VRS X v0.7.0

Introducing VRS X Data Central Repository

This release introduces a shared, community-reviewed data service designed to improve aircraft information across VRS X installations.

The Central Data Repository provides:

• Aircraft records for registrations, aircraft types, manufacturers, owners, operator codes, and other identification details.
• Route records that associate flight callsigns with origin, optional intermediate, and destination airports.
• Operator records for operator codes, names, countries, and related aircraft type information.
• Community reporting for corrections and missing aircraft, route, and operator data.
• Moderated review with validation, duplicate detection, and an approval workflow before changes become canonical data.
• Approved-data distribution through authenticated lookups, incremental synchronization, and real-time update events for VRS X clients.

Central Data Repository

• Added VRS X integration with the Central Data Repository.
• Expanded automatic enrichment of aircraft, operator, and route information.
• Added synchronization of approved corrections while preserving local continuity when Central is unavailable.
• Users can report corrections and missing data directly from the application.
• Improved submission quality control, duplicate detection, and the approval workflow.
• Strengthened installation identification and secured communication with Central.
• Preserved compatibility with existing clients and current features throughout the transition period.
• Fixed an issue that could prevent communication with Central from being renewed after a VRS X update. Existing installations keep their identity and do not need to be registered again.

A New Radar Rendering Engine

• Rebuilt the main radar around MapLibre, replacing the previous Leaflet renderer and removing the Google Maps integration.
• Replaced aircraft clusters and numbered grid cells with selective aircraft drawing. Wide-area views now show a representative set of useful traffic, while progressively more aircraft appear as the map is zoomed in.
• Prioritized selected aircraft, emergency squawks, airborne traffic, larger aircraft, altitude, source quality, and recent data without concentrating the entire view around the busiest airports.
• Kept the selected aircraft available even when it is outside the current viewport, and ensured emergency traffic in the surrounding map area is not hidden by ordinary density limits.
• Stabilized the selection between refreshes so aircraft no longer blink, disappear in waves, or constantly exchange places while the radar is running.
• Limited map updates to the current viewport and a small surrounding buffer. The Aircraft List remains complete and continues to use its independent paged data source.
• Preserved feed selection, merged and password-protected feeds, military-only filtering, labels, trails, OpenAIP overlays, saved map position, and existing display preferences.
• Added direct map centering from an Aircraft List row and a dedicated Center map action in the selected-aircraft view.
• Added multi-aircraft selection: hold Ctrl (Cmd on macOS) while clicking aircraft to keep several selected at once, view them in a shared selection panel, and display all of their trails simultaneously.

Modern Radar Interface

• Added the new Modern radar theme with floating translucent panels, a compact centered VRS X identity, and a liquid-glass visual style that adapts naturally to light, satellite, and dark base maps.
• Made Modern the default for new users while preserving the theme already saved by existing installations and browsers.
• Reorganized map actions into compact icon controls for Layers and Display, with the remaining radar settings kept in a cleaner menu.
• Restyled menus, dropdowns, the Aircraft List, and map controls so they remain readable over busy or dark maps.
• Turned the Aircraft List into a floating glass panel and aligned its open and collapsed states with the other desktop controls.
• Moved selected-aircraft information inside the Aircraft List panel in Modern mode, with an animated transition, a back action, internal scrolling, and no overlap with map controls.
• Improved the Aircraft List table so long model names no longer force the remaining columns off-screen.
• Preserved the established Default, Dark, Classic, Futuristic, Overfuture, and Phosphor themes for users who prefer the previous layouts.

Aircraft Markers and Map Display

• Carried existing administrator-configured PNG and SVG aircraft markers into the new MapLibre renderer.
• Improved marker sizing, rotation, aspect-ratio handling, and scaling so aircraft shapes remain crisp instead of appearing stretched or unusually heavy.
• Preserved aircraft, operator, and type-based colors and icon mappings, including uploaded custom marker files.
• Added optional military-aircraft highlighting, enabled by default, with a dedicated color that administrators can customize in the visual settings.
• Added bulk marker-pack import from ZIP archives and legacy MyMarkers*.html files, with optional ICAO type mapping import or filename-based mapping.
• Removed the need for separate Selected marker copies; selection highlighting is now generated directly by the radar.
• Added validation and sanitization for imported marker packs, including file-size limits, safe SVG processing, conflict handling, and import warnings.
• Migrated the administration coverage footprint preview to MapLibre and removed the obsolete coverage polar-plot option from the radar Layers menu.

Aircraft Trails and Coverage Gaps

• Refined aircraft trails with smoother joins and rounded line endings, reducing the angular appearance of longer tracks.
• Added altitude-based trail colors that move through yellow, green, blue, violet, pink, and red as the aircraft climbs.
• Preserved recent tracks when an aircraft temporarily leaves coverage and later returns, instead of immediately treating it as an unrelated new track.
• Added subdued dashed connectors for plausible gaps between reception areas, making routes easier to follow across separated receivers without presenting the missing portion as a measured path.
• Kept the On radar duration tied to the original tracking session when an aircraft returns within two hours of its last received position. Longer gaps begin a new session.

Radar Performance and Delivery

• Added a shared spatial aircraft index so large installations do not have to scan and process the full global aircraft list separately for every connected browser.
• Added map density budgets that adapt to zoom level and screen size, with fair geographic distribution and additional protection against unexpectedly large responses.
• Updated only aircraft that were added, changed, or removed instead of rebuilding the complete map source on every refresh.
• Avoided retransmitting unchanged radar results and added response compression and long-lived caching for versioned frontend assets.
• Split the radar, administration pages, and major frontend libraries into separate on-demand bundles to reduce the initial application load.
• Added automated bundle-size checks and a repeatable load benchmark for 11,000 continuously updated aircraft and 100 mixed radar clients.
• Expanded backend, API, and frontend tests for spatial selection, dateline handling, feed privacy, emergency priority, marker rendering, polling, request cancellation, and incremental map updates.

Easier Setup and Administration

• Added a guided first-run setup for license activation, administrator account creation, receiver location, and the first data feed.
• Existing installations keep their current configuration and do not have to repeat the setup process after updating.
• Redesigned the administration area with clearer navigation, a getting-started checklist, and optional guided tours.
• Added English, Polish, German, French, and Spanish versions of the administration interface.
• Added saved display preferences so choices such as language and formatting remain consistent between visits.
• Configuration changes that require a restart can now be applied more conveniently from the administration area on supported installations.

Coverage and Reliability

• Improved the coverage archive so it remains responsive as reception history grows.
• Added automatic archive size management to prevent coverage data from growing without limits.
• Improved processing of larger coverage datasets while preserving useful footprint detail.
• Updated the coverage footprint map to use the same rendering foundation as the main radar.
• Improved application recovery and continuity around updates, configuration changes, and temporary Central availability problems.

Security

• Removed default administrator credentials and introduced secure first-account setup.
• Strengthened user sessions, password changes, and access revocation following security-sensitive changes.
• Added re-authentication before particularly sensitive operations.
• Expanded protection against request forgery, API abuse, and attempts to impersonate a trusted network.
• Reduced secret exposure and secured imports, exports, and uploaded resources.
• Added secure HTTPS support using either a built-in certificate or a reverse proxy.
• A reverse proxy can now be verified and enabled from the admin panel without losing local access.
• HTTP access remains available in compatibility mode, with a clear security warning.
• Updated key dependencies and significantly expanded security and compatibility test coverage.