What is it and what does it do?
VAT-Spy is a simple application that allows you to view current ATC staffing and traffic levels on VATSIM. It is modeled after ServInfo, a very popular traffic and ATC viewer for multiple online flying networks. ServInfo is a fantastic program that left little room for improvement, but there were one or two areas that you'll find are different in VAT-Spy, mainly the map and the CPU usage during data downloads.
VAT-Spy's map looks very similar to ServInfo's map, but it has a different interface for panning and zooming. You can smoothly pan and zoom the map using the mouse. There is full documentation available on the Vatspy website (see link below).
As for CPU usage, VAT-Spy differs from ServInfo in that it is a multi-threaded application, which means that it does a lot of its work in the background while the user interface remains responsive. This means that, for example, you can still pan and zoom the map while VAT-Spy is downloading the latest VATSIM data. This also means that VAT-Spy can take advantage of multi-core processors. One processor core can handle downloading and parsing the data, while the other core can handle drawing the map, etc.
Features
- World map with smooth panning and zooming.
- Most fonts and colors on the map are customizable.
- Multi-threaded for high performance and responsive user interface.
- Customizable filters.
- Map bookmarks allow you to save favorite views of the map.
- Favorites allow you to quickly jump to any country, FIR/ARTCC, or airport details.
- METAR lookup window can fetch multiple METARs at once.