vaCentral Features and Questions for the community

[simpilot]

There are a number of features that are tied to the phpvms/vacentral api at this time, most of which are out of date and or seemingly unused. My questions to the community are;

1 - Does anyone still rely on the airport lookup function from the add airport section of the admin panel?

2 - Does anyone still use the live fuel prices, most of which have not been updated for quite some time (years)? (If anyone knows of a fuel price feed that I could hook to please let me know.)

3 - Does anyone use the navpoint database connection, once again that has not been updated in quite some time?

Also, would administrators be willing to upload a new vacentral api module your site to replace the existing to clear out a few deprecated functions and add any new ones?

EDIT: I have also seen quite a few requests for a live FlightAware schedule connection. I can do this and if enough airlines signed up for the service could probably get a small discount from FlightAware for the data feed. If this is something everyone desires I already have the code written so I could put it in place but you would have to make a nominal deposit to be used against data charges as you made searches. Any one still interested?

[joeri]

1- i have already a huge list of airports but fro mtime to time i need to add some and then its usefull some airports it works on and some it doesnt.

2- don't use it as its most of the time not working and reverting to the default one.

3-didn't know it was there

i am willing to upload a new module.

main reason i stopped using it in the past was the "unfair" points system and the somethimes site outache what cause the admin section to fault on my local server

[TennShadow]

1. I would love to have this function back if possible. When I did a huge schedule import I had to add over 150 airports. It was very time consuming.

2. I don't change from the default.

3. I didn't know this feature existed.

Yes - I would add a new VAcentral module

I got most of my current schedules from flightaware. I am interested, but before I commit I'd love to hear more about the pricing model and how it would integrate into PHPVMS etc.

[Jimmy_S]

1. I like it. Anything that is a time saver.

2. I would love this to work, but I can't find a live feed anymore.

3. Me too, didn't know about this feature.

Yes, I would add a new vaCentral module.

My schedules started out as retro Braniff schedules, however over time we have added lots of Flightaware schedules to be more user friendly. I would be interested in FlightAware data feed.

[in2tech]

1. I like it. Anything that is a time saver. - ditto (just wish someone would update the local.config file in the phpvms default download install with it in there)

2. Yes

3. No, also did not know it was there

[simpilot]

#1 & #2 are addressed here -> http://forum.phpvms.net/topic/22757-vacentral-status-as-of-83015/#entry120870

[simpilot]

Ok, #1 and #2 I believe are addressed, #3 I do not see becoming a reality with the constantly changing/updating of waypoints and the proprietary nature of the data.

What I am up against now is trying to find a better/new way of ranking airlines. The current algorithm is pretty complex and I believe started out with a good plan but due to some limitations of the previous system was limited itself in what can be measured. I am open to new ideas on how airlines could/should be ranked.

Data I have access to that is somewhat valid is basically PIREP data. Pilot data currently being transmitted is vague at best.

Somehow I want to base ranking on the PIREP data but make it more relevant to current operations. Currently the historical data weighs more than I would like within the algorithm. Longevity should play a role in the ranking but at the same time an airline that has been around for ten years but only flies once a month should not be ranked ahead of an airline that has been around for two years and flies 30 times a month.

I also wonder about the weight of manual PIREPS.

Legitimate ideas or thoughts anyone?

NOTE: More than likely this is going to require an update to the current phpVMS module and is one of the reasons of consolidating the api all at vaCentral.

[simpilot]

One issue that I have found requires changes to the CentralData.class.php file on your site. You can find the changes here -> http://forum.phpvms.net/topic/22850-phpvms-centraldata-updates/