Aviation Chart Server displays FAA charts and OpenStreetMaps with animated weather, geo-referenced METARS, TAFS, Pireps, and much more - using node express web server with the OpenLayers map API.
See https://github.com/n129bz/chartmaker for a chart database processing utility that produces FAA charts including Sectional, Terminal, Helicopter, Caribbean, Grand Canyon, IFR Enroute-High, and IFR Enroute-Low mbtiles databases. Chartserver can display any mbtiles databases that are dropped into the /public/data folder.
Chartserver menu options control the display of all geo-referenced markers, including all airports globally by US state or international country.
Chartserver can poll Stratux GPS/AHRS data to plot ownship position and heading over a map, giving basic "moving map" functionality and can also optionally save ownship position data to a separate position history database at user-defined intervals.
To run the image:
docker run -it -p 8500:8500 -p 8550:8550 n129bz/chartserver:v1.25
At the container command prompt, enter:
./runserver.sh
To copy a mbtiles .db file to the container, the container must be running - press Ctrl-c to stop the web server, then open a second terminal and enter the docker cp command:
docker cp <local path to your db file>.db <containerid>:/chartserver/public/data/
after successful filecopy, in the terminal on the running container, enter ./runserver.sh to restart the web server
Normal Installation: See wiki at https://github.com/n129bz/chartserver/wiki
User-editable values in settings.json:
{
"savepositionhistory": true,
"histintervalmsec": 15000,
"gpsintervalmsec": 1000,
"wxupdateintervalmsec": 480000,
"keepaliveintervalmsec": 30000,
"httpport": 8500,
"wsport": 8550,
"startupzoom": 8,
"useOSMonlinemap": true,
"debug": false,
"historyDb": "positionhistory.db",
"uselocaltime": true,
"distanceunit": "sm",
"usestratux": false,
"stratuxip": "192.168.10.1",
"stratuxsituationws": "ws://[stratuxip]/situation",
"stratuxtrafficws": "ws://[stratuxip]/traffic",
"animatedwxurl": "https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/cgi-bin/wms/nexrad/n0r-t.cgi",
"addswxurl": "https://aviationweather.gov/adds/dataserver_current/httpparam?dataSource=###&requestType=retrieve&format=xml&hoursBeforeNow=1.5&mostRecentForEachStation=true&stationString=",
"addsurrentxmlurl": "https://aviationweather.gov/adds/dataserver_current/current/###.cache.xml",
"showattribution": true,
"lockownshiptocenter": true,
"ownshipimage": "airplane.png",
"trafficimage": "red-yellow-traffic.png",
"usemetricunits": false,
"distanceunits": {
"kilometers": "km",
"nauticalmiles": "nm",
"statutemiles": "sm"
},
"messagetypes": {
"metars": {
"type": "metars",
"token": "###"
},
"tafs": {
"type": "tafs",
"token": "###"
},
"pireps": {
"type": "pireps",
"token": "###"
},
"airports": {
"type": "airports",
"token": ""
},
"keepalive": {
"type": "keepalive",
"token": "((💜))"
}
}
}
NOTE for Stratux integration: The server requests position data via winsock connection to the Stratux API. Because the position history database is empty at first run of the app, the setting lockownshiptocenter is true by default. This will allow the application to generate and save some position data so that there will be "last known" longitude and latitude coordinates saved in the database. Once there is at least one position history record, change lockownshiptocenter to false so that you can pan around the map without it re-centering ownship to the center. This will give you basic real-time position of your aircraft on the map.
References:
https://github.com/n129bz/chartmaker
https://github.com/b3nn0/stratux
https://openlayers.org/
Animated weather radar layer over the Sectional chart, ownship image displayed via Stratux integration
OpenStreetMap with airport status colored markers and METAR popup
Enroute High IFR chart
Multiple layers, layer switcher has OSM, Grand Canyon GA, Helicopter, and animated weather selected
Caribbean chart with color-coded airport features, showing a METAR when hovering mouse over an airport
Sectional chart zoomed in