GSX availability for 3rd party plugins

[Fighter2309]

Hi Umberto,

with GSX Pro some cool new features have finally been added - most recently Remote De-Icing!
However, I have been asking myself for a long time whether it would not be possible to create a way to address GSX externally and make it controllable, especially for VATSIM pilots.

My idea:
I fly as a pilot on VATSIM and fly from one event airport to another event airport. For example: Frankfurt to London Heathrow. Frankfurt not only offers PDC (Pre Departure Clearence) but also assigns EOBT (estimated off-block times) for the pilots to match the Frankfurt-ATC planning.
So I get my PDC with the SID, the EOBT. Now it would be very innovative if this PDC could be intercepted by GSX via a plugin or another possibility (e.g. Hoppie, which most addons use/support for PDC) and the SID + the EOBT is also shown on the VDGS display as cleared by the controller (from VATSIM). Just like its already working with simbrief.

I would imagine the same for the Arrival. For Frankfurt, for example, there is a plug-in/tool for VATSIM controllers which automatically selects a suitable gate according to my callsign, aircraft type and airport from where I am coming and assigns it to me. This means that no controller has any more work assigning a gate to me.
Is it not possible to pull this gate out of the tool after leaving the runway (below 50kts) or the tool sends this gate to GSX with one click of the controller and it is automatically activated in GSX?
Like, I leave the runway, make my initial taxi and once the controller can confirm that the gate is available and correct, he can maybe assign it "finally" to me with a mouse-click in their ATC-program.
And the controller could, for example, even request a follow me for me when I reach the apron and tell me "Follow the follow me".


Another idea I have since a long time in my head, bigger airports have special taxi operations active when its foggy for example. An easy taxi instruction could be: "Speedbird 13 Romeo, taxi holding point xyz, follow the greens." And you will see the green taxi-lines are activated for that special taxi route. I know that this is almost impossible but wouldn't it be possible to at least get taxi-in lights specially activated once you select your arrival stand/gate?
GSX already know:

- where is the taxiway (pushback to the line)
- weather (rain, snow, cold, sun)
- taxi-in line + the hold position for the parking)

So it would be just to add special lights from the taxiway until the parking position to have "guided taxi-in lights" in special fog/night/rain conditions. And I think, even airport have this kind of "guided taxi-in lights" feature.
This is what I am thinking off.



It would be really cool if GSX could be controlled. I don't know if this is technically possible, probably also lot of work is needed on the ATC tool too, but I wanted to get the idea off my chest. Maybe you can do something with it and it would be possible in principle.

Thank you very much!

Regards
Timm

[Fighter2309]

I've got the information that the EOBT is already implemented as a plugin and it sents it also to a external website: https://cdm.vatsimspain.es/vdgs.php?style=vdgs3
There are even other solutions available. I am trying to collect them.

[Fighter2309]

Hi Umberto,

I've got some info from colleagues from VATSIM Germany. They've started to test vACDM and here are some information I got for you:
For now you need to be logged in on VATSIM and have filed a flightplan, then you can start vACDM on the website: https://vacdm.vatger.de/

Once you are connected it will look like this:


Wouldn't it be possible, in fact that your VDGS-displays display already information that are read from simbrief, to implement a VATSIM connectivity.
Once connected, flightplan recognized/loaded, it will only display information that are pushed to vACDM/GSX via their ATC program (available as a json file) once the clearence is requested?

The developer told me, they are open to changes that are or would be needed.
I am not a coding expert but it sounds that it isn't much efford as you already connect GSX to simbrief and it pushes information from somewhere to your displays.

I am open for questions or write me a PM is you need contacts.

Thank you
Timm

[Fighter2309]

@umberto 

I also asked for a general API on VATSIM side: https://forum.vatsim.net/t/vacdm-vdgs-api-for-3rd-party/1408

[Fighter2309]

No feedback?

There are plenty of ideas:

Imagine GSX would implement Follow-me pick-up points at airports to be defined. Because follow-me’s mostly wait at the apron entrance or somewhere specific to pick up planes.
Imagine you could control as a Tower to activate a GSX-follow-me car for a specific plane “Taxi via November, then follow the follow-me”.

Imagine GSX/MSFS would have a kind of possibility to enable also simple .bgl file: you create a scenery file with only taxi lights (bright) on a straight line and this will be activated during fog operations. So once you activate your stand, it will also load the bright lights line on top of the taxi line and as a controller you could say “Taxi via November to Gate 221, follow the greens”.

Imagine GSX would have a possibility to read text from a central VATSIM system which then is being controlled by ATC. So the cleared SID and Planned Offblock time will be shown on the VDGS display. Explained above^^

[virtuali]

Each and every suggestion in the forum is always noted, regardless if we get a chance to reply to it, which can happen when posts are from months before.