up/Track Up button in the Options list provides some capability to change the map display orientation. Because Avare uses the free official FAA charts, text on the charts will rotate along with the chart.
≡ The Navigate/Simulation button in the Options list toggles Avare's use of GPS for positioning the map. In the default Navigate mode, if GPS is on and location is acquired Avare will track your location.
≡ The Chart Type button in the Options list shows the chart type currently displayed. Sectional is the default.
•To browse charts freely without reference to your GPS location, press the Options button, tap the Preferences button, and select Simulation Mode. Then you can zoom in or out, scroll and pan freely, or quickly zip to any location simply by inputting a Destination as described above.
Notes: Simulation Mode works without any need for cell or data access or GPS. If GPS is on and has acquired a "lock" on your location, it will retain lock in Simulation Mode while Avare is active and the device is on. This is helpful because once internal GPS is lost, some devices won't re-acquire without a cell or WiFi signal (such as when aloft in many areas). In Simulation Mode, Find will center the chart display at the airport code you input, and you can then browse from there or input another airport code. After browsing, to re-center the map on the current Destination (if any is set), just tap the Center button. When you use Preferences to turn Simulation Mode off again, the display will return to your current GPS location if available.
•To track a course to destination enter a destination, and a magenta great circle route will appear from your current GPS location to that destination. Once set, the magenta route line doesn't move with the aircraft location. A dashed black and white Destination track line shows the current bearing to the destination. A red dashed line shows the current aircraft ground track. Align the two dashed lines with the solid magenta line for the shortest route to your Destination. If your location has diverged from the magenta course line you can use Find to re-select your Destination. You can also just fly so that the two dashed lines are superimposed in alignment.Main Avare Screens
The main screens in Avare are selected via theMenu
row of buttons across the bottom:
•The "Map" Button in the Menu at the bottom of the screen displays the currently selected chart type at the current location. Map is the default screen in Avare, and will often be displayed when using the Back key on your device from within another Avare screen such as the Find screen.
Note: if Avare is unable to acquire your GPS position or you have no Destination selected, a black screen may be displayed. If so, you can display a chart by using Preferences to select Simulation Mode and then using Find to select a Destination that is on a chart you have previously installed via Download.
•The "Plate" Button in the Menu at the bottom of the
screen displays the FAA airport diagrams, and terminal procedures for
the currently selected Destination, selected airports in Flight Plan,
Near and Find modes, and auto loads the Plate on landing roll out, if the option is
selected in Preferences, and if in Map view mode.
To view an Airport Diagram (AD) first Download the collection of ADs that covers the location of your intended Destination. For example, "California" for LAX. Then input the Destination airport code in the Find screen as described above, tap the "Plates" Button, then select "AIRPORT-DIAGRAM" from the drop down list and Avare will display it, provided that you have Downloaded the relevant AD file and the FAA provides a diagram for your selected Destination airport. Note that the "GPS Taxi" feature in Avare can indicate your current location on an airport (see details in the Airport Diagram section of Avare's Help).
•The "A/FD" Button in the Menu at the bottom of the screen displays the airport info for the currently selected Destination airport in text format.
To get airport
(A/FD) text info, first input a Destination airport in Map view as
described above, then tap the "A/FD" Button and scroll through the info. Note that
if you have Downloaded the "A/FD Images" file for your Destination airport (e.g.
"A/FD SW" for LAX), the drop down A/FD bar on the top of the A/FD screen is
used to select between the text and graphical versions of the A/FD. The regional
graphical A/FD files are typically quite large, but can provide information beyond
what's contained in the smaller FAA text version that covers all FAA regions and is
included in Avare's required Databases file.
•The "Find" Button in the Menu at the bottom
of the screen enables you to search for a Destination airport, VOR or
waypoint.
•The "WX" Button in the Menu at the bottom of the screen provides some of Avare's current Weather options.
•The "Plan" Button in the Menu at the bottom of the screen enables you to do limited flight planning online or offline in flight (see details in that section of this Help file).
•The "Near" button in the Menu will display a selectable list of airports nearest to your current GPS location.
To use the Near feature, first ensure that GPS is on and has acquired your location, then press the Near Button at the bottom of the screen. The airports are listed by increasing distance with nearest at the top. Each airport's name, code, distance, bearing, and 100LL fuel (if available) is displayed (Jet A may be shown as "A" alone, or as 100LLA indicating availability of both fuels).
Note: To select an airport on the list as Avare's current Destination, simply press the name of that airport and then press the button that pops out, to select the code displayed on that button as your Destination.
•The "GPS" Button in the Menu at the bottom of the screen enables you to monitor the current status of the GPS system currently in use by Avare on your device. Note that this differs from the GPS/Simulation button that selects whether Avare is currently using GPS to display your current location.
Help - More Intro
•Text information is displayed at the top of the Map display screen, when your GPS position is acquired and you have input a valid Destination.
In the top row: Destination (or chart name if no Destination is selected) at the left; Distance from GPS location, time to Destination direct at current GPS speed, GPS bearing to Destination at the right.
In the second row: GPS elevation MSL at the left; GPS ground speed and GPS heading at the right.
•GPS Status information is available from the Map screen by pressing the Options button and tapping the "Preferences->GPS->Show GPS Status" option so that a black "target" screen appears. This feature is helpful in positioning your GPS device for best reception, and in troubleshooting any GPS problems. At the top-left is the GPS time and number of satellites acquired. The current Lat/Long locations, and an estimate of the location accuracy are also displayed. The target display simulates the relative strength (size of each indicator circle) and relative locations of satellites acquired. To close the GPS screen and return to the Map display press the Back key on your device.
•TFRs that you have recently fetched using
Update in Download via internet from the FAA are automatically
displayed as red graphics on charts by default. If you long-press
the red indicator at the top-center of a TFR shape, text for that TFR will be
displayed in the TFR section. It is user's responsibility to Update the
latest TFRs from the download list under the Databases group.
Even though Avare gets the TFR data from the FAA website, you must call your FSS for the latest TFR data, as the FAA TFR website may not be current.
•Runway Extensions (if set in Preferences) show 6 degree approach to all runways at the airport currently set as Destination. Note that due to variations in the FAA charts, extensions may not line up with airport symbols on charts though Avare's accuracy has been tested.
New Features
Recently introduced features include:• Geo Referenced Approach Plates
Avare has 13000+ geo referenced approach plates for the US. Users can download the geo referenced approach plate data from the Download screen under "Plates/d-TPP/ADs->Plates Geo Reference Info". Once the data is downloaded, the aircraft position will be shown on the plates. If a plate is geo referenced, a green circle will appear at the airport location on the plate. Users may choose to geo reference the plates on their own. See
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhF3tAnuaIE
Users can also share their geo referenced plates with other users using the "Share" button on the tag screen. Before sharing, please contact Avare support, as sharing requires registration.
User geo referenced plate information overrides the official downloaded geo referenced information. Users can revert back to the downloaded information by using the "Clear" button.
• Glide Range
You can set the glide ratio of your aircraft in Preferences, and Avare will calculate your approximate glide range. All the airports shown in red color in the Near tab, will not be in glide range, while the ones shown in green will be in glide range. An example glide ratio (to be set in Preferences) for a C172 is calculated as:
glide ratio = POH glide distance per thousand feet = 1.25 nm per 1000 feet = 1.25 * 6076 feet / 1000 feet = 7.5.
• CDI/VDI
The Course Deviation Indicator and Vertical Deviation Indicator displays are new as of 5.3.8. They display position deviation from your planned path when a valid GPS lock is attained. They are enabled in the Preferences menu under the Display section. The CDI is operational when you have a destination set. The needle indicator at the bottom will move left/right of center based upon how off course your location you are. If you deviate more than one tick left or right then the indicator changes color - RED if you are left of course, GREEN if you are right. To correct, steer the aircraft in the direction of the arrow to bring it back to center and the color will return to neutral GRAY.
The CDI will have VOR scale beyond 15nm from the destination (2 degrees / div), otherwise it will have the localizer scale (0.5 degree / div).
The VDI (Vertical Deviation Indicator) will display when you have a destination with a known elevation set and you are within 15nm of it. The indicator needle on the right of the bars is centered when you are on a 3 degree glideslope of your destination. Being "on the glideslope" is a range of 2.86 to 3.14 degrees. Anything greater than 3.14 is considered "above" and will show the indicator in YELLOW. Anything below 2.86 is low, and the color is changed to RED. When you return to the programmed slope, the display will return to it's neutral GRAY. The VDI scale is 0.14 degree / division.
!!! CAUTION !!! The VDI uses GPS altitude and general airport elevation. It is not an accurate VNAV / glide slope indicator to any specific runway at your destination. The CDI uses track heading and is not an accurate representaiton of your magnetic heading.
• Internet NEXRAD
To show Internet downloaded NEXRAD radar, go to Download, and download the NEXRAD images from Weather drop down list. In Preferences, select how you wish the NEXRAD to be displayed, and the latest NEXRAD will display on the Map screen.
• ADS-B
You will need an ADS-B receiver, and will need to install the Avare External IO module from the Play store. Then, in Preferences, enable "Use ADS-B weather" to show ADS-B weather and radar images.
• Dynamic Fields
The top of the Map screen text lines can be configured to show any desired values out of speed, altitude, time, destination, timer, bearing, distance, and many more. To use dynamic fields, go to Prefernces, then enable "Use Dynamic Fileds". Then in the Map screen, double tap on the top text fields and choose the desired value to display at that location.
• Height Above Ground
Avare will display the approximate height above ground, below the aircraft icon, IF the user has downloaded the Terrain / Elevation maps for the area. The AGL value is approximate and should be used with caution. Types of error in the AGL include wrong MSL reported by the GPS, and quantization errors in the elevation charts.
• Vertical Descent / Climb Rate
Avare displays the optimum descent and climb rate to a destination, near the destination in feet per minute (fpm). If the destination is an airport, maintaing that rate will get the pilot to the pattern altitude.
• KML Tracks
Preferences allow you to Enable Tracking, and
turn the display of your flight Track on or off. Any time you'd like to
record your flight Track, just tap the Options button and then the
"Tracks Off" indicator button. That will turn on the Track feature,
which creates a Google Earth & Google Maps compatible file on your
device. Avare then periodically stores in this file the coded stream of
text "bread crumb" location data from your active GPS receiver, and
displays a Track connecting these bread crumbs on the Map view. To stop
storing these bread crumbs, again tap Options and then "Tracks On" to
see options and information regarding the file. Later you can view the
file in Earth or Maps to "re-fly" your route.
• Distance & Speed Rings
To see rings displayed on Map view for Time or Distance from your
current GPS location, use Preferences to set the Style and Size of the
rings.
• KML Reading
Now you can see your points of interest
(POIs) on the Map using KML import. You can generate a KML files of
your POIs using Google Earth. Once you have a KML file, place it in a
folder of your choice accessible by Avare (like /sdcard). Go to
"Preferences->Storage->User Defined Waypoints" then borwse to the
folder containing your KML file (like /sdcard). Restart Avare, and then
your POIs will appear on the Map screen. You can search your points of
interest in Find tab, then add them to a flight plan, or directly go to
them. You can place multiple KML files in the folder, and Avare will
parse all these files to generate a combined view of your POIs.
However, the user may only define 100 POIs in all files combined.
GPS Taxi on Airport Diagrams
The "GPS Taxi" feature can display a location icon at your current GPS location on the FAA Airport Diagram for your current Destination airport. First you must Download the Airport Diagram for the airport where you'd like to use GPS Taxi, and of course GPS must be on with location acquired. Then select "AIRPORT-DIAGRAM" in the Plate screen.Note: While it can display your location, GPS Taxi on airport diagrams is not "moving map" so your location will not be automatically tracked at the center of the screen. Just scroll and pinch-zoom the Plate screen while on the airport with GPS On, to find the airplane icon tracking your current location.
"Fly There"
- Launch the Google maps application on your device.
- Enter an address or landmark like "address,1 wtc" (no quotes).
- Google Maps will locate the landmark (or address), and put a red marker icon on it.
- Activate the "Share" option in your version of Google Maps and select the Avare icon from the list of apps. Avare will set that address as Destination, and it will be in the Find list if you add other Destinations in any way.
See the Find section above for more information on using the Find function.
Terrain & Proximity
•Terrain Maps
Avare provides USGS terrain
maps. These maps can be downloaded from the download list under
"Terrain".
Terrain maps show elevation around your
current position. Visible areas are at or above your GPS
calculated altitude. Black areas are below your current GPS
altitude. Note that GPS altitude is not accurate. Give good margin of
error to the calculations.
The left sliding bar is slaved to the GPS altitude, and moves as the GPS altitude changes in relationship with your true altitude. However, you can move this bar temporarily, to simulate climbing or descending. As you move this bar, ground proximity is redrawn to show the relationship of ground elevation around your current position to the indicated altitude on top left in FL.
•Shaded Relief Maps
Avare provides USGS shaded relief maps. These maps can be downloaded from the download list under "Terrain".
Note: Although the app may show the terrain and the relief maps expired after every new FAA cycle, there is usually very little change to the ground elevation for aviation purposes. Downloading of terrain maps for every FAA cycle is a waste of time and bandwidth.
Procedures & Graphical A/FDs
The Plate screen shows any terminal procedure plates you have Downloaded. To see terminal procedures for an airport, simply enter it as Destination, then press the Plate screen button at the bottom of the screen. Select the appropriate procedure from the drop down list for that airport.Plates are distributed in multiple files, one for each state. There are tens of thousands of procedures, making plate files large. For example, the Texas plates download size is about 300 MB. The Plate screen displays take off and alternate minimums, when downloaded.
The Plate files also contain complete pages from the green FAA A/FD book in an image format. Note that Avare's text A/FD is contained in the main Avare Database and does not require downloading the graphical A/FDs in the Plates files.Troubleshooting
Among the few problems reported with Avare or any of our apps, three categories have emerged:
1. Incomplete installation. Most of these problems have been related to internet connectivity problems during installation of the app, such as during download of the Database or charts for Avare. If you have problems with any of our apps, you might first try checking your internet connection and then deleting and re-installing the file(s) or the app itself.
2. Hardware problems. Nearly all of these few cases have been traced to defective SD card chips. These problems can be very difficult to trace because they may occur randomly, intermittently, and with very strange symptoms. Basically the problems our apps encounter are akin to you carefully placing an important item in a cabinet and returning to find the cabinet locked, the item missing or damaged, or even the entire room missing only to magically reappear a moment later. If you encounter problems, one thing to try is testing, formatting, or replacing the memory chip if possible. Sometimes deleting and re-installing the app and all associated files will cure or change the problem at least temporarily if it shifts the location where the app and files are stored on the chip. You might be able to work around the problem by moving the app and files to a different chip (e.g. from device memory to SD card or vice versa). Generally the permanent solution for a defective memory chip is to replace the chip.
3. Software conflicts. Another category of weird and intermittent problems arises from conflicts with other apps. Unlike nearly all apps currently available for Android, our apps use only the bare minimum of Permissions required for operation. Apps you have installed from other developers may use Permissions that enable them to automatically launch their app, display ads, collect and use your personal information or do other operations in the background even when you’re not using their app. Such activity by those apps can cause strange and intermittent problems with other apps. Usually, the apps that come pre-installed on your device won’t cause such problems. Something to try if you have problems with any of our apps, is to disable or uninstall other apps you’ve installed on your device. You might also try a virus scanner from a reputable provider, keeping in mind that some anti-virus apps from disreputable providers have themselves been used to install a virus.
FAA Charts Reference
For current and accurate FAA chart maps, please visit this FAA website:
Online FAA Chart Maps
Note: Under the Downloads list on the FAA website, select the chart type for which you'd like to see a map legend. For example, to see a map showing the area covered by each of the FAA Sectional charts, click on the "Sectional Raster Charts" link.
The following FAA chart maps are for offline reference only, and are not updated.
Sectionals and TACs
WACs
A/FD
ELUS (Note: Avare area division not
shown)
EHUS
(Note: Avare area division not shown)
Canada Topo Grid
As far North as 60N covered.We are investigating the potential for adding more capabilities for flying Avare in Canada. It would be helpful if anyone interested in this topic would post a message on our Forum, so we can gauge how many of our users fly Avare in Canada and would like to see more capabilities added. Also what specific capabilities might be most useful.
Clearly, having official Canadian charts and data would be very popular and helpful, but to date we have been unable to obtain free materials of that kind.
To fly Avare in Canada as of this writing (October 8, 2014), be sure you go to Map, Options, Preferences, Display, and turn on Show All Bases. That enables you to Find any Canadian destination that is in Avare's database and fly GPS direct even without any map displayed. To display a Canadian map, in the Download menu near the bottom is a category currently named "Topographic Maps(42)" which currently only contains Canada Grid maps numbered 1-114. To find out which grid map(s) you need for the area you fly, consult this map.
In the current version of Avare, you might encounter some difficulty in switching between U.S. charts and Canadian Topo. If so, it might help to use Simulation mode if your current position is not in Canada. If that does not help you might also Exit and restart Avare. We very much want to improve and add more Canadian capabilities in Avare, but receive very little feedback and few inquiries. If you fly Avare in Canada or would like to, please contact us on our Forum.
--End of Avare Help offline sections--