The XC Vario Compass

A reliable compass is the absolute baseline for your spatial awareness, bridging the gap between where your glider / harness is pointing and where the wind is actually taking you. With that said, there is more to the compass of the XC Vario than you might have thought  :-) !

The Compass Widget

When you look at the compass widget, it can visualize one of two things:

1. Track / Bearing (GNSS): The actual direction you are moving over the ground.

2. Heading (Magnetic): The direction your phone and wing are physically pointing.

In zero-wind conditions, these two directions are practically identical. But in moderate to strong winds, they will differ substantially as the wind pushes you sideways.

The beauty of the XC Vario compass widget is, that it is packed with intelligent background functionality so you don't have to overthink it. As a pilot, you should be presented with the right information for your current context. To achieve this, the compass automatically adjusts to three distinct states:

1. On the Ground (Not Flying)

When you are waiting on launch, the widget acts as a digital magnetic compass. It uses your phone’s internal magnetometer (combined with motion sensors) to figure out exactly which way you are facing. This magnetic heading is used to orient your widget and rotate the map, making it easy to orient yourself before taking off.

2. Airborne (Flying)

Once you launch and gain forward speed, the widget seamlessly switches to GNSS. It now shows your actual track over the ground. This is crucial in the air, as you need to know where your glider is actually going, not just where the nose is pointing.

3. The Edge Case: (Hovering in Place: being currently tested internally)

There is a hidden third state you might occasionally face: hovering. If you are flying in a strong headwind that matches roughly your glider's speed, your forward ground speed drops to zero. 

• The Problem: Any GNSS will struggle to precisely determine the direction without movement  - the reading will jump around chaotically. If the wind pushes you backwards, GNSS will tell you that you are heading South, even though you are looking straight North.

• The Solution: The XC Vario detects this lack of forward momentum and defaults back to the magnetic compass. It will point in the direction your harness and wing are facing, regardless of your ground speed overriding the GNSS bearing.

💡 Practical Tip: Map Rotation and Battery Life

You can easily adjust how the map behaves by long-clicking the compass widget. This toggles the map between being locked to North-Up or rotating to match your Heading/Track.

• Which is better? Set it to whatever you prefer! Many pilots find that a rotating map makes thermaling feel much more intuitive, as there is no extra mental load trying to translate a North-fixed map to your actual field of view.

• Does map rotation drain the battery? Yes and no. While rotating a map every second is a slightly more "costly" computing operation, it is practically negligible for modern phones running XC Vario. The most power-consuming component on your flight deck is always your screen's backlight. So, don't compromise your situational awareness to save a tiny fraction of battery—choose the map alignment that makes you most comfortable!