Waypoints

Waypoints are used to navigate especially when paragliding cross country. Depending on what waypoints are used for, the term Waypoint (WP) can be interchangeably used with Turnpoint (TP), Marker or Point Of Interest (POI).

The XC Vario comes with an integrated waypoint planner that can be used to create and edit waypoints. These waypoints then can be easily connected to a route which assists when flying cross country (XC). Waypoints and Routes can be also imported and shared using .cup the cup file format.

waypoints during flight

What Is A Waypoint

Waypoints mark geographical locations that denote either turnpoints relevant for flying cross country or can be used for orientation in general. Waypoints are defined by:

a latitude and longitude such as 45.9032 and 11.0731 - defining a location,
a radius such as 500m making for horizontal bounds - extending the location to an area,
a minimum altitude like 1200m making for a vertical bound - extending the area to a space in air much like an airspace,
a short and distinct name for distinguishing

and ideally a short description helpful in identifying and using the waypoint itself. With that definition, on a map like Google Maps, a waypoint is represented by a circle with radius and center defined by latitude and longitude. Adding the vertical dimension to a waypoint, it is comparable to a private airspace of interest.

Types of Waypoints

There are different usages of Waypoints in paragliding:

Waypoints can be used to indicate a region of high thermal activity commonly referred to as thermal hotspots. Having an overview of thermal hotspots is especially helpful in the beginning or when flying a site for the first time and can help to extend your flight time. Find out more on how hotspots can increase your airtime.
For Flying Cross Country, multiple waypoints are connected to define a planned route. Some of these waypoints will act as markers or hotspots and enhance orientation when flying towards turnpoints. Others will be used as the aforementioned turnpoints. Upon reaching this waypoint on the planned route, the pilot will be turning to another waypoint to either maximize the flight's distance. Open or closed triangles are one of the common FAI distances.
Within a competition, waypoints will act as one of many mandatory regions to reach in a given order. Routes can be zigzag starting at a given time within the first waypoint and ending at a given time in a given waypoint making all waypoints act as turnpoints. Turnpoints can also be used within a multiple flights and days route such as the Red Bull X Alps.

Waypoint Planner

Creating a Waypoint

To create a waypoint, simply make a click on the map at the location where you want the waypoint to be. A marker will appear. Click on the marker to see the info window. Click on the info window to see all the information of the waypoint and to edit the waypoint. The following information can be set:

a name
a latitude and longitude in decimal format
a radius in meter
an altitude in meter

and notes / additional information to attach to the waypoint.

Note: If you have Airspaces loaded make a long click to create a new waypoint.

Editing a Waypoint

To edit a waypoint, select the waypoint first, then click on the info window and change the information in the upcoming dialog window.

Click Save to store the waypoint in the internal database.
Click Delete to remove the waypoint from the database.
Click Cancel to leave the waypoint unedited

Hint: A waypoint can be easily moved to another location by long clicking it and simply dragging it to another location on the map.

Importing Waypoints

Waypoints can be imported from .cup files. Open the Navigation menu and press the + .CUP button, choose the waypoint symbol and select a .cup waypoint file in the following dialog and the import will start.

Upon importing:

the waypoints appear on the map
the related tasks / routes appear in the list below the map
- Click on an item in the list to see the route.
- Long Click on an item to edit edit or delete the route.

Hint: If you are importing waypoints from a location like google drive, please make sure that you have a stable connection.

using the waypoint editor

Creating Routes

Unless you are flying a simple one way and return task, a single waypoint might not be it. A route is a list of two or more ordered waypoints that can be used to come up with more complex tasks.

Creating a Route

To create a new route, click the +.CUP button, select the line symbol and simply connect existing waypoints on the map.

For connecting existing waypoints select a waypoint by clicking it and the info window will appear. Click the waypoint another time to add it to a route. The route will be added to the end of the list.

Click on another waypoint to select and the info window will appear. Click the same waypoint another time and it will be added to the route. Do this with as many waypoints you like.

Creating a route also works with no existing waypoints. Simply make a long click on the map and a waypoint will appear. Make another long click on the map and another waypoint will be created and added to the route. Proceed this way until your route is finished.

Hint: Add airspaces and ground level information first to see them on the map before creating a route. See Airspaces and Terrain for more details.

Hint: Make sure to activate the desired route to fly.

Editing a route

To Edit an existing route click on the desired route in the list. The map will move to the first point of the route.

For Adding one or more waypoints simply click on an existing waypoint and the info window of the waypoint will appear. Click another time on the waypoint and the waypoint will be added to the last waypoint of the route.

To Delete a waypoint from the route, click on the waypoint once and wait for it to be centered. Click on the waypoint

If you want to delete or edit a waypoint click on the waypoint to have the info window appear. Click on the info window and update the information or hit delete to remove the waypoint.

To Change the latitude and longitude of the waypoint you can also drag the waypoint to another location by long clicking and dragging it to another place on the map.

creating a route from waypoints

Navigating Waypoints

Selecting A Route For Navigation

Go to the Navigation menu and activate / deactivate a route from the list with the switch button to the left. The active routes with waypoints will be shown on the map with a dotted line towards the next waypoint. Colors are used to indicate the status of a waypoint.

A red circle means - this waypoint has not been entered and not been exited. yet
A yellow circle means - this waypoint has been entered but not exited yet.
A green circle means - this waypoint has been entered and exited.

If a waypoint has been entered and exited it is regarded as DONE. The dashed line will now point to the next waypoint of the route.

It is not strictly necessary to enter and exit a waypoint to advance to the next waypoint of your route. You can set the next waypoint manually using waypoint navigation via:

a bluetooth remote (recommended)
the proximity sensor of your phone
using the waypoint buttons on the screen

The behavior can be set in the Settings -> Waypoints.

Using A Bluetooth Remote

Switching waypoints with a bluetooth remote is the recommended way to navigate waypoints during flight. For this to work, make sure that you have the bluetooth remote paired with your phone. Pairing needs to be done within the systems settings of your phone just as you would pair e. g. headphones. Once paired, keys are interpreted by the XC Vario App. For this have the bluetooth remote setting enabled in Menu -> Waypoints.

Pressing Next/Prev buttons will toggle through available fields on the screen. Press Play/Pause to lock on to or unlock a field:

Altitude field - Next/Prev will toggle through available altitudes like QNH, QFE, etc.
Waypoint field - Next/Prev will select next or previous waypoint from your route
Compass field - Next/Prev will set map to fixed north, Plus/Minus will zoom in/out of the map
Orientation field - Next/Prev will toggle landscape/portrait mode

A bluetooth remote is an affordable solution to conveniently toggle through waypoints.

🙂 Using Screen Buttons With Stylus Pen 🙂

Another good option which gives you more control that the bluetooth remote to select waypoints in flight is to use the screen buttons. As this might be difficult with gloves on, we recommend using a Stylus Pen for in flight navigation. They are inexpensive and you can tie them to the cockpit, to your chest or any other location that is easy to reach. This enable you to control almost any functionality of the vario app in flight.

Touching the map during flight two buttons will appear. Press Next WP or Prev WP to select the next or previous waypoint from the route.

Touching the Waypoint Distance field will bring up a waypoint selection menu where you can scroll through a list, see details for each waypoint and more.

Just make sure you can grab the pens adequately in flight with gloves on. You might wanna go with Stylus Pen for kids as they easy to grasp and often come with some attachment possibilities like a reserved hole.

Using The Proximity Sensor

The proximity sensor is the sensor that turns off the display when making a phone call. This sensor can also be used to toggle waypoints. The sensor is located in the notification bar of your phone. Cover the sensor and after roughly one second you will see a yellow dot followed shortly after by a green dot.

Releasing shortly after the green dot the current waypoint will be discarded and the next waypoint will be set active. You are toggling forward through the route!
Not releasing after the green dot but holding instead will toggle waypoints backward through the list. You are toggling backward through the route!

If for some reason a bluetooth remote is not an option to switch between waypoints, using the proximity sensor is a way to navigate with gloves during flight.

Calculation Of Distances

The XC Vario is not intended for professional pilots taking part in competitions but rather for frequent flyers, occasional and recreational pilots. Nevertheless, it can be interesting to know what distance the route flown would have had. That is why during flight, distances are calculated continuously and independently of your route.

distance to start - current location to start
one way distance - longest distance between two points of your flight track
free 3TP distance - longest distance by setting three turnpoints between takeoff and landing
triangle distance - longest distance for three turnpoints forming an open or closed triangle

Navigating With A Bluetooth Remote

toggle through vario fields and values

Using The Integrated Waypoint Planner

create or import waypoints and routes

<< Using Airspaces

Altitudes >>

Google Sites

Report abuse