What is Little Navmap and how do you use it?

Little Navmap is a free, open-source desktop flight planner, moving map and navigation utility for Microsoft Flight Simulator, FSX, Prepar3D and X-Plane. Install it outside the simulator, load the matching scenery database and connect to a running flight. Then build, check and export routes or follow your aircraft on the live map.

What does Little Navmap actually do?

Little Navmap combines route planning, airport information and live aircraft tracking in one external application.

• Plan VFR and IFR routes using direct legs, navaids, waypoints, airways and published procedures.
• Search airports and inspect runways, parking positions, frequencies, elevation, approaches and nearby facilities.
• Display terrain, airspace, minimum altitudes, weather information and an elevation profile where the necessary data is available.
• Follow your aircraft on a second screen, record its track and display simulator traffic exposed through the connection.
• Estimate fuel, endurance and flight time using an aircraft performance profile.
• Export flight plans for stock simulators and supported add-on aircraft.

It does not fly the aircraft, control the autopilot or automatically programme every GPS and FMC. We treat it as a planning and situational-awareness tool: the route in the cockpit must still be loaded and checked before departure.

The official styling is Little Navmap, although searches for Little Nav Map and littlenavmap refer to the same application. Little Navconnect is a separate companion utility used for certain network connections. Our Little Navmap utility package and file notes provide the download information. Keep the main application, companion tools and supplied plug-ins from a matching package rather than mixing files from different releases.

Little Navmap is intended only for flight simulation. Its maps, procedures, weather and performance calculations must not be used for real-world navigation.

Does Little Navmap work with MSFS, FSX, Prepar3D and X-Plane?

Yes, but the live connection and simulator-side component differ by platform.

How does Little Navmap work with MSFS 2020 and MSFS 2024?

On a Windows PC, Little Navmap connects to a running MSFS flight through SimConnect; no Little Navmap plug-in belongs in the simulator’s Community folder.

Choose the database for the MSFS installation you are actually flying. MSFS 2020 and MSFS 2024 must not be treated as interchangeable scenery libraries, even when some airport data appears similar. For MSFS 2024, cloud-streamed or otherwise inaccessible package data cannot always be scanned in the same way as locally readable scenery; our MSFS 2024 scenery-database setup and troubleshooting guide covers that specific problem.

The normal integrated workflow requires the PC edition. Xbox and PlayStation editions do not provide the desktop folders and SimConnect access used here, so Little Navmap can serve only as an independent planning reference on another device; do not expect live tracking or direct flight-plan transfer to a console.

What is Little Navconnect, and when do you need it?

Little Navconnect relays simulator data from a PC running MSFS, FSX or Prepar3D to Little Navmap on another computer.

Run Little Navconnect on the simulator computer, note the local address and port it reports, and enter those details in Little Navmap on the remote computer. Both machines must be on the same local network, and the operating system firewall must allow the connection on the private network.

A timeout or frozen remote aircraft usually points to the network, firewall, address or companion-tool version. It is not normally fixed by rebuilding the scenery database. X-Plane users should configure the supplied Little Xpconnect plug-in instead of inserting Little Navconnect into the chain.

How to use Little Navmap for the first time

The essential setup is to extract the complete application, scan the correct simulator scenery, establish the appropriate connection and confirm that the user-aircraft symbol moves.

1. Install or extract the complete package. Do not run the executable from inside a compressed archive or copy only the main executable. Give the application its own folder outside MSFS Community, FSX or Prepar3D Addon Scenery, and X-Plane Resources/plugins.
2. Select the intended simulator. If several simulators are installed, choose the exact one you will use. Accidentally retaining an FSX database while flying MSFS is a common cause of obsolete runways and parking layouts.
3. Build the scenery database. Let Little Navmap scan the simulator’s installed airport and scenery files. Repeat the scan after installing, removing or updating airport scenery.
4. Check the navigation-data source. Scenery data describes airport layouts; navigation data supplies waypoints, airways and procedures. They are separate, so a scenery rescan cannot repair a mismatched SID or approach.
5. Install any required simulator-side component. MSFS, FSX and Prepar3D use SimConnect. X-Plane needs the complete Little Xpconnect component under Resources/plugins.
6. Load an actual flight. Place the aircraft in the simulator and connect Little Navmap if automatic connection is disabled. The order in which the two applications start is less important than having a flight fully loaded.
7. Verify the moving map. Check that the user-aircraft symbol shows the correct position, altitude and heading. If it moves but the map stays behind, enable aircraft-centred or follow mode.

You can search airports, inspect procedures and build routes without running the simulator. A live connection is needed only for the moving aircraft, simulator weather, supported traffic and other live values.

How do you plan a flight in Little Navmap?

Set the departure, destination and cruise altitude first, calculate or draw the route, add procedures, inspect the result and save a native master copy before exporting.

1. Choose the departure and destination. Search for each airport and assign it to the flight plan. Add a parking stand for a cold-and-dark start or a runway start only when that is genuinely where you intend to spawn.
2. Enter a realistic cruise altitude. Do this before calculating an IFR route because airway levels, one-way restrictions, terrain and minimum altitudes can change the available result.
3. Select the route style. Calculate a low- or high-airway IFR route, edit the legs manually, or build a VFR route using suitable visual points and navaids. Arbitrary map points may be renamed or omitted by some export formats, so use recognised fixes when cockpit import matters.
4. Add procedures through the procedure browser. Select the SID, STAR, transition and approach as procedures rather than recreating them by dragging individual fixes onto the route. This preserves their structure and reduces duplicate legs.
5. Check the route. Inspect terrain clearance, airway restrictions, discontinuities, airspace, runway length and the elevation profile. Confirm that the expected runway and weather suit the selected procedures, and cross-check procedural altitudes and frequencies against appropriate charts.
6. Add performance information if needed. A suitable aircraft profile improves fuel and time estimates, but the result remains an estimate until the profile reflects the aircraft, loading and flying technique.
7. Save the master plan. Keep a copy in Little Navmap’s native .lnmpln format. Export formats may discard comments, performance data, parking positions or parts of a procedure.
8. Export for the exact target. Choose the simulator or aircraft-specific output rather than a similarly named generic format. Then load the file and compare its waypoint sequence with the master route.

Does exporting from Little Navmap load the route into the aircraft?

No. Exporting normally writes a static flight-plan file; it does not automatically programme every cockpit GPS or FMC, and later edits in Little Navmap are not synchronised automatically.

For Microsoft Flight Simulator, our explanation of loading and checking an external plan in the MSFS World Map covers the simulator-side workflow. X-Plane users can follow the corresponding steps for placing and loading an exported .fms plan in X-Plane 12.

A mistake we see constantly is exporting a generic simulator plan and expecting a complex add-on FMC to read it. Check the target format, extension and destination folder, then compare every waypoint and procedure in the cockpit. If you edit the Little Navmap route afterwards, export and load it again.

Why are Little Navmap airports or procedures wrong?

Incorrect airport layouts usually come from the wrong or an outdated scenery scan, while missing procedures usually indicate mismatched navigation databases.

Three data sources may be involved:

• The scenery database describes installed airports, runways, taxiways and parking positions.
• The navigation database provides waypoints, airways, SIDs, STARs and approaches.
• The aircraft avionics may use a separate navigation database inside its FMC or GPS.

Rescanning scenery fixes an airport added after the previous scan, but it does not align navigation-data cycles. Likewise, matching Little Navmap’s procedure data to the aircraft will not make an inaccessible scenery package appear on the map.

Why do Little Navmap procedures not match the FMC?

Little Navmap and the aircraft are probably using different navigation-data cycles or sources.

A runway renumbering, renamed transition or revised procedure can make the difference obvious even when most waypoints still agree. Align the navigation databases where the supported setup permits it. Otherwise, choose procedures and fixes available in both systems, then inspect every leg rather than forcing an unavailable procedure into the FMC.

Missing weather or traffic does not by itself prove that the aircraft connection has failed. Simulators differ in the weather and traffic data they expose, and some multiplayer or injected traffic is not available through every connection. Establish a reliable user-aircraft position before troubleshooting optional overlays.

When is Little Navmap better than the built-in planner?

Little Navmap is better for detailed route design, database inspection and second-screen navigation; a built-in planner is faster for a simple flight created entirely inside the simulator.

• Use the built-in planner when you want a quick direct or basic IFR route and an immediate simulator start.
• Use Little Navmap for airway planning, procedure comparison, VFR terrain and airspace checks, multi-leg flights, performance estimates or a persistent moving map.
• Use both when you want to design and verify the route externally, export it, and then fly it through the simulator and cockpit avionics.

Whichever method you choose, verify the cruise altitude, waypoint order, departure, arrival and approach in the cockpit. A correct line on Little Navmap’s map does not guarantee that the simulator or aircraft loaded the same route.