I know the park 4 only position issue has been around for a while, but I want to bring it up again. In our new public outreach observatory (that will serve 110,000 to 150,000 visitors a year) now under construction at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, three of our six telescopes will be on A-P 1600GTO or 1100GTO mounts. We will be controlling all six telescopes with Sky Safari on iPad Minis. I was OK with the Park 4 default until yesterday when I realized that with the 36'x36' building rolled forward over the telescopes and the door closed, will create a problem for our 8" f/12 telescope parked in a N/S orientation (Park 4). It needs about 5-5 1/2 feet to the south and we only have 3 feet from the center of the pier. Ouch.
I would like to request the "Park in Current Position" and "Unpark from Last Position" functionality so we can put the scope in a safe position and park it there. I'd hate to have to use the A-P hand paddle for one telescope. It makes training 20 other educators problematic.
Thanks for the consideration.
Jim Cole
Public Program Senior Educator
Lowell Observatoty