ForeFlight

Configure ForeFlight to display LiveTraffic‘s traffic

ForeFlight is currently the only Output Channel of LiveTraffic: LiveTraffic can feed ForeFlight to show the user's plane and traffic. Here's a screenshot what it looks like.

In LiveTraffic‘s Settings you need to enable the output channel ForeFlight. LiveTraffic then waits for ForeFlight devices to broadcast their presence in the network and as soon as it receives such info starts sending data to the device(s). Usually, your own position and the planes created through tracking data ("traffic") will appear soon in ForeFlight.

LiveTraffic Settings

Find them in Settings > Output Channels > ForeFlight:

SettingDefaultDescription

ForeFlight

Disabled

Sends data in ForeFlight format to feed the ForeFlight EFB app.

Send user's position

Enabled

Broadcasts user's plane position (GPS) and attitude (ATT) data in ForeFlight format (if ForeFlight output channel is enabled, too).

Send traffic

Enabled

Broadcasts traffic data (TRAFFIC), i.e. position information for all the live traffic planes shown (if ForeFlight output channel is enabled, too).

Send traffic every

3s

Repeat interval for traffic broadcasts

Status

In the Status / About window, you can see the status of the ForeFlight channel and to which devices it currently sends data:

ForeFlight's Configuration

In ForeFlight, make sure the device "LiveTraffic", which appears as soon as the app receives the first broadcast from LiveTraffic, is enabled. This is usually the case and it should also not disable itself, but just to be sure:

To see other traffic than only the user's plane also enable the layer called "Traffic".

The "Traffic" layer seems to be reset every now and then! So if you see no traffic in ForeFlight, double-check the "Traffic" layer is enabled:

Other Data may display, too

Generally, ForeFlight can receive data from various sources in parallel. Before blaming LiveTraffic for bad (or good, for that matter) data make sure it's the only feeding application.

The RealTraffic App also feeds into ForeFlight! If it is running you may see two sets of traffic, one from a device "LiveTraffic" and one from a device "PSX" (which is RealTraffic's data).

You can disable RealTraffic's broadcast in the RealTraffic app. Open "Advanced Settings" and disable the option "Enable GP/FF | Send data to GP/FF App", then click "Save".

Or you can try disabling the "PSX" device within ForeFlight. However, as the "PSX" device might appear sporadically only this is simpler written than done.

X-Plane itself can also feed directly (Settings > Network > iPhone, iPad, and External Apps > Other Mapping Apps). If this is enabled then you might also see AI planes controlled by X-Plane in ForeFlight, displayed with their internal tail number (like N172SP for the Cessna, or N816NN for the B738).

ForeFlight Data Format

If you are a developer you could actually make use of the broadcasted data for other purposes than ForeFlight, see here for more information.

For my own development and testing purposes, I have created a little Python script ForeFlight_Sim.py that simulates a ForeFlight device in that it broadcasts its existence so that LiveTraffic "sees" it and starts sending data. Then the script receives and prints the data without any interpretation.