Planet Lat/Long Targeting or Tracking

[Darth Wonko]

It's extremely frustrating trying to find coordinates of latitude and longitude when orbiting or flying on a planet. It would be nice to have some sort of heading system or targeting system which would allow us to find these things more easily.

One would think that with an entire galaxy mapped, our ships would have a common compass onboard.

Thanks!

 

[FrogsFriend]

Right there across the top centre of your HUD

 

[Darth Wonko]

Yes, it does show our heading. However, navigation is still a pain in the rear. I guess my request is to simply make it easier to navigate to coordinates.

 

[John Guevara]

i wish also a ingame system, but currently there exists some third-party-tools, like E.D.I.S.O.N., here is same thread: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/planetary-coordinate-marker.509675/#post-7758185

 

[varonica]

I'm not sure what the problem is, you say;

One would think that with an entire galaxy mapped, our ships would have a common compass onboard.

Thanks!

And when someone does point out that there is indeed a common compass on board you still find need to complain.

Yes, it does show our heading. However, navigation is still a pain in the rear. I guess my request is to simply make it easier to navigate to coordinates.

It takes no more than a few minutes to navigate to a compass point on a medium sized body using the supplied information, you can either follow longitude then latitude to chase your point down, or easily calculate a heading using the supplied information.

Maybe you need to tell us what you actually want, instead of asking for something then complaining it's not useful when it's pointed out what you are asking for is already there. What you want, I am guessing, is the ability to set a waypoint to a particular location on a body so you can see it easily from orbit like volcanic POI's. This is a common request and something I can agree with. A compass already exists, but a compass only does what a compass does.

 

[Darth Wonko]

Wow. Thanks for the reply.

My end request is "simply make it easier to navigate to coordinates". I apologize profusely for not knowing exactly what mechanism would be put in place to make that happen and for mixing up my terminology. I'm relatively new to the game and still trying to figure some things out.

Some stuff is remarkably intuitive and other things (such as the wave scanner on the SRV) are remarkably non-intuitive.

First, it seems like one just has to target where to aim for orbital entry on a wing and a prayer and hope that one is somewhere near the coordinates. Sure, I can use the heading and the coordinates on the HUD - 360/90/180/270 = NESW - to finally end up where I want to be, but trying to dial it in takes forever... especially when trying to maintain orbital flight so one isn't flying at a snail's pace.

Being new, I've been overwhelming impressed with the consistent positive experience I've had asking questions and having my ignorance of the game overlooked.

@John Guevara - Thanks for the link to that thread. The targeted coordinate system would be great. I was thinking of something more like an overlay of lat/lon gridlines (those exist with the discovery scanner - I think), but with actual numbers on them. That way, one could at least enter orbit at the right point. But, the targeted thing would be awesome. I checked out that link and downloaded the files. I'm going to play around with it later tonight.

 

[Exeider]

It's extremely frustrating trying to find coordinates of latitude and longitude when orbiting or flying on a planet. It would be nice to have some sort of heading system or targeting system which would allow us to find these things more easily.

One would think that with an entire galaxy mapped, our ships would have a common compass onboard.

Thanks!

There was a thread on this a LONG time ago, what you're referring to is the ability to create 'Arbitrary Bookmarks', meaning book marks where the player can set the long/lat coordinates pointing to essentially the middle of no where if they want. They don't require a structure to lock onto to create the book mark.

This is something of a desired QoL upgrade that explorers especially would like Fdev to create for them, that and the ability to share, exchange, sell and trade book marks between commanders.

The squadrons version of it is a very very BASIC version of the idea, the community is wanting something a bit more comprehensive.

 

[Darth Wonko]

There was a thread on this a LONG time ago, what you're referring to is the ability to create 'Arbitrary Bookmarks', meaning book marks where the player can set the long/lat coordinates pointing to essentially the middle of no where if they want. They don't require a structure to lock onto to create the book mark.

This is something of a desired QoL upgrade that explorers especially would like Fdev to create for them, that and the ability to share, exchange, sell and trade book marks between commanders.

The squadrons version of it is a very very BASIC version of the idea, the community is wanting something a bit more comprehensive.

I never thought of that, but what a great idea... that would create an entire in-game economy. An auction-house could be set up similar to World of Warcraft's ... just have the auctioneer be another official Contact. Sell engineering materials at auction as well as having technology brokers. That would also help with some of the grind of engineer mat farming ... extras can be put on the AH to earn some credits.

Or, put in a mechanism where players could trade one-to-one (if there's not already something like that in place). This could spawn an entirely different economy... people offering wing services, escorts, help with missions, etc.

Then again, one of the things I like very much about this game is the general friendly experience... whereas WoW tends to be filled with a-holes. I wonder if a player economy would change things....

 

[varonica]

Wow. Thanks for the reply.

It wasn't , it was factual, you were the one being irrational.

Instead of saying, "yes you're right and maybe I am looking for something else" you went on about how navigating is still a pain in the rear even though you have exactly what you asked for, I was simply pointing out the contradictions in your post, then suggested a solution, that I should point out has been suggested about a thousand times already that would better suit your desires.

If you are going to go all butt hurt I will leave you to yourself, internet forums aren't all rainbows and blue sky you know.

 

[CMDR Cknarf]

The surface map seems like a great place to set like, waypoints, or something.

We can do that, right?

RIGHT?

Oh. We can’t? Bummer.

At least we can select destinations that are more easily accessible in our nav panel. That’s super useful.

 

[Bloodsign]

The latitude and longitude are in the lower right of the HUD, under the elevation bar I believe. No, they're not tremendously intuitive to use, but quite realistic. Yes, it is possible to become quite good at using these to navigate.

I would like to see better mapping options, though. Maybe even a small square (minimap) overlay to the left of the HUD showing self, POIs, waypoints, and pathing. Or perhaps in the nav panel somewhere.

While the military style combat HUD is perfectly functional, let's face it, there are better presentations of navigational data for the non technical user, just like Google Maps.