Preview of pull request #40: Track operations, part B3: drag a single fix; OTG and DR plotting. Built from b4f7ace on 2026-10-14 10:46 UTC. All previews
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Short, frequent posts on what is new in Debrief v4, written in the same pull request as the work they describe.

Dragging a fix, and dead reckoning

The last of the track operations has arrived. Zoom in on a track and each fix has a small ring of its own: drag one, and only that fix moves. Its time stays, its neighbours stay, and the map tells you, as you drag, how fast the platform would now have to go to reach it and to carry on. And the legacy OTG and DR modes are back, the legacy way: import a REP file and Debrief asks, for each track, whether it is plotted over the ground or dead reckoned from its courses and speeds, and you can tell it to use that choice for future imports. Each change to a plot is one step, and Ctrl+Z takes it back.

Cleaning tracks: jumps, smoothing and marking fixes

Three ways to tidy a track have arrived. Jump removal finds fixes a platform could not have reached in time, shows them to you on the map and in a list, and removes the ones you confirm. Smoothing shows you the track as it would be, and how far it would move each fix, before you apply it. And single fixes can now have a colour, a label or a comment of their own, as they could in legacy Debrief, so legacy plots no longer lose them on import. Each is one step in the plot's history, and Ctrl+Z takes it back.

Moving and splitting tracks

A track can now be moved and rotated on the map: the whole track, or only its fixes in the time window. Drag a handle and the track follows, with the range and bearing (or the angle) shown as you go; let go and it's one step in the plot's history. Tracks can also be split at current time and merged again. Everything can be done from the keyboard or a form, and Ctrl+Z takes any of it back.

Shear and stretch

A track, or its fixes in the time window, can now be sheared: hold one end, drag the other, and every fix in between moves in proportion to its time from the end you held. A straight leg stays a straight leg, with a new course and speed, and the map tells you both as you drag. Stretch does the same with the speed alone. Each release is one step, and the keyboard and two small forms do it too.

Annotations

Analysts can now add lines, areas, circles, ellipses, labels, markers and notes to a plot through a form, style them, give them a time, change and delete them. Each is one step in the plot's history, so Ctrl+Z takes it back. Notes are listed in a new Timeline, and legacy plots bring their circles, ellipses and styling with them.

Drawing on the map

Annotations can now be drawn straight onto the map: a line, an area, a circle, an ellipse, a label or a marker, with the range, bearing and size shown as you draw. Select one and handles appear, to drag a corner, move a circle or turn an ellipse. Each finished annotation is one step in the plot's history, and so is each change, so Ctrl+Z takes it back. Everything can also be done from the keyboard.

One file, history included

A plot is now one file an analyst can pass to a colleague, and its whole history goes with it. The colleague can undo a step the sender made, go back to any step, and see who did what, with nothing else beside the file.