New Feature Sitrec 2.1 New Features

[Mick West]

Sitrec 2.1 contains numerous bug fixes, optimizations, and some significant new features. These are all driven by actual usage and user feedback. If you see something you want adding or fixing, then let me know

Optimization

• Improved multiple tracks - so you can now drop in 100+ ADSB tracks and it should still perform well.
• Satellite and Stars - should now perform reasonably (30 fps) when displaying all satellites and stars
• Saving sitch with video is now much faster after the initial save.

New Features

• Can now use a still image instead of a video
• Added an MQ-9 Overlay to the look view.
• Filtering Satellites by name
• Lookup location (by name) for camera and target loctions
• Speed graph for the camera
• 110,000 stars
• Stars can be filtered by magnitude
• Allow roll when camera locked on a target
• Celestial vectors move with moving targets
• Links in the help menu for an ADSB replay or Google Maps for the current location (and time)
• "Global Scale" on object menu lets you scale up all objects at the same time (to see where they are)
• Show/Hide has new "Show all tracking in Look View"

Visual Improvements

• Stars and satellites are more consistent in size on different systems
• Satellites scale with distance, so you don't see too many invisible satellites

 

[Kyle Ferriter]

Filtering Satellites by name

Is there a way in there to display the names of the satellites in the view as labels? Or maybe on click or hover?

This all sounds great though.

 

[Mick West]

Is there a way in there to display the names of the satellites in the view as labels?

Like this?

 

[Kyle Ferriter]

View attachment 82162

Like this?

I could have sworn I couldn't find this the last time I was looking at satellites in there. I think I was looking under "Show/Hide" and saw "star names" and didn't see "satellite names". I guess I should have looked harder.

 

[flarkey]

I know you're removing the 'Night Sky' starlink viewer and incorporating it into the full sitrec, but I like the view it offers without the video. Is there a shortcut key to make the view in the new sitrec the same? ie left half-globe view, right-half look view?

Also, you've always said that sitrec wont work on mobile or tablet, but recently Iooked on an iPad Pro in Safari and it seemed to work ok. Have you done any optimisation for small screen or mobile browsers?

 

[jarlrmai]

I still think there needs to be a 'quick start' process eventually for common scenarios

Paste in a set of in long/lat and it sets the camera there, at just above ground level and moves the terrain there etc, adjusting those things with sliders or pasting into small text boxes is fiddly, I am sure you are still at make sure it all works stage but it would be handy for quick setup

 

[Mick West]

now you're removing the 'Night Sky' starlink viewer and incorporating it into the full sitrec, but I like the view it offers without the video. Is there a shortcut key to make the view in the new sitrec the same? ie left half-globe view, right-half look view?

2

(Or View/View Preset/sideBySide)

Also, you've always said that sitrec wont work on mobile or tablet, but recently Iooked on an iPad Pro in Safari and it seemed to work ok. Have you done any optimisation for small screen or mobile browsers?

No. But I guess the recent optimizations will have helped quite a bit. It kind of works on my iPhone, too. Quite reasonable for just viewing a sitch. I need to try to fix the zooming, as that seems like the obvious thing that goes wrong first.

 

[Mick West]

I need to try to fix the zooming, as that seems like the obvious thing that goes wrong first.

I've disabled the default browser touch zooming and scrolling, which makes things a bit more stable. But I need to figure out some equivalents of mouse navigation. I guess I'll see what GE mobile does...

 

[Mick West]

I still think there needs to be a 'quick start' process eventually for common scenarios

Paste in a set of in long/lat and it sets the camera there, at just above ground level and moves the terrain there etc, adjusting those things with sliders or pasting into small text boxes is fiddly, I am sure you are still at make sure it all works stage but it would be handy for quick setup

I've somewhat just done this with the Sitrec Chatbot
https://www.chatbase.co/chatbot-iframe/jm08ypN4zneL5S7wU2QOD

You can type in a location and local date/time and it will give links for ADSBx, FR24, Google Maps, and now Sitrec

The Sitrec link will open a new custom sitch with the look camera at the given location (needs fixing for terrain height).

 

[Mick West]

New Feature: "Above Ground Level".

With the ball lightning case, I noticed the ball was going underground, so I added an AGL (Above Ground Level) mode that fixed the altitude relative to the ground over variable terrain, so you can make the target object follow a (straight) road. Here's a more extreme example:

 

[Maury Markowitz]

I'm using the new version to do a search from back in March. I used the "load TLE" option but I'm not sure... it used to take several seconds and there was an indication it was happening, but now it seems to happen instantly and there's no message.

Is this working as expected? Broken?

Perhaps we could put the date of the TLE beside the menu item?

 

[Mick West]

I'm using the new version to do a search from back in March. I used the "load TLE" option but I'm not sure... it used to take several seconds and there was an indication it was happening, but now it seems to happen instantly and there's no message.

Is this working as expected? Broken?

Perhaps we could put the date of the TLE beside the menu item?

The first time satellites are fetched, it takes about 10 seconds. Subsequent fetches of the same thing will be much quicker, a second or less if in the local cache, or a couple of seconds if on the Metabunk cache

Then in the top right of the main view it will display the range of dates/times for the loaded satellites. (This is the actual min/max dates in the TLE, not the range requested)

I'll see about adding a "Loading" message.

 

[Maury Markowitz]

Then in the top right of the main view

Ahhh, I don't use the main view so I never noticed this.

Ok, so now here is what started all of this. There is a video on Reddit that is obviously two sats passing between Alkaid and Mitzar on the morning of March 2 at 4:45 as seen from NJ (not any more specific than NJ, but it shouldn't make two much a a difference here.. Try as I might I cannot find anything that happens like that.

Given historical data like this, how close should the tracking be. Are we talking about a degree or less? Or 5 or more? My feeling is that with older data we should be able to get very close, we're not extrapolating forward.

 

[Mick West]

Ahhh, I don't use the main view so I never noticed this.

Hmm, I guess I should put it in the look view too. Or somewhere

 

[jarlrmai]

How about vectors for bright stars, Sirius etc, could dynamically present a list based on magnitude

 

[Mick West]

is there a shortcut key to make the view in the new sitrec the same? ie left half-globe view, right-half look view?

I've made this the default now. When you drop in a video it will add a video view in either portrait or landscape.

 

[jarlrmai]

@Mick West Is Sitrec missing the sun?

I can see a vector for it, but no indicator in the camera view for it..

 

[Mick West]

@Mick West Is Sitrec missing the sun?

I can see a vector for it, but no indicator in the camera view for it..

You can't see it in daylight, as I render it like the planets. I should fix that, but it's a bit fiddly.

You can see it if you turn off the atmosphere in the lighting menu.

 

[Mick West]

Links in the help menu for an ADSB replay or Google Maps for the current location (and time)

I've added a link to in-the-sky

Like the ADSBx link, this will use the current date, time, and location from the sitch, and go to a URL like
https://in-the-sky.org/satmap_world...de=31.980814&longitude=-118.428486&timezone=0

Note the timezone is currently always set to GMT (UTC), I might change this to use the user-set timezone. I plan on doing some more work with time zones to make it more user-friendly.

 

[Maury Markowitz]

When it's time to do time zones, I think a couple of things would be useful:

1) I would like to be able to enter times in local, which is almost always how we get them. Right now I have to select the time zone and then try various times while looking in the Look view to see if I have it right. If there was a section below the timezone selector with the time and date entry in local, that would make things a lot easier!

2) I suspect there is an algo out there that will return a time zone given a location - and possibly date as well. I know there are online services that do this, like Google and Bing, but I'm not sure how you feel using those.

3) Perhaps it could offer to change the time zone as you move around the map, assuming the zone changes as a result.

4) another huge addition would be a gazetteer so we could set the location by name. I suspect there's lots of such lists, but the first I found was this one: https://www.kaggle.com/datasets/ehallmar/points-of-interest-poi-database This is also available online, like Google geocoding API.

Combining (4) with (2) would really help automate the setup when you're trying to set yourself up from data in something like a Reddit post.

One last thing: I think it would be better if there was a separate Location menu, moving the other bits to the already-existing Camera menu. There's also star brightness and limit in there, but

 

[Mick West]

4) another huge addition would be a gazetteer so we could set the location by name. I suspect there's lots of such lists, but the first I found was this one: https://www.kaggle.com/datasets/ehallmar/points-of-interest-poi-database This is also available online, like Google geocoding API.

You can enter a location, like "Sacramento," or an exact address (or even a UK post code, but not zip codes), and it will move the cameras to that location.

 

[Mick West]

1) I would like to be able to enter times in local, which is almost always how we get them. Right now I have to select the time zone and then try various times while looking in the Look view to see if I have it right. If there was a section below the timezone selector with the time and date entry in local, that would make things a lot easier!

So now it defaults to "Use Time Zone in UI", and the UI elements will change to pink. The time in the local time is also displayed in pink.

The "startTIme" and "nowTime" are still in Zulu time. But you can ignore them.

 

[Maury Markowitz]

So now it defaults to "Use Time Zone in UI", and the UI elements will change to pink.

That works fine!

One minor issue: now the UTC and local times both show up in Look, on top of each other:

You can enter a location, like "Sacramento,"

This is not showing up on my end?

 

[Maury Markowitz]

Separate issue: when I enter sitrec, the camera is positioned in Wales. I don't recall ever entering a location there.

More curious: the time zone is correctly set to EDT. Are you getting that from a location API perhaps?

1) Is there a way to move the camera with the mouse? I tried various clicks and drags and such in the main view, but nothing seems to do it. I'm not sure it needs this, I'm just curious if I missed something.

2) perhaps use the location api to move to the current location, maybe as a user-option?

 

[Mick West]

One minor issue: now the UTC and local times both show up in Look, on top of each other:

Yeah, I'll fix that. I've been focusing on the custom sitch, where it should be okay, I've got a bunch of tidying to do today.
https://www.metabunk.org/sitrec/?sitch=custom

This is not showing up on my end?

What isn't? Can you do a full-screen screenshot? And check the build time in the tiop right, currently 25-07-12 16:50 PT

Separate issue: when I enter sitrec, the camera is positioned in Wales. I don't recall ever entering a location there.

For historical reason. When I was settin up the Starlink sitch that was one of the first locations I was trying to match video to.

perhaps use the location api to move to the current location, maybe as a user-option?

It uses the browser location services to find your location, but if you disable that, it defaults to Wales.

More curious: the time zone is correctly set to EDT. Are you getting that from a location API perhaps?

Time zone is from your computer/browser, so it is independent of the location.

 

[Mick West]

1) Is there a way to move the camera with the mouse? I tried various clicks and drags and such in the main view, but nothing seems to do it. I'm not sure it needs this, I'm just curious if I missed something.

Hold "C" to move the camera. "X" to move the target, "A" and "B" for a measure

 

[Kyle Ferriter]

I love that I can I can tell the sitrec chatbot to update the lat/lon (e.g. "set lat lon to 28.375258, -81.549460") and it does it correctly.

One issue though is that it doesn't also update the textboxes in the Camera menu to contain those values.

 

[Mick West]

One issue though is that it doesn't also update the textboxes in the Camera menu to contain those values.

Fixed

 

[Mick West]

New feature - loading a video into a new sitch will attempt to set the date and time, timeszone, and location from the metadata in the video.

We need to be careful with the date/time as there's various things that can go wrong. I do use the com.apple.quicktime.creationdate field for iPhone videos, or the Recorded Date if converted to an mp4, and it seems to work even with a file I edit, email to myself (which re-encodes it) and then run through MOV -> MP4 converted (Permute)

It will NOT work with videos downloaded from social media.

 

[jarlrmai]

Is there any way to load and position a 3d object in the scene, like a refernece house? I seem to remember seeing some sitches where this was the case, but can't find a way to do it

 

[flarkey]

Is there any way to load and position a 3d object in the scene, like a refernece house? I seem to remember seeing some sitches where this was the case, but can't find a way to do it

If you create a 3d model in Google Earth, save it as a kml, you should just be able to drag & drop it into Sitrec. Certainly could in previous versions.

Edit - yeah that works

 

[jarlrmai]

thanks that worked!

Now I just have to work out how to move the camer position a few feet... There seems to be no easy way other than working out an even more specific lat and long..

 

[jarlrmai]

If you create a 3d model in Google Earth, save it as a kml, you should just be able to drag & drop it into Sitrec. Certainly could in previous versions.

Edit - yeah that works
View attachment 83316

View attachment 83315

"Giant cube obliterates Oxfordshire"

 

[Mick West]

Now I just have to work out how to move the camer position a few feet... There seems to be no easy way other than working out an even more specific lat and long..

Hold down C while moving the camera in the main view.

Shift-C to lock the camera to 5 feet above the ground

 

[Mick West]

Press K for a list of keyboard shortcuts

 

[Kyle Ferriter]

If you create a 3d model in Google Earth, save it as a kml, you should just be able to drag & drop it into Sitrec. Certainly could in previous versions.

Edit - yeah that works
View attachment 83316

View attachment 83315

Need to look into using AI to generate kml files with verbal descriptions...

 

[Mick West]

Need to look into using AI to generate kml files with verbal descriptions...

Can you give a few examples of the verbal descriptions (and results) you envisage?

I've got it hooked up to AI (just Chat GPT now), and I've given it limited exposure to an API which allows the AI to call some functions.
https://github.com/MickWest/Sitrec2/blob/main/src/CSitrecAPI.js

So I could extend that to essentially generate a KML file and drop it in. Or accept a KML file entirely generated by the AI.

 

[Kyle Ferriter]

Can you give a few examples of the verbal descriptions (and results) you envisage?

I was imagining something like using Claude Code to generate code which then generates desired flight paths in KML form. Could do it for static shapes too but was mainly thinking about flight paths.

I tried just now and it took a couple tries to refine the prompt but this latest attempt did it in one shot.

Generate a KML file representing a path of a helicopter that flew at 40mph at 600ft AGL from the southern end of Lake Estling in Denville, New Jersey, towards the north end.

Read N979RP-track-EGM96_avg.kml in the working directory and ensure the KML you generate matches this file structure exactly.

For this new path file, place a marker every 2 time seconds. For the south end of Lake Estling, use 40°52'42"N 74°30'10"W as the ground coordinate. For the north end, use 40°52'59"N 74°29'33"W. Begin the flight path at 2024-12-20 at 20:00 EST.

Draft a series of steps of information that needs to be obtained in order to do this, and then do each one. Create and run bash, python3 scripts as necessary. If additional python packages are needed, use the uv virtualenv named .venv in the working directory, and uv commands such as `uv pip`, `uv run python`, to manage packages and run python scripts. Do not delete any files. Name the output `.kml` file "lake-estling-helicopter.kml"

The log and files it generated are attached. I grabbed an example flight path from adsbx and told it to create a different path at a different time, but use that structure. It created a python file and ran it in order to do some math and create the KML file. I then dropped that into sitrec and it seems to have worked.

https://www.metabunk.org/sitrec/?cu...Z_claude_code_lake_estling/20250822_170754.js

On future runs Claude could be instructed to just read that python file and use the functions rather than writing them again. (generate_helicopter_path would need to be genericized).

 

[Kyle Ferriter]

Here's an example for claude code creating a polygon for the Target store in Jersey City. (the 30x380x380ft dimensions is an estimate, and the orientation isn't exact). For some reason it decided to use the `simplekml` package this time, and it made a mistake in a function name the first time, but fixed it on its own.

Generate a KML polygon file.
The shape should be a rectangular prism, 30 feet tall, with horizontal side lengths of 380ft, at ground level, with the southwest most corner located at 40°43'56"N 74°02'12"W. The shape surfaces should be white.
Draft a series of steps of information that needs to be obtained in order to do this, and then do each one. Create and run bash and python3 scripts as necessary. If additional python packages are needed, create a uv virtualenv with `uv venv -p python3.12`, and use uv commands such as `uv pip`, `uv run python`, to manage packages and run python scripts. Do not delete any files. Name the output `.kml` file "jersey-city-target.kml"

https://www.metabunk.org/sitrec/?cu...m/17113/jersey_city_target/20250822_180443.js

 

[Mick West]

Here's an example for claude code creating a polygon for the Target store in Jersey City. (the 30x380x380ft dimensions is an estimate, and the orientation isn't exact).

Hmm, it seems like it would be WAY easier to just make that in Google Earth yourself.