Exciting New Chrome Extension!

If you've been following along for a while, you'd know that I have been developing the "RadarAtlas" Google Chrome extension since October 2020. That's come a long way - feature additions, improvements, bug fixes, the whole nine. It works on any ADSB aircraft tracking map website that runs on tar1090 including localhost.

A couple of years ago, there was a "replay" function added to those tar1090 sites. You'd access that function by changing the URL to /?replay and you'd set some date/time parameters to view any aircraft that may come into view on the map during that time.

If you were super curious about aircraft that came or went, for example, from an NFL Super Bowl game, you'd use this feature to watch the map and make note of those aircraft. Then you'd be able to compile a list of everything that flew around that stadium around that time.

Those ADSB sites all work the same - you load up that /?replay URL, center the map on the area that interests you, change the date and Zulu time to those that interest you, and you click Play to replay the date and time that you've chosen. Depending on the zoom of the map that you're browser is displaying, those are the aircraft that display on the map. There's also a table on the website that dynamically changes - once an aircraft comes into your view, it appears on that table; once it flies away, it is no longer on the table.

Until now, watching aircraft was a labor-intensive routine, especially if you enjoy tracking aircraft and/or you were looking at an assortment of locations. You'd have watch the replay feature in real time, make a manual log of everything that could be interesting, then circle back to determine if what was found was even important or relevant.

Introducing my newest Chrome Extension: Map Logger by RadarAtlas. With this extension, you simply set the parameters that you would normally use with that replay feature but now you can totally walk away. The extension will log everything automatically based on the parameters that you set!

Let's do a walkthrough together of any interesting aircraft that came or went from Moffett Federal Airfield on 9/11/2024 between 6am and 4pm (local SF time).

• First make sure you have the extension installed. Add it to Chrome via the link here.
• Use a site like SavvyTime to convert Zulu to whatever time zone you're targeting.
  • We'll use Zulu and San Francisco to make our conversions. We can see that 6:00am SF time is 1:00pm Zulu (13:00)

• Load up your favorite ADSB aircraft tracking site's replay page. Mine is ADSBexchange. So for me that is https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?replay
• Change the date box and time slider to 9/11/24 and 13:00

Here's where it gets a little more important

• We want to make sure we're only targeting aircraft that are relevant to us, and please note this is probably different than what you're interested in

1. Firstly, I usually only care about private jets. Let's set the type code filter to log only those types. Use this filter which only looks at the type codes of aircraft that may be private jets. To put into simple terms, this filter is looking for gulfstreams, challengers, learjets, falcons, and cessnas. The pipe character is acting as a separator. The map will display all of these types if they're flying.
   1. GL|GA|CL|LJ|FA|F|C

• Using that type code in conjunction with the below type description will ensure we're only looking at jet aircraft:
  • L2J|L3J

• I also typically set the altitude to a parameter between 1 and 5000. This depends based on the part of the world that I'm viewing, but I do this so that while the map is using the replay feature (and that the Logger is logging aircraft relevant to me), I'm not erroneously capturing aircraft flying 10s of thousands of feet above the airport I'm trying to look at.
• Make sure that you press the Start Logger button on the extension itself. Long story short, this starts the mutation observer on the table. Any aircraft that flies across the view/map while you're using the replay function will be added to the list so long as you start the logger first.

• Press Play in the replay bar

Here's where you'd normally have to wait and intently watch. With the Map Logger extension, you can set your parameters, start the logger, and walk away. Go get a coffee and come back!

• Once you're back or the replay function has run long enough to your liking, click the Show Logged ICAOs button. You'll likely see a long list. Click the Copy Logged ICAOs button.
• You can now do whatever you want with that list. Open one by one, or do what you'd normally do with a long list of ICAOs.

Notes:

• when you use this extension again, you'll want to clear out the saved ICAOs - do so by using that Clear Logger Storage button
• the "K" button in your favorite ADSB site is helpful to know the time it flew across the map, but it will crash the site if you use it too long. Just make sure the "K" button is disabled before logging aircraft

I'd love if you tried it out, especially if you're a heavy ADSB user or if you use the replay function often.

If you're having issues, I'd really appreicate an email instead of a bad review. I'm always online and can help walk you through any issues. radaratlashelp@gmail.com