Jeppesen is taking a new look at old Visual Flight Rules (VFR) charts, releasing a new series at AirVenture designed to enhance GPS navigation in North America.
“We took a clean slate approach to VFR charting,” says Christopher Dean, product manager for Jeppesen’s business and general aviation group. “The new charts were designed by pilots for pilots.”
Jeppesen incorporated direct feedback from customers to design a series of charts built around actual flight paths used most by VFR pilots. The company aims to help pilots minimize the number of charts they need for a single flight.
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Jeppesen’s VFR charts are also designed for ease of use, incorporating better use of color, contrast and intuitive symbols, and integrating aviation data with the latest cultural and terrain data.
Cultural data from NAVTEQ provides up-to-date information on roads, cities and points of interest that are easily identified from the air, and terrain data from the Space Shuttle radar missions provides a realistic depiction of the earth below.
The new VFR+GPS coverage areas will initially include en-route and area charts stretching from Miami to Atlanta, with expansion to cover the entire US by the end of 2009. The latest en-route chart, featured as a Special Oshkosh Commemorative Chart available at the Jeppesen exhibit booth during AirVenture, includes Wisconsin and Illinois.
At AirVenture, Jeppesen also took the opportunity to unveil a new corporate logo designed to reflect its expansion into related transportation markets.
“For our long-standing aviation customers, the message is that we are much more than ‘just that old chart company’,” says Mark Van Tine, Jeppesen president and CEO. “In addition to providing mission-critical navigational information, today we use leading-edge technologies to help our customers optimize their operations as well.”
Source: Flight International
