Has there been any update on the ability to add precise custom horizon limits via a text file or the like generated by a surveying app?
The current beta implementation is rather imprecise and a bit clunky to work with, whereas generating a file via a phone app that takes advantage of all of the phone’s location sensors yields a precise alt/az map of obstacles around the observing site. I believe there was talk of something like this coming, but it’s been over a year, and the basic custom horizon feature still stuck in beta (as far as I can tell). This feature would be a MASSIVE QoL improvement, especially when trying to shoot multiple targets over the course of a night.
It exists but it is not bug free at the moment. If you’re using an AP file then it should work fine but the import from the Theodolite application is a little buggy. We showcased this at NEAF 6 months ago:
If you use Theodolite to create a horizon with specific points it will likely leave you in a better place than doing an auto generation at the moment. But it is likely to still have issues.
Also if you have other formats or tools that you’re using to generate these files please let me know so we can look at supporting them.
So is it possible to use a AP file currently? I have one I use for APCC. When I click the Import button in the Horizon Editor with the latest Beta version it has a popup that says “Coming soon!..” It would be great to test that feature out.
Oh that’s cool; hadn’t seen that posted anywhere that it was live…if it was I completely missed it. Mine kept saying “coming soon” last I checked. Yeah I have the theodolite app for iOS (i looked for similar on android but couldn’t find anything. I believe there WAS an app a few years back that did the same but the dev stopped updating and it doesnt work on modern android versions). Will have to give it a try later on, but that’s exactly what I was looking for!
Edit: Just tested now on the latest beta: can confirm it still says ‘coming soon’ when I try to import a custom file. Is there some beta version where this is unlocked?
Yeah, I think Ken removed this at some point as it does still need some polish. For the most part it “works-ish” but I need to clean up the import some. I’ll devote some time to it and try and get it knocked out.
IIRC just the Theodolite import is broken as it tends to not play nice with the display.
Yeah I mean even if it could be re-enabled for the time being that would be great to tinker with it, even if it’s a little rough. It’s fairly easy to convert the theodolite output into a simple alt az txt file in excel, but just having the ability to easily put in a precise horizon even if the conversion is a little clunky would be awesome.
quick followup question as I see the custom import has been re-enabled in the latest beta:
What file formats currently work with this feature, and what data is SGP expecting within that file?
IIRC theodolite app generates a text file as well as a .KML file when you generate a horizon. I played around with the app some months ago but the import feature wasn’t active at that point. I believe the text file has all sorts of headers for lat lon, site altitude, alt and az etc. I took the text file and made a simple 2-column alt / az csv file that i was using to try to make a custom horizon manually using the SGP module, but the the auto importer doesn’t consider that a ‘horizon file’ it looks like, nor does it seem to like the text file with all the information that Theodolite generates. I’m hoping to be able to take that output and put it into a format that SGP accepts, even if I have to tweak it manually in excel or something.
I appreciate your working on this feature, thanks!
Documentation is forthcoming. For Theodolite import just take the .csv file from the emailed log and input that directly into SGP. No need to mess around with the columns, etc.
Currently SGP supports 3 data formats for importing:
Theodolite data - grab the .csv from the email and feed it into SGP.
HZN data - CSV with no headers. in the format of AZ,ALT
