Real-life CSV data
CSV (comma-separated values) files are one of the simplest ways to exchange data between applications. This makes it a great format for data coming from a real-life flight-recorder or for anyone without a technical background who wants to display some telemetry in Tacview.
Most flight recording and management tools are usually already able to export their data in CSV file format. Just keep in mind that because of its simplicity, you may not be able to export all possible kind of data.
Tacview natively supports more and more flight recording devices like the Garmin G1000. If you would like Tacview to support additional devices or data, feel free to contact us. Include a sample of the data and as many details as possible about the device you used to generate it.
Here is an example of a CSV file from real-life. Please see below for a detailed list of the fields officially supported by Tacview. Open the file in Tacview using the File → Open command and merge additional files using the File→Merge command.
Support of CSV files is a feature of Tacview Standard.
Aircraft Name, Pilot Name, and Color
You can specify the following metadata in each CSV file name:
The first part is the NATO name of the corresponding aircraft. This information will be used by Tacview to choose the best 3d model.
The second – optional – part is the name of the pilot (in parenthesis)
The third – optional – part is the color of the aircraft [in brackets]
Here in an example of two typical CSV files you could open together:
Mirage 2000C (Fahrenheit) [Green].csvF-14A (Maverick & Goose) [Blue].csvA-4E (Viper) [Red].csv
Even if other units may be recognized and supported by Tacview, your data should be always be stored in the metric system, and angles expressed in degrees. Here is the list of data (columns headers) supported:
Time: Time expressed in either Coordinated Universal UTC YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssZ time format, or the offset in seconds since the beginning of the flightLongitude: Longitude in degrees (negative for west, positive for east)Latitude: Latitude in degrees (negative for south, positive for north)Altitude: ASL (Above Sea Level) altitude in metersRoll (deg): Roll in degrees (clockwise orientation: positive when rolling to the right, negative to the left)Pitch (deg): Pitch in degrees (positive when the aircraft is pointing to the sky, negative when pointing to the ground)Yaw (deg): Orientation in degrees relative to the true north
Tacview intelligently detects the separators used in your CSV files. However, for best results it is suggested to stick to the following convention:
Coma
,to separate dataPoint
.for decimal numbers markDouble quotes
"surrounding strings containing comas
Here is an example of a properly formatted file:
Here is the list of CSV fields officially supported by Tacview. They can be stored in any order and most of them are optional. Only time and position are mandatory. Aside time, any record can be left blank when its value is equal to the previous record value.
Time
UTC time for the current record. Fraction of second are supported.
2011-06-02T05:00:47.13Z
Timestamp
Unix time stamp for the current record. Relative to 1970-01-01T00:00:00Z expressed in seconds and fraction of second. This is an alternate way to specify each time record.
1306990847.13
Longitude
Object longitude in degrees (positive toward the east).
41.625130740936
Latitude
Object latitude in degrees (positive toward the north).
41.591041652197
Altitude
Object altitude in meters MSL (above sea level, also known as ASL in some countries).
2000.14
Roll
Roll in degrees (Positive when tilting the aircraft to turn to the right).
-4.2
Pitch
Pitch in degrees (positive when climbing).
7.10001
Yaw
Yaw (heading) in degrees relative to the true north.
312.2
AOA
Angle of attack
4.6
TAS
True airspeed (m/s)
157.7
CAS
Calibrated airspeed (m/s)
139.1
IAS
Indicated airspeed (m/s)
137.3
Mach
Mach number
0.5
Terrain Textures and Terrain Elevation
To add terrain textures and terrain elevation files, see the customization - terrain documentation
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