[HOW-TO] LittleNavMap Quick Start Quide - 2.6 BETA

Form the Author: Little Navmap is a free open source flight planner, navigation tool, moving map, airport search and airport information system for Flight Simulator X, Prepar3D and X-Plane and is available for Windows, Apple macOS and Linux .

It provides a detailed Realtime map with waypoints, airport information along with a suite of user tools such as the ability to bookmark/save points of interest during flight (great for VFR) etc… The tool is extremely configurable, sometimes to a fault but it does the job quite well.

Special acknowledgement for the Author Adrian who provides this amazing tool for free. Do not hesitate to donate on his website to support enhancements.

In this wiki we will cover:

1.Installation
2.Connecting to MSFS2020 and Running LittleNavmap
3.Flight Tracking (In Progress)
4.Saving Points of Interest
5.Advanced Features
(TODO)

Installation

You can download it at Little Navmap for windows, MacOS and Linux. It is a zip archive that does not come with an installer. Simply unzip and copy to your preferred folder. You can create a shortcut to the executable if you so desire.

  1. Once you launch LittleNavmap you will be greeted with a dialog box recommending the installation of online elevation data for better accuracy of the Digital Elevation Model (DEM). It is not necessary but recommended. To get to the data go to GLOBE and chose the tiles you are interested in or simply get the full set by clicking on All Tiles in One .zip file.
    Once you have have downloaded and unzipped the archive, save it to your preferred location and go to:
    Tools->Options. On the left hand pane select Cache and Files. Under Flight Elevation Profile Chose Use Offline GLOBE Elevation Data and point it to your GLOBE directory.

2.This next part involves the selection of the source of your nav data. Two options, use the default navigraph data provided with LNM or point it to your X-Plane or FSX/Prepar3D installation locatiion. The second option is best as your dataset will be a lot more exhaustive relative to number of airports but also details provided (taxiways for example).

If you are prompted as below, you will need to either point it to your X-plane/Prepar3D or if you do not have either installed, simply click “Close” we will use the navigraph database instead. If you do have X-Plane or Prepar3D click “Load” and wait for the navdata to be loaded. The LNM author is working on a mechanism to do the same using the MSFS BGL files but this is a work in progress. We will update the Wiki once avaialble.

In case you do not have X-Plane or Prepar3D installed, we will use the Navigraph method instead. This is accomplished by choosing the option “Use Navigraph for All Features”

As stated above this is a limiting option, the warning in LNM states “This means that aprons, taxiways, parking positions, runway surface information and other information is not available. Additionally smaller airports might be missing.”

Note that LNM has now been updated and its beta supports MSFS scenery library selection. There are however limitations including the inability to load SIDS and STARS from MSFS. To use MSFS database simply go to “Scenery Library” and chose the MSFS Scenery Library. Once selected you will have to load the library via “Scenery Library”->“Load Scenery Library”.

We are now ready to connect to the simulator.

Connecting to MSFS2020

We will now connect to the simulator. The first step is to install the simconnect library from the author’s page:

Unzip and install SimConnect

Connect to the simulator. Tools->Flight Simulator Connection

connect

Make sure you Uncheck the 2 checkboxes. “Fetch AI…”

You are also able to run LNM from a remote machine. In that case you would have to download LittleNavConnect and install that on the machine running the sim and install LNM on the machine you want to use as a client.

Once you launch LittleNavConnect you will be greeted by
lnconnect

Make sure “FSX or Prepar3D” is selected. Click on the Settings button and disable all AI Fetching
lnconnect2

Flight Tracking

Once connected, LNM should display you aircraft position and speed via the map. You wil usually find the map on the right hand side of the window. You can resize it, move it, undock it.

For a more complete experience I recommend adding your flight plan to LNM. This will allow you see to see your progress in real time and take advantage of features inherent to LNM like Top Of Descent calculation, time to next waypoint etc.

There are two ways to enter your flight plan, you can upload a supported flight plan file downloaded from simbrief or you can enter the waypoints by hand. For MSFS I suggest you simply copy the waypoints from the NAVLOG.

To create the file plan. Go to Flight Plan->New Flight Plan from Route Description

You can then copy the waypoints from the NAVLOG into the window. Make sure to add the departure airport first and finish it with the arrival airport. Click on Read Route Description to parse the route. If all is well you can then click on Create Flight Plan.

flight_track_11

You are now tracking your flight along its route.

The Flight plan profile shows your altitude and provides a TOC (Top Of Climb) and TOD (Top Of Descent) indicator. You need to enter the flight max altitude in the flight plan window to show the proper profile.

Saving Points of Interest

To save the location of a particular point of interest, simply right click on the area and click Add Userpoint.

You can then provide additional details about your point of interest including Type, tag and a description.

You can find your userpoints under the Search window in the *Userpoints" tab. You can also do a search via the menu “Userdata->Userpoint Search” or even export them to CSV.

Creating a Flight Plan with Custom Waypoints

Of special interest for VFR flights, you can create a flight plan with custom waypoints that will allow you to essentially identify points of interests that you will fly to using the GPS. Great for a quick bush strip.

We will be exploring the California coast around BigSur departing from Monterey Regional and Landing at the Carmel Valley Village Airport (KCAL). Very scenic and challenging approach…

The first step is to create the flight plan. We will start our flight at Monterey Regional Airport (KMRY). Right click and set the Airport as your departure point.

First Create a new flight plan
lnm0

Second, select the departure airport.


Next we will add a series of waypoints by right clicking on the area of interest and selecting “Append Position to Flight Plan”.

Repeat this process with the waypoints of your choice until you are ready to add your destination airport. At which point simply right click on the airport and select “Set Airport …As Destination…”. Your completed plan will look like below

Last step is to export the flight plan to MSFS.

Once you launch MSFS, go to the World Map and load the file plan just saved.

Once loaded into the plane the flight plan will reflect your map.

You can download the plan from here if you want to fly it. Very scenic.

IFR Monterey Rgnl (KMRY) to Carmel Valley Village Airport (KCAL).pln (2.7 KB)

Have a safe flight!

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