Aircraft marshalling

[eirikc]

will there be some sort of aircraft marshalling signal man on the airports?

[virtuali]

Yes, of course, the marshaller is one of the main GSX features. It will be fully animated, using native FSX skinned animations so, very smooth and realistic.

[BMman]

How about the park me at airports such as dfw

[virtuali]

How about the park me at airports such as dfw

GSX will replace ParkMe, so, you'll have the same functionality of ParkMe, plus marshallers at gates without a docking system. And, all the other GSX features like service vehicles, FollowMe and Pushback, all for free, since there will be no additional payment to use GSX at our airports without any limitations, you'll just download it and use it. Purchasing GSX will allow to use it at any other FSX airport.

[JamesChams]

Virtuali,

How about the park me at airports such as dfw

GSX will replace ParkMe, so, you'll have the same functionality of ParkMe, plus marshallers at gates without a docking system. ...

1. So, ParkMe is going to become an integrated product/feature into GSX and NOT a separate tool as was previously stated?
2. What do you mean by "without a docking system"?  Will this also be a feature that is integrated or done away completely?
3. Also, how are you planning on handling the aural (audio) "progressive taxi" taxi directives from default ATC along with your own "Follow me" vehicles, etc.?

[virtuali]

1. So, ParkMe is going to become an integrated product/feature into GSX and NOT a separate tool as was previously stated?

ParkMe WILL become a separate tool, as previously stated, and that tool is named GSX, since it does way more than "Park" you.

2. What do you mean by "without a docking system"?  Will this also be a feature that is integrated or done away completely?

I can only mean what I've said: if a parking has a docking system, that will work as it always worked until now with ParkMe and a docking system. If a parking has no docking system, there will be a marshaller in place of the docking system AND a ParkMe evaluation.

Which also means, until now ParkMe was only available on selected parkings that had a docking system, now it will be available on every parking.

3. Also, how are you planning on handling the aural (audio) "progressive taxi" taxi directives from default ATC along with your own "Follow me" vehicles, etc.?

We are not planning any changes or interaction to default ATC, because the default ATC will decide on its own which parking assign, while in GSX you can obviously select any parking of the airport, the two might match only if you purposely selected in GSX the same parking the default ATC gave you and, even in that case, it's not sure the path chosen by the FollowMe vehicle would coincide exactly with the one GSX calculates.

[JamesChams]

...

3. Also, how are you planning on handling the aural (audio) "progressive taxi" taxi directives from default ATC along with your own "Follow me" vehicles, etc.?

We are not planning any changes or interaction to default ATC, because the default ATC will decide on its own which parking assign, while in GSX you can obviously select any parking of the airport, the two might match only if you purposely selected in GSX the same parking the default ATC gave you and, even in that case, it's not sure the path chosen by the FollowMe vehicle would coincide exactly with the one GSX calculates.

Is it possible, using SimConnect as an e.g.,  to get the Default ATC text variable sent to the Kneeboard and ATC Window?  If so, then all that would be needed is for you to write an interpretor program to communicate that (taxiway-to-taxiway ATC instruction) to your GSX *FollowMe* system (just like what happens with the PINK line when the progressive taxi option is requested)... this way your program will be 100% compatible with FS' ATC and remove any problems that might arise with incursion on the taxiways for the users/AI.  

It can also function as default so that instead of the pilot/user having to (using the GSX Menu) always know where to park specifically (at a spot/on the ramp).  He/she seemlessly communicates with FS' ATC and GSX makes it happen transparently to the user; which is BTW what we do in the real world at any Class B, C, or D operating environments if not operating as part 121 and assigned specific designated gates, but even they have to follow (ATC) the Tower Ground controllers directives on how/where to go to get to their assigned terminal gate(s).
Ofcourse, you can still have the GSX Menu option of selecting your own gate/spot of choice, but this way it is more *real* to the user and more functional as well, IMHO, along with FS' ATC as well.  


BTW: You've never said that ParkMe was going to become GSX before now; we were always led to believe that ParkMe would become its own tool just by itself, like XPOI.

Ciao!

[virtuali]

Is it possible, using SimConnect as an e.g.,  to get the Default ATC text variable sent to the Kneeboard and ATC Window?

No, it's not, the only variable that can be read from Simconnect, it's the assigned parking, but not the actual path of the progressive taxi feature.

this way your program will be 100% compatible with FS' ATC and remove any problems that might arise with incursion on the taxiways for the users/AI.

No, it will only ensure the two calculated paths being the same, ONLY if you decide to accept the parking assigned by the ATC, in all the other situations, it will be useless so, it doesn't make any sense to do all that work just for that specific case, one of the most useful features in GSX is to allow the user to choose a different parking than the ATC assigned one.

Incursion problems don't have anything to do with this, the default AIs handle this by stopping when they get close to the user airplane so, it's the user that has to get around them, and there's no way to change this. Well, we changed this for our own service vehicles because, with the default AI behavior, they couldn't get close to the user airplane for servicing it!

It can also function as default so that instead of the pilot/user having to (using the GSX Menu) always know where to park specifically (at a spot/on the ramp).  He/she seemlessly communicates with FS' ATC and GSX makes it happen transparently to the user

This can be probably done, if you don't do anything, GSX might assume you selected the default ATC assigned parking. However, right now the GSX menu is a two step selection, first it asks which parking you want to go, then it asks if you want a Follow Me car so we would need to change it a bit, to make it transparent with the ATC.

BTW: You've never said that ParkMe was going to become GSX before now; we were always led to believe that ParkMe would become its own tool just by itself, like XPOI.

Which is exactly what is happening: ParkMe IS going to become a tool by itself, and that tool is called GSX. Or, are you trying to say that, by changing its name and adding other features too, it's not a separate tool anymore ?

[Bruce Hamilton]

Which is exactly what is happening: ParkMe IS going to become a tool by itself, and that tool is called GSX.

What I read from that is the features of ParkMe are going to be incorporated into GSX, and once we download it, the tool we currently know as ParkMe will cease to exist.  Is that correct?

[virtuali]

What I read from that is the features of ParkMe are going to be incorporated into GSX, and once we download it, the tool we currently know as ParkMe will cease to exist.  Is that correct?

Correct, ParkMe will be just one of the many GSX features and, since GSX works without any registration with our airports, it will work just like before (and much more, because *all* GSX features will work for free at our airports), but as a separate download.

[eirikc]

Yes, of course, the marshaller is one of the main GSX features. It will be fully animated, using native FSX skinned animations so, very smooth and realistic.

Great

Cant wait for this