11/21/99

USING THE GPS GAUGE:
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   The upper left portion of the gauge displays a pointer to the chosen
waypoint.  To the right, the top number simply identifies the waypoint for
possible future reference.  The next number indicates the distance to the
waypoint in nautical miles.  The third line displays the selected region of
the world, and the fourth line displays the selected state or nation-state.
The bottom line displays the selected airport name.

   I would never have attempted this gauge if I had to enter all the data
manually.  Consequently, the data were read directly from the FS98 Airport
and Facilities Directory BGL files.  As a result, I needed to use the
existing directory structure.  The airports are arranged in the following
sixteen regions:

NORAM NW  (North America, Northwest)
NORAM NC  (  "      "     North Central)
NORAM GL  (  "      "     Great Lakes)
NORAM NE  (  "      "     Northeast)
NORAM SW  (  "      "     Southwest)
NORAM SC  (  "      "     South Central)
NORAM SE  (  "      "     Southeast)
AFRICA
ASIA
CENTRAL AMERICA
CANADA
EUROPE
HAWAII
HONG KONG
OCEANIA
SOUTH AMERICA

   Within each region the airports are arranged by state or nation-state.
Within each state they are arranged alphabetically by the local city or area
name.  For example, New York's LaGuardia airport is listed in the New York
City area.  To keep the gauge from getting too large, I decided not to
display the local area name.  To find LaGuardia, you would select the NORAM
NE region, NY state, and look through the Ns (for New York City).  Because
this process can be tedious sometimes, I have included AIRPRTS.TXT which
lists all 3,775 airports by number.  A quick word search can help you find
your desired airport.

   The "buttons" on the GPS gauge function as follows:  the PWR button turns
the gauge on and off, the R button cycles forward or backward (< or >)
through the sixteen regions and the S button similarly cycles through the
states, within each region.  Sometimes a state will be divided between more
than one region.  Among the four buttons at the far right, the > button moves
forward, one waypoint at a time, through the list of airports and the <
button moves backward.  The >> and << buttons jump ten numbers at a time, for
faster searching.

   Because searching for waypoints can occasionally be tedious, you may wish 
to consult a list of all 3,775 waypoints and their identification numbers.
This list, named AIRPRTS.TXT, can be obtained by downloading WLDGPS.ZIP.
