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[TRIAL] VATATIS - New ATIS Generation System


Luke Brown
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Our current method of generating ATIS's, courtesy of UniATIS has been around as long as I've been on VATSIM (for those that don't know me, that's quite a long time) And yes, I know that's not as long as @Chris Pawley has been here. Recently, we've been having a few issues with UniATIS falling over, it being somewhat abandoned and it's difficult to see any further new features being added. Luckily we have a solution.

Introducing VATATIS...

VATATIS is designed to be a modernised replacement of the UniATIS site, offering some improvements in customisability, automation and day to day ease of use

The standout features for me so far:

  • ATIS letters harmonised server side, so everyone is on the same letter, always.
  • Automatic detection of top down controllers, i.e. automating "for start clearance call 123.456"

These are only a couple of things that I've noticed so far, but we as a division have the oppourtunity to work with Alex (VATATIS developer) to make it do what we want.

So, here comes the part where we're asking for help. As an intial test we will be asking controllers who want to participate to use the VATATIS system at three trial airfields:

  • EGSS (Stansted)
  • EGPH (Edinburgh)
  • EGGD (Bristol)

Simply replace your ATISmaker url in EuroScope withe the one provided by VATATIS. That's it. Then all we ask is that you provide feedback on where the system is either providing weird responses, malformed ATIS's or something just doesn't look right.

More details on the system can be found on our VATATIS test site if you're too lazy to even find your way there and read the documentation, the url you need to use is:
https://uktest.vatatis.nz/gen?apptype=ILS&arr=$arrrwy($atisairport)&dep=$deprwy($atisairport)&metar=$metar($atisairport)

Once you get it to generate, note the letter in the big white box in the ES dialog, and match your ATIS letter to it. The letter will be the same for everyone as it's handled by VATATIS.

NOTE: Whilst the test site has a login button, it will not work, and serves no purpose (yet)

Providing feedback

To give feedback on the sytem, either reply to this topic with screenshots of your ES ATIS dialog so we can see what has gone wrong or join the VATATIS discord.

Look forward to hearing what you think!

Cheers,
Luke

Edited by Luke Brown
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Thomas Mills

Couples of notes/ tips from me (will update as I mess about):

  • Currently there may / may not be an issue with VATATIS returning the wrong airport after an ATIS change, this seems to be fixed by just clicking 'Test URL' again - worth double checking after a change, let us/ VATATIS know if you notice this behaviour.
  • VATATIS detects which position is logged on but doesn't seem to do this very often - if a position comes on/ disconnects below you, wait a minute for the data to update, then click 'Test URL' and it should update - this is because while VATATIS polls the controller data every minute, ES only requests a new ATIS on metar change, and would take till then to do it automatically
  • The ES ATIS letter should update with but doesn't always seem to do this, keep an eye and let us/ VATATIS know when you experience this - this might be related to an issue with VATATIS seeming to 'skip' ATIS letters

 

Edited by Thomas Mills
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Luke,

Fantastic Work.... As I am in the mood for a bit more ATIS Bot work please get in contact if you want any changes on the AFV Text to voice ATIS server let me know.  We did a lot of work with the Scandies earlier in the year but if you need anything just shout.

Cheers

G

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1 hour ago, Callum Wilkinson said:

Hello all,

by the looks of things egnt does not work yet?

image.png.5dc8c24693660e93a4a1715464676849.png

Callum

Please reread the information above the trial is only at 3 airports, egnt isn't one of them I'm afraid 

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5 hours ago, Edward Berkley said:

Hi all, was testing the atis at EGGD and noticed that it was giving the incorrect departure frequency.

image.png.4a34b92e1f30e147bbc1a9cfb037a5ed.png

Nevermind, it seems to have fixed itself

Edited by Edward Berkley
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Gail Bartlett

Not sure that it's generating the right transition level at EGSS. With a QNH of 1008, my understanding (and the crib sheet's understanding) is that it should be FL75, not FL65.
image.png.595c1e04e4818ce998c60578a26b561e.png
 

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Just nit-picking based on what I have seen but there’s no need to report the surface condition when it is dry x 3 and where does it get the runway state from just out of interest?

It should report visibilities more than 5000 metres as kilometres i.e. 6 kilometres, 7 kilometres etc.

I would have to see it decipher more complex METARs to see whether it stands up as a valid replacement of UniATIS because I put a lot of effort in coding the UniATIS UK specific settings to output the correct weather from all possible METAR codes.

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Thomas Mills
22 minutes ago, Callum Presley said:

Just nit-picking based on what I have seen but there’s no need to report the surface condition when it is dry x 3 and where does it get the runway state from just out of interest?

It should report visibilities more than 5000 metres as kilometres i.e. 6 kilometres, 7 kilometres etc.

I would have to see it decipher more complex METARs to see whether it stands up as a valid replacement of UniATIS because I put a lot of effort in coding the UniATIS UK specific settings to output the correct weather from all possible METAR codes.

I've passed your feedback along to the VATATIS dev. Do you remember any other METAR quirks that might be worth mentioning? Ofc keen to get this as realistic as possible.

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2 minutes ago, Thomas Mills said:

I've passed your feedback along to the VATATIS dev. Do you remember any other METAR quirks that might be worth mentioning? Ofc keen to get this as realistic as possible.

Off the top of my head:

• had to code it to report cloud below 100ft correctly e.g. BKN000 as broken below 100ft.
• I had to code vicinity weather like VCFG to say Fog in the vicinity rather than in the vicinity Fog.
• TSRA thunderstorm with moderate rain rather than just thunderstorm rain etc
• AUTO METAR decoding for CB detected or TCU detected. 

• I coded it to say hectopascals if it was <1000. 
• There were various glitches that had to be corrected like if it was temperature M00 it would just say zero so that had to be coded to say minus zero. Or if an item was missing from the METAR like 12/// it would say temperature 12 dew point . Instead of just not saying dew point.

• The military METARs needed a lot of custom coding to correctly decode the current colour state and also custom parameters for the military ATIS.

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Thomas Mills
11 hours ago, Callum Presley said:

Off the top of my head:

• had to code it to report cloud below 100ft correctly e.g. BKN000 as broken below 100ft.
• I had to code vicinity weather like VCFG to say Fog in the vicinity rather than in the vicinity Fog.
• TSRA thunderstorm with moderate rain rather than just thunderstorm rain etc
• AUTO METAR decoding for CB detected or TCU detected. 

• I coded it to say hectopascals if it was <1000. 
• There were various glitches that had to be corrected like if it was temperature M00 it would just say zero so that had to be coded to say minus zero. Or if an item was missing from the METAR like 12/// it would say temperature 12 dew point . Instead of just not saying dew point.

• The military METARs needed a lot of custom coding to correctly decode the current colour state and also custom parameters for the military ATIS.

Thanks Callum, I've passed that along - any more feedback absolutely welcome.

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Fair chance this is me setting it up wrong, but on EGSS last night I noticed that the information letter in Euroscope didn't keep track with the changes. I set it to the letter provided when I first generated it (A), when it updated Euroscope set it to B automatically, but when I checked again on the vatatis site it was showing as D. I assume this is because other stations were online and new METARs were generating for them in the meantime. I checked the vatatis site each time it updated and just manually set which letter to display each time but was a bit of a faff.

Edited by Dean Gibbs
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  • 2 weeks later...

Have tried to connect Vatatis at Bristol today and get this (attached). Also, when I click on the link to the Vatatis Discord, it says the invite has expired.

 

Bristol Vatatis test 14-8-2021.jpg

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