* It takes me out of the immersion a bit when planes move after having been drawn. It would feel more realistic if the blips were "painted" by the sweep and then static until the next sweep.
* To make it a bit more realistic you could extrapolate from previous data points so each plane would make consistent progress from sweep to sweep.
Both very valid points. I think if I was clever with timing and angles the first one is definitely doable. The second one woudl be even simpler - the API returns flight velocity so I can even calculate this from one data point
The underlying technology being imitated here is a slowly decaying phosphor.
I love how a discussion like this can occur here and there's no flaming or egos getting hurt. When you post a labor of love like this, it's great to see the reaction on HN.
I spend a lot of time trying to decide what to do with old tech in my volunteer gig. We have old Univac "dumb" terminals and I feel the need to plug them in and see if they still work. I come here for re-charging.
I think emulating old hardware is fascinating. Am I the only one who watches old media just to hopefully get a glimpse of the past?
* Everything fades from when it was drawn
* Everything is only drawn with the sweep
* Simulate a continuous motion for the planes, and use that to determine a new position at each sweep.
Did I make a mistake?
I thought you were saying to animate the planes, but I no longer think that's what you meant.