Guía Operations Guide 
Power Line Warning 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
AG‐NAV INC. 
 
30 Churchill Drive 
Barrie, Ontario 
CANADA, L4N 8Z5 
 
North America   1‐800‐99 AGNAV 
International         +1‐705‐734‐0909 
Fax:                        1‐705‐735‐0880 
 
 

Revision:  1.0           Date:  June 2012 

AG-NAV Inc. 1 Guia Operations Guide

NOTES  
 
The software and hardware described in this guide is furnished under the license and 
may only be used or copied in accordance with the terms of the license. 
 
Copyright © AG‐NAV Inc. 2010 
Release date: June 2012 
 
All rights are reserved.  No part of this publication or the components it describes may be 
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, 
electronic,  mechanical,  photo‐copying,  recording,  or  otherwise,  without  prior  written 
consent from AG‐NAV Inc. 
 
AG‐NAV Inc. provides this guide “as is”, without warranty of any kind and reserves the 
right to make improvements and/or changes to the product described in this manual at 
any time and without notice. 
 
AG‐NAV Inc. equipment should not be used as a primary navigation device. 
 
CLASS A  COMPUTING DEVICE.   This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the 
limits for a Class A digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC rules.  These limits are 
designed  to  provide  reasonable  protection  against  harmful  interference  when  the 
equipment  is  operated  in  a  commercial  environment.    The  equipment  generates  uses 
and  can  radiate  radio  frequency  energy  and,  if  not  installed  and  used  in  a  accordance 
with the instruction manual, may cause harmful interference to radio communications.  
Operation of this equipment in a residential area is likely to cause harmful interference, 
in which case the user will be required to correct the interference at their own expense. 
 
SOFTWARE  IS  PROVIDED  AS  IS.  To  the  maximum  extent  permitted  by  law,  the  manufacturer, 
(AG‐NAV  Inc)  and  its  suppliers  disclaim  all  warranties,  either  express  or  implied, 
including,  but  not  limited  to  implied  warranties  of  merchantability  and  fitness  for  a 
particular purpose, with regard to the SOFTWARE, the accompanying written materials, 
and  any  accompanying  hardware.  You  may  have  other  rights  which  vary  from 
state/jurisdiction to state/jurisdiction. 
 
NO  LIABILITY  FOR  CONSEQUENTIAL  DAMAGES.  To  the  maximum  extent  permitted  by  applicable 
law, in no event shall the company or its suppliers be liable for any damages whatsoever 
(including  without  limitation,  direct  or  indirect  damages  for  personal  injury,  loss  of 
business  profits,  business  interruption,  loss  of  business  information,  or  any  other 
pecuniary  loss)  arising  out  of  the  use  of  this  product,  even  if  the  company  has  been 
advised of the possibility of such damages. In any case, the company’s and its suppliers’ 
entire liability shall be limited to the amount actually paid by the owner of the product 
for  the  product.  Because  some  states/jurisdictions  do  not  allow  the  exclusion  or 

AG-NAV Inc. 2 Guia Operations Guide

limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, the above limitation may 
not apply to the user. 
 
 
 
TRADEMARKS  
• AG‐NAV® or AGNAV is a registered trademark of AG‐NAV Inc. 
• Guía or Guía™ is a registered trademark of AG‐NAV Inc. 
• FlightMaster or FlightMaster™ is a registered trademark of AG‐NAV Inc. 
• All other brand names are trademarks of their respective holders 
 
CONTACT INFORMATION 
 
Contact the AG‐NAV Technical Support Line at: 
 
Toll Free for Canada and the United States Telephone: 1‐800‐99 AGNAV   
 
AG‐NAV Inc. 
Telephone:  1‐705‐734‐0909 
Fax:    1‐705‐735‐0880 
 
Email:    general@agnav.com 
Web Site:  www.agnav.com 
 
In the event of a problem that cannot be resolved using the information supplied, 
please contact AG‐NAV. You can also gain assistance through the User’s Area on our 
web page at www.agnav.com. 
 
For further assistance, contact the AG‐NAV Technical Support Line by telephone, fax, or 
email.    AGNAV  Customer  Support  personnel  will  discuss  your  situation,  determine  the 
cause of problem and provide the appropriate technical assistance. 
 
   
 
 

AG-NAV Inc. 3 Guia Operations Guide

Power Line Warning
Aerial application pilots are exposed to many hazards when doing their work in the air.
Power lines are ranked number 1 for obstacles that cause aerial accidents.

Accidents usually happen because obstacles have not been identified. Improving the
Awareness of Obstacles is the goal that AG-NAV Inc. tries to achieve and has
implemented the Power Line Warning feature in its guidance products.

Power Line Generation

If you know where power lines are and can view them on Google Earth image, you can
use Google Earth to generate power line data. If you can not view power lines on
Google Earth, you can generate them on-the-fly.

Using Google Earth:

Power lines can be generated by using Google Earth. Make sure you have Google
Earth software installed in your computer. The procedure is below:

1) Run Google Earth

2) Zoom map to where the power lines are.

Figure 1: Map Image on Google Earth

3) On the left panel, click “Temporary Places”

AG-NAV Inc. 4 Guia Operations Guide

 4) Select “Add Path” on the Tool bar.

Figure 2: Functions on Google Earth

5) When a dialog is open, enter power line name.

Figure 3: Enter Power Line Info

AG-NAV Inc. 5 Guia Operations Guide

 6) Select color for power line.

Figure 4: Enter Power Line Color

7) Move the cursor and click the mouse at each point of a power line.

Figure 5: Draw Power Line

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 8) When done, click OK. The power line is shown on the map with its name on the
left panel.

9) Repeat steps 2 to 7 for the next power line.

10) When all power lines are generated, right click “Temporary Places” then select
“Save Place As …”.

Figure 6: Save Power Line

11) Select the folder where you want to save the power line file. The folder is shown
in the “Save in” box. Then enter a file name. Note that the “Save as type” must
be “Kml”. Then click “Save”.

AG-NAV Inc. 7 Guia Operations Guide

 Figure 7: Save to File

12) Close Google Earth and copy the power line file to a USB key.

Note that you can not view power lines in NavviewW version 8.8 or SprayView version
3.8. For demo, let’s make a spray area from Google Earth. It is plotted in blue and
power lines are red as shown in the following figure:

Figure 8: Power Lines with Spray Area for Demo

AG-NAV Inc. 8 Guia Operations Guide

Copy Power Line Files

Once you have the power line files, copy them to a USB key then use the File Manager
to copy them to the Guia.

Plug the USB key to the Guia

system.

Wait for a few seconds for

Guia to detect the key.

Select File Manager from the

Main Menu.

Figure 9: Main Menu

The files on the hard drive of

Guia and USB keys are
shown.

Push key <0> to switch the

active side indicated by the
thick red line at the top of list to
the right side.

Push key <II> to tag the *.kml

files.

Push key <I> to copy the files

to Guia.

Figure 10: Copy Power Line Files

When COPY is done, you will see the power line files on the left side. You can select
EXIT to exit File Manager.

AG-NAV Inc. 9 Guia Operations Guide

Load Power Lines

Before you fly an area,

select Load Power Lines
from the Application Menu.

Figure 11: Load Obstacles

When the list of power line

files is shown, tag the
desired file. For example
pwrTest.kml for our test.

The tagged files are

marked with the “+”
symbol.

Figure 12: Select Power Line

File

When done, select <OK> to load the selected power lines into memory for use during
flight.

This will return you to the Application Menu.

From the Application Menu, select “New Area” or “Old Area” then continue the program.
As an example, an old area is selected to show Obstacle Display and Warning.

When done, the Guia enters the Flight Æ Spray mode.

AG-NAV Inc. 10 Guia Operations Guide

Power Line Display

If there are power lines around your location, you will see them on the screen. If not,
zoom out to see a bigger area.

Figure 13: Power Line Display

AG-NAV Inc. 11 Guia Operations Guide

Power Line Warning

Power lines are considered obstacles. When the aircraft is approaching a power line,
the warning will be shown when the time to hit the power line is less than the predefined
Obstacle Alert Time.

Figure 14: Power Line Warning

When the warning is on, the power line in warning is plotted thick on the main screen.
Also the lightbar is flashing vigorously. When you see the lightbar flashing, take a quick
look on the screen to see where the obstacle is relative to your position. Then fly high
or manuveour the aircraft to avoid the obstacle.

The warning is off when the aircraft is flying away from the obstacle.

Obstacle Alert Time: By default, the Obstacle Alert Time is 10 seconds. You can
increase it to meet your safety requirement. To do this, select Settings Æ Guidance.
When the editor opens, you can check and change the Obstacle Alert Time.

Is there any case you fly close to a power line and are still safe? Yes, it’s when you fly
parallel to a power line. You won’t hit the power line, but watch. Too close is
dangerous. In this case you can define a safe distance called “Alert Minimum
Distance” in Guia. If you fly close to a power line within this minimum distance, a
warning will be shown. You can check and edit the “Alert Min Distance” in Settings Æ
Guidance.

AG-NAV Inc. 12 Guia Operations Guide

 Figure 15: Power Line Settings

AG-NAV Inc. 13 Guia Operations Guide

Power Line Generation On-the-fly

If you don’t find power lines on Google Earth images, you can mark the power lines on-
the-fly. To do this, make sure you have the three functions below in the Control Menu:

• <NewPwrLn> to start and record the first point of a new power line.
• <PwrLine> to enter the next point of the power line.
• <DelPwrLn> to delete the last entered point if you happen to enter the point by
mistake.

To record a new power line,

• Fly high to the power line.

• When the aircraft is over the first post of power line, push the key <NewPwrLn>
to mark the beginning of power line.

• Fly to the next post, push the key <PwrLine> to mark it. Repeat this step until
you finish marking all the segments of this power line.

• If you ever make a mistake, push the key <DelPwrLn> to delete the wrong
entered point.

Figure 16: Generate Power Line On-the-fly

• To mark another power line, fly to the first post of the next power line. Then push
the key <NewPwrLn>. Fly to the next post, press <PwrLine> to mark it. Repeat
the same procedure until you finish all power lines.

AG-NAV Inc. 14 Guia Operations Guide

 Figure 17: Generate Next Power Line

The power lines you generated are saved in the agnav.pwr file. You can copy this file
to other Guia systems to share the data.

The coordinates (UTM X, Y, Latitude, Longitude) of new power lines are saved in the
agnav.pwr file. This is a text file so you can view and edit it by using Notepad or a text
editor. For example, the content of agnav.pwr can be:

537064.13 6329840.50 -33.169601 147.397526 1

536518.05 6329212.31 -33.175286 147.391694 1
535840.85 6329110.53 -33.176226 147.384435 1
535142.24 6328842.11 -33.178670 147.376952 1
534740.28 6327873.46 -33.187420 147.372677 1
533736.48 6327175.35 -33.193749 147.361935 2
533066.94 6328206.35 -33.184470 147.354715 2
532772.22 6330556.60 -33.163280 147.351469 2

The format of data is

UTMX UTMY Latitude Longitude PwrLn#

The first power line has 4 segments, the second has 2.

AG-NAV Inc. 15 Guia Operations Guide

Notes:

1) When you run Application or Training from the Main menu, the power lines
defined in agnav.pwr file will be loaded automatically.

2) If you have other power line files, you have to select “Load Power Lines” from
the Application menu, and select the power line files again. The Guia will
remember what were selected before so you just push <OK> to load the power
lines.

3) When you select a Kml file for power lines, Guia will read the data and save the
power lines in a *.pwr file with the same name as the *.kml file. This is to speed
up the reading and decoding process in the next time when you select the same
power lines.

4) The Power Line Warning function is intended to improve the awareness of

obstacles. Hence reducing the risk of accident. Due to known and unknown
reasons, for example GPS errors, the warning may be late or missing. At all
times, identifying the power lines and all obstacles around the spray areas and
flying safely are the sole responsibilities of pilot.

AG-NAV Inc. 16 Guia Operations Guide