! This file describes the ILEC SN10 PC-database-file format, version 4. ! Copyright (C) 2012 Nadler & Associates ! May be freely redistributed if NO MODIFICATIONS are made to this text. ! ! The ILEC SN10 flight computer has two separate databases which can be ! independently loaded from a PC. Pilots typically use these databases ! for their home site and a site they are visiting. One of these sites ! is selected as 'the active site' before using the SN10. ! ! The contents of an NDB file describe one complete SN10 database. An ! SN10 database can contain up to 600 points (in site #1) or 900 points ! (in site #2). ! ! The NDB file provides an overview of the area described, and lists a set ! of points of interest (turnpoints, landing sites, start points, etc.). ! ! Check proper formatting of an NDB file using the DBC32 utility (provided ! with all SN10 software distributions, also DBC for older 16-bit platforms). ! ! Note: This description applies to SN10 software revision 2.0 and later ! ! ! Modification History: ! 28Mar12 DRNadler: DBC32 note (NO changes to NDB format) ! 9Dec07 DRNadler: Longitude no longer requires requires space prior ! 'E'; that was fixed in July 2004, and hopefully everyone ! now has fixed versions of the software ! 25May04 DRNadler: Longitude REQUIRES SPACE PRIOR 'E' !! ! 12Apr00 DRNadler: Correct commentary regarding 'A' airspace records. ! 11Feb98 DRNadler: Correct site limits (600/900), add 'M' point type. ! 8Feb98 DRNadler: Both sites limited to ~900 points ! 27Jan98 DRNadler: Minor clarifications. ! 22Jan98 DRNadler: Corrections as follows: ! specify NDB as 8.3 file suffix, ! point elevation: 'U' for unknown, ! U for unknown 'home' in header record, ! U is permitted for unknown ICAO symbol ! 21Jan98 DRNadler: Revisions after reviewer comments: ICAO length, ! looser continuation rules, ! reserve but do not define (A,L,T) records, ! Timezone/Magvar/Elevation 'U' for unknown ! 10Jan98 DRNadler: Additional corrections (ICAO field), add parsable ! example, circulation for review. ! 9Jan98 DRNadler: Minor corrections, circulation for review. ! 6Jan98 DRNadler: Initial documentation for public review. ! ! ! ==== File Format: General ==== ! * Filenames are expected to be MSDOS 8.3, with the type 'NDB', ! for example UVALDE.NDB ! * Blank lines are ignored. ! * Comment lines beginning with '!' are completely ignored. ! * Text data (names, descriptions) is always enclosed in ASCII quotes ! (thats ", double-quotes, and not ') ! * The file consists of a version record, a header record, and a list ! of point records (or unspecified Line, or Task records). Airspace ! records may be placed at the end (see MapHelp.txt). ! * No comments may be placed on the same line as data records. ! * Normally, each 'record' in the file is one line. To make long records ! easier to edit, a record may be continued across lines; indicated by ! a continuation character '\' as the last non-blank character of a line ! to be continued. ! Comments may not appear in the middle of continued records. ! * Fields within records are delimited by commas ','. ! * spaces are ignored except within quotes. ! * tabs are ignored but are not permitted within quotes ! ! ==== Character Set for Text (Names and Descriptions) ==== ! The supported character set for names includes: ! A-Z, a-z, 0-9, ! space ! !#$%&'()*+,-./:;<=>?@[]^_`{|}~ ! Additional european characters, from IBM PC character set: ! Hex Graphic Description ! 0x81 (little u with umlaut dots above) ! 0x84 (little a with umlaut dots above) ! 0x86 (little a with circle above, Swedish) ! 0x94 (little o with umlaut dots above) ! Characters NOT permitted in text: ! tab ! backslash \ ! quote " ! any characters not listed above as 'supported' ! ! ! ==== Version Record ==== ! The first non-comment record in the file must be a version record. ! There may be only one version record per file. ! First character is 'V', followed by a space, followed by 'NADLERNAV4': ! V NADLERNAV4 ! ! ==== Header Record ==== ! First character 'H', followed by a space and the following fields: ! (1) The site description that will be displayed on the SN10, formatted ! exactly as it will be displayed, up to 80 characters. This is 5 lines of 16 ! characters, so ideally padding characters are placed to avoid breaking ! words across lines. No more than 80 characters, enclosed in quotes, ! permitted character set above. Please include the home name plus the ! update date/source in description ! ! (2) 'Timezone' followed by a signed number of hours:minutes. For ! example, -7:30 is a timezone that is 7 hours 30 minutes *behind* GMT. ! If timezone is unknown, replace '-7:30' with 'U'. ! (3) 'Magvar' followed by the mean magnetic variation for the site. ! A negative number is an EAST deviation, for example -13.5 means that ! the compass reads 0 when the aircraft is pointed 13.5 degrees East true. ! If variation is unknown, replace '-13.5' with 'U'. ! (4) 'Home' followed by the quoted name of the home point for the site. ! This point must be a short name of a point defined later in the file. ! If no home point is defined, replace "Uvalde" with U. ! ! Example Header Record (valid if first character deleted on next two lines): !H " Uvalde Texas Updated 30Nov97Home of the bestsoaring and beeson the planet !!", \ ! Timezone -7:00, Magvar -13.5, Home "Uvalde" ! This would be displayed on the SN10 screen like: ! +================+ ! | Uvalde Texas | ! |Updated 30Nov97| ! |Home of the best| ! |soaring and bees| ! |on the planet !!| ! +================+ ! ! Example Header Record with lots of unknowns: !H " Uvalde Texas Updated 30Nov97",Timezone U, Magvar U, Home U ! ! ! The list of points in this file does not have to be in any particular ! order. No count of the number of points is needed in this file. ! ! ==== Point Record ==== ! First character 'P', followed by a space and the following fields: ! (1) Quoted short-name (7-character max, permitted character set above). ! See separate documentation about sort-order and leading point numbers. ! The SN10 uses 7-character short-names for task selection and alternate ! selection. These names should be (but do not have to be) unique, and ! should be as meaningful as possible. Usually the complete name of a ! point is stored in the 'description' field, which is available ! to the pilot. ! (2,3) Coordinates, latitude and longitude. Preferred format is ! degrees:decimalMinutes, with thousandths of minutes, per IGC logger ! format. Acceptable formats are: ! dd:mm.mmm N preferred format (thousandths of minutes) ! or dd:mm.mm S permitted alternate format (hundredths of minutes) ! or dd:mm.m E permitted alternate format (tenths of minutes) ! or dd:mm:ss W permitted alternate format (degrees:minutes:seconds) ! Coordinate notes: ! - Blanks are not permitted surrounding the colons or decimal point. ! - N/S/E/W indicate N or S for lattitude, or E or W for longitude. ! - Space before NSEW is optional; 125:20.23E is legal ! - Coordinates MUST be WGS84. ! - if fractional minutes are not available, dd:mm.0 must be specified; ! dd:mm with no further indication is illegal. ! (4) Elevation. Number followed by F (feet) or M (meters). Either F or M ! must be specified. Take care not to insert commas in the elevation. ! For unknown elevation, just code 'U'. Zero is an illegal elevation ! (set a sea-level elevation to 1M). Negative elevations are permitted. ! (5) Flags. One or more flag characters, as follows: ! A - airport. This can be an unlandable airport or heliport ! ! L - landable. All landable points, including airfields, must specify 'L'. ! T - turnpoint. ! S - start point. ! F - finish point. ! M - point marked 'point of interest', no other information available. ! Each point must have one or more flags. ! (6) ICAO identifier or GPS identifier, where available. Null (no characters ! between commas) or 'U' if not available. This is used for GPS units that send ! task information, which is optionally used by the SN10 to copy the task from ! the GPS into the SN10 current task. If specified, either 3, 4 or 5 characters, ! all upper-case alphabetic or numeric. ! (7) Quoted long description that will be displayed on the SN10, formatted ! exactly as it will be displayed, up to 80 characters. This is 5 lines of 16 ! characters, so ideally padding characters are placed to avoid breaking ! words across lines. The SN10 does not use the contents of this field other ! than for pilot information, however the following format is recommended ! for airports (note long name, frequency, special notes as available). ! It is not necessary to repeat the 7-character short name; this will always ! be displayed along with the long description on the SN10 help screen. ! ! Example point record (valid if comment characters deleted): !P "Bermuda",34:36.450N,80:27.000W,505F,TLA,KXS7,\ ! "Bermuda High Gliderport 128.800Pvt grass Watch for moose on runway, wires" ! ! The above example's SN10 'help screen' would appear on the SN10 screen as: ! +================+ ! |Bermuda KXS7| ! | 34:36.450N ATL| ! | 80:27.000W 505| ! |Bermuda High Gli| <<< This and following lines show long description... ! |derport 128.800| ! |Pvt grass | ! |Watch for moose | ! |on runway, wires| ! +================+ ! ! ==== Airspace, Line, and Task records ==== ! At this time, records for lines (start/finish), and tasks are not defined. ! To ease future updates, records commencing with 'L', or 'T' will be ! ignored at this time. ! ! 'A' airspace records are produced by a separate program such as airParse, ! and must be placed at the end of the NDB file following V, H, and P records. ! Please see MapHelp.TXT for more information regarding airspace data. ! ================ Actual parsable example follows ================== V NADLERNAV4 H " Uvalde Texas Updated 30Nov97Home of the bestsoaring and beeson the planet !!", \ Timezone -7:00, Magvar -13.5, Home "Uvalde" P "Chupadr", 28:11.324N, 100:04.071W, 198M, ALT, , \ "Chupadera SE end Rwy 14/32 0.000" P "Concan", 29:29.303N, 99:41.823W, 457M, T, , \ "1 Mile SE river brg on road 0.000" P "Cotulla", 28:27.219N, 99:12.892W, 144M, ALT, , \ "SE end Rwy 13/31 122.700" ! example unknown elevation P "Coyote", 29:11.926N, 99:26.45W, U, ALT, ICAO , \ "Coyote Ranch SE end Rwy 14/32 0.000" ! example line continuation in point description P "Crystal", 28:41.646N, 99:48.803W, 185M, ALT, , \ "Crystal City \ SE end Rwy 13/31\ 122.900" P "Del Rio", 29:21.985N, 100:55.086W, 304M, ALT, 3B3, \ "SE end Rwy 13/31 122.800"