Chart Viewer - EFB

Chart Viewer is a desktop Electronic Flight Bag style aviation chart viewer for local PDF terminal charts. It combines a static Next.js frontend with a Tauri 2 desktop shell so charts, CSV metadata, georeferencing tools, and updater support can run against local files.

Features

• Airport and category browser for STAR, APP, TAXI, SID, OTHER, and 细则 charts
• Runway grouping for SID, STAR, and APP charts, plus natural TAXI page sorting
• PDF.js chart viewer with range loading, zoom, rotation, page navigation, theme support, and bookmark navigation
• Cesium globe view with OSM/Topo layers, airport centering, and chart overlays for georeferenced SID, STAR, and APP pages
• Python sidecar georeferencing pipeline using bundled symbol templates and CSV waypoint data
• Optional GDL90 UDP ownship display, defaulting to port 4000
• Configurable chart and CSV directories through the Tauri directory picker
• Internationalized UI, dark/light/system themes, and automatic Tauri updater checks for signed GitHub releases

Prerequisites

• Node.js 22 or newer
• npm
• Rust stable toolchain
• Python 3 with the packages in scripts/georef-sidecar-requirements.txt
• Tauri platform prerequisites for your operating system

On Linux, install the WebKitGTK/AppIndicator packages required by Tauri 2. The GitHub workflows show the current Ubuntu package list.

Setup

npm install
python -m pip install -r scripts/georef-sidecar-requirements.txt

Regenerate app icons only when public/icon.svg changes:

npm run generate-icons

Development

Run the desktop app:

npm run tauri:dev

This builds the georeferencing sidecar when needed, starts the Next.js dev server, and launches the Tauri app.

Useful commands:

npm run lint
npm run test
npm run format:check
npm run build
npm run georef:sidecar

npm run test runs ESLint and Rust tests for src-tauri/Cargo.toml.

Data Setup

The default data directories are:

• charts/ for PDF chart files
• csv/ for chart metadata and optional navigation data

Both directories are intentionally ignored by Git because they usually contain local or large aviation data. Use Settings in the app to select different absolute or project-relative directories. The saved config lives in the Tauri app data directory as config.json.

CSV Formats

Chart Viewer supports two metadata layouts.

Old/global format:

csv/
└── Charts.csv

Charts.csv should include fields such as AirportIcao, ChartTypeEx_CH, ChartName, PAGE_NUMBER, IS_SUP, and IS_MODIFIED.

New/per-airport format:

csv/
├── ZBAA/
│   └── Charts.csv
└── ZSSS/
    └── Charts.csv

In the per-airport format, the airport ICAO code is inferred from the folder name. Rows should include ChartName, PAGE_NUMBER, ChartTypeEx_CH, IS_SUP, and IsModify.

Optional map/georeference inputs:

• AD_HP.csv, airport.csv, or Airport.csv for airport coordinates
• DESIGNATED_POINT.csv and VOR.csv for waypoint matching
• 航路点坐标 chart PDFs when the dataset provides waypoint pages

CSV files are decoded as GBK.

PDF Layouts

PDF paths are generated from the airport ICAO, page number, and chart name. The resolver first checks airport-nested paths, then flat paths, then subdirectories.

Flat layout:

charts/
├── ZBAA-AD2-ZBAA-1-1.pdf
├── ZBAA-2A.pdf
├── ZBAA-2A(SUP).pdf
└── ZSSS-2A.pdf

Airport-nested layout:

charts/
├── ZBAA/
│   ├── ZBAA-AD2-ZBAA-1-1.pdf
│   ├── ZBAA-2A.pdf
│   ├── ZBAA-2A(SUP).pdf
│   └── 机场细则.pdf
└── ZSSS/
    └── ZSSS-2A.pdf

Airport detail charts use the chart name as the PDF filename. Regular charts use {AirportIcao}-{PAGE_NUMBER}.pdf; supplements add (SUP) before .pdf.

Build

Build the static frontend:

npm run build

Build desktop bundles:

npm run tauri:build
npm run tauri:build:mac
npm run tauri:build:win
npm run tauri:build:linux

Platform-specific scripts produce:

• macOS: DMG and app bundle
• Windows: NSIS installer
• Linux: AppImage and DEB package

Build outputs are written under src-tauri/target/release/bundle/.

Releases and Updates

The repository includes GitHub Actions workflows for stable releases, pre-releases, and pull request verification.

Release tags:

• Stable: vX.Y.Z
• Pre-release: vX.Y.Z-alpha.N, vX.Y.Z-beta.N, or vX.Y.Z-rc.N

Use the interactive release script:

npm run release

The script updates package.json, package-lock.json, src-tauri/tauri.conf.json, src-tauri/Cargo.toml, and the chart-viewer entry in src-tauri/Cargo.lock, then creates and pushes the tag.

Updater artifacts require these GitHub Actions secrets:

• TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY
• TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY_PASSWORD when the key is password-protected

Generate an updater key with:

npx tauri signer generate -w tauri-updater.key

Keep the private key out of commits. The updater public key is configured in src-tauri/tauri.conf.json, and release workflows generate latest.json for the Tauri updater endpoint.

macOS Unsigned App

The app is not signed with an Apple Developer certificate. If Gatekeeper blocks the first launch after installing a downloaded DMG, remove the quarantine flag:

xattr -cr "/Applications/Chart Viewer.app"

You can also right-click the app and choose Open, then confirm the macOS security dialog.

Project Structure

chart-viewer/
├── app/                         # Next.js App Router entry points
├── components/                  # React UI components and viewers
├── lib/                         # Chart parsing, Tauri bridge, math, hooks
├── types/                       # Shared TypeScript types
├── scripts/                     # Release, icon, sidecar, and debug scripts
├── src-tauri/                   # Tauri Rust application
│   ├── resources/               # Georeferencing Python resources/templates
│   ├── src/                     # Rust commands, protocol, updater, GDL90
│   └── tauri.conf.json          # Tauri app, bundle, and updater config
├── public/                      # Icons and bundled Cesium static assets
├── .github/                     # CI, release, Dependabot, and templates
├── charts/                      # Local chart PDFs, ignored by Git
└── csv/                         # Local metadata/navigation CSVs, ignored by Git

Technologies

• Tauri 2
• Next.js 16
• React 19
• TypeScript
• Tailwind CSS
• PDF.js / pdfjs-dist
• Cesium and Resium
• PapaParse
• Rust
• Python, PyMuPDF, NumPy, PyProj, and PyInstaller

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for contribution guidelines. For bug reports and feature requests, use the issue templates in .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE.

License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

Copyright (c) 2025 Justin