Rockwell Collins’s Airshow 4000 v2 moving map has had a major facelift after the avionics group brought in some of California’s top video game programmers to make sure they got it right. The new v2 is purely a software upgrade and the entirely new mapping includes some 200 3-D enhancements and makes use of satellite-source topographic data from NASA.

Thanks to the expertise of the video game team, the view is, according to Rockwell Collins, “dramatically realistic.” The aircraft icon is an exact copy of the customer’s own airplane, including the exterior paint scheme. Lighting, shadows and reflections are shown realistically as the user selects from among such possibilities as zoom and viewing angles. The user can even select cockpit imagery, such as the instrument panel and the pilot’s head-up display.

Andrew Mohr, Rockwell Collins’s director of production marketing for cabin systems, emphasized that the system upgrade is purely software. Starting in 2010, it will be the new baseline for existing hardware and new systems shipments. The software will also be available as an upgrade to existing hardware, with pricing to be determined. For a preview of the new Airshow 4000 v2, stop by the Rockwell Collins exhibit here at EBACE (Booth No. 1043).