In FlyFreely, your intended flight area is represented by a 'Location'
Locations can be created separately, or as part of the mission planning process. For information on creating Locations, click here.
Accurately defining your mission location is an important part of planning. Doing so will allow you to identify potential hazards, privacy concerns and other issues that may affect your mission.
Adding Locations
You can add a new location while planning a mission, or independently in the locations widget. Once created you'll be able to reuse the location as needed. If you're creating a new location from the Mission Planning dialogue, the location name will default to the mission name. If you're planning to fly at this location more than once, you can rename it to a more general descriptive name.
Airspace Information
Although locations are displayed in 2D form, proper mission planning obviously needs to include the 3rd dimension - airspace. FlyFreely's mapping function includes layers for the following types:
- Heliports
- Commercial Aerodromes
- Controlled Airspace (Class C and D)
- Restricted Areas
- National Parks
Each layer can be toggled on/off, to more clearly show the airspace and allow you to better understand the mission environment.
Please note: While the airspace data provided in the FlyFreely app should be accurate, it is not an officially approved source for this information. We recommend supplementing FlyFreely's mapping functionality with an official source of airspace data.
KML Files
KML (Keyhole Markup Language) is a file format used to display geographical data. KML files are used in many mapping and related applications, including Google Earth. FlyFreely allows you to import existing KML files to create your mission locations, and export locations in KML format for use in other software.
KML files can have many different formats, FlyFreely currently supports 2D polygon type files. Other types of KML features (for example, a path-type file) won't work correctly. This is because locations are intended to define the mission area, not a specific path or route.
You can also export FlyFreely locations in KML format. This allows you to use the location in software such as Google Earth and other mapping applications.
An area-type KML file exported from FlyFreely and imported into Google Earth (area shaded in white)
For more information about creating a location, click here.