Would be nice if the difference between parking spot & gate would be shown in form of an icon when you zoom to details on the worldmap. I often find myself picking spots I regret after I’m ingame.
For example
Parking could show parking strip icon
small gate an airplane hangar
medium gate passenger boarding stairs
Large gate a ramp icon
Well, when you pick a spot, you can read what the parking spot type is from the drop down menu. If you don’t like what it is, you can pick another parking spot either from the same drop down menu to a parking spot that you prefer, or pick another icon and see what it is from the same drop down menu again.
You can check from here until you’re happy and you can start your flight.
Seems like a hassle, when there could be a size/colour/icon distinction between the dots as well.
My suggestion would be to have square icons for gate/jetway stands, and dots for the GA stands. Then have a size difference between the dots based on the gate size. Perhaps add some lines inside the dots/squares, where every line is a size larger than small. I’d say that fits a little more with the current map aesthetic.
It does need to fit the current map aesthetic I guess yush. I can’t really tell the difference by the drop down menu & still end up with spots I don’t like.
The tag large/medium/small help somewhat at least,but still end up in spots I don’t like quite often.
Certainly interesting suggestions.Only colour icons might still not be enough clarification.With size of icon however it might be enough & clear enough.Different icons would help a lot
& the suggestions of @Supermuskox might work too.
Another possibility might be a preview in a small window of the chosen spot before you start loading into the game.A camera showing it from all angles in mini map form.
A mini version of when the game is done loading & where you have to hit play.
Clarification with icons of different size/shape/colour might be less of a pain than a mini preview of the spot.A mini preview of all the spots might starting causing loading issues or so though.
A few more inspiring examples maybe:
The new icon for parking could be inspired by this
The representation of parking spots is very poor.
If you select one from the map it will overwrite any flight plan you have loaded with a new route.
The spot numbers in most airports don’t match what they are in reality (an issue when flying online with Vatsim etc).
The drop down list is too small - you can’t read all the info and you can’t seem to resize it so you can.
The airport information placard often obscures some of the parking spots.
All in all a very poorly executed part of the sim and causes me more headaches than anything else.
I feel ya with the headaches.Overal the icons/symboles & legend is vague.
There indeed is a lot of room for improvement there. Also so the players can set up the start
of a flight exactly as wanted.Its hard to find some good inspiring images
that could allow for more accurate flight planning but found a few more inspiring ones I think
;
Been looking for more parking outlines.The outine might be translated to icon form? for Icon it has to remain simply though.Highlighting zones might be like a helping guide to be sure that you select the type of starting spot you want.
Highlighting could also play a role in distinguishing parking vs gate zones etc based on colour codes. So players can identify each very fast in flight planning. I think that is also very important. The icon would have to be in synch & perfect balance with the highlighting in that case though. For it to remain simple & yet informative.
