Precipitation display is "blocky" or pixilated

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Precipitation display is "blocky" or pixilated

5/31/2016 7:13 PM

greg p

Joined: 2/18/2011

Posts: 237

Re: Precipitation display is "blocky" or pixilated

Jeff, I totally agree with your reasoning. I too have flown around this country from the Idaho backcountry mountains to Florida and the Bahamas and have never seen square clouds yet. And we have some pretty severe storms in Florida! The raw data is inaccurate as depicted. I have used the app "My Radar" for years, has given me an adequate idea of the precip and direction in any given area, and yet it has rounded, modified views, which in my opinion are "probably" more accurate of what's really out there. It really doesn't matter how it's shown; it's a matter of marketing or the developers preference. Whatever shape they're in, just remember that the iFly is for vfr navigation. I would bet that everyone contributing to this forum does not have an aircraft capable of flying through heavy rain or thunderstorms. Just stay away from yellow or red depictions and that'll keep you out of trouble. Don't want to read about you in the Faa reports.
Greg

5/31/2016 7:29 PM

Cobra

Joined: 4/20/2011

Posts: 2602

Re: Precipitation display is "blocky" or pixilated Modified By Cobra on 5/31/2016 7:34:58 PM

These other two outlines (or the summed area of all three, or even the smallest overap of all three) could also be the "real" areas of precip described by the original blocks. Any smoothing you apply to the blocks is a guess, and only pretends to be "better". It might look prettier, but it is no more accurate, and can be deceiving.

5/31/2016 8:05 PM

Jeff Clark

Joined: 9/20/2012

Posts: 1254

Re: Precipitation display is "blocky" or pixilated

Cobra, your outlines include significant parts of adjacent blocks, and would therefore "light up" thos blocks in the ADS-B feed. That would change the outlines of all 3 images. The smoothed corners would still be a rather small change vs the ADS-B image.

Jeff Nokomis Clark, Mooney M20G, iFly app on ASUS ZenPad Z8s, ASUS ZenFone AR, ASUS Windows 10 tablet, Stratux ADS-B w AHRS

5/31/2016 10:43 PM

Cobra

Joined: 4/20/2011

Posts: 2602

Re: Precipitation display is "blocky" or pixilated Modified By Cobra on 5/31/2016 10:43:51 PM

You simply make my point in a different way. If the whole block lights up when either 100% or 20% of it is covered in precip, then where do you draw the smooth curves?

The point is still valid. You fool yourself if you think smoothed contours are any more accurate than blocks. It's just prettier, is all.