[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: Status of fplan airport, nav database files (long)
John,
If you are ever interested in adding live, moving map functionality to
fplan, I have code that can parse (and generate) the garmin serial
format (and the more generic nmea format.) This is open source code
developed as part of the flight gear project which we'd be happy to
share.
Also, the flight gear project is using an airport/navaid database that
originated with the X-Plane simulator, but in the past year or two has
jumped to the free side of the world and is volunteer maintained. It
may or may not be able to fill in some of the gaps in your data.
Regards,
Curt.
--
Curtis Olson University of MN, ME Dept. Flight Gear Project
Twin Cities curt@me.umn.edu curt@flightgear.org
Minnesota http://www.menet.umn.edu/~curt http://www.flightgear.org
John C. Peterson writes:
> Greetings Everyone...
>
> Now that the long summer days are a thing of the past, I've finally
> found some time to get back to work on fplan. Things may be a little
> slow with all the holiday stuff coming up, but I should have more
> time on my hands. On that note, I wanted to post an update on the
> status of the fplan airport, nav database files.
>
> First off, I know that you pilots outside of the US may be feeling a
> little left out with regard to the database files, so let me address
> that situation first. I can appreciate your frustrations as I had the
> opportunity to experienced it myself with my vacation to Sweden and
> Germany this summer. The one little bit of good news I have to
> offer, is that I have discovered a web site that has lots of free
> data (for most of the world). It's called the "Worldwide Airport Path
> Finder" and is hosted by Falling Rain Genomics. Inc. They clearly
> state that the data may be inaccurate or obsolete. However, this
> might serve as a good starting point for those willing to do a little
> of their own data validation. The site is at;
>
> http://www.fallingrain.com/air/airports.cgi
> http://www.fallingrain.com/air/cache/geo/stats.html
>
> A short term solution that uses this data might not be that
> difficult. It should be possible to cobble together a script to
> automate the construction of a database from this data. A URL
> grabber like wget or curl could be used to fetch the desired pages,
> and then some simple awk, sed programs to strip out and reformat
> the data.
>
> It appears that much of the data at the WAPF site comes from a
> NOAA product called "Digital Aeronautical Flight Information
> File". I did a little surfing around, and found some information
> on NOAA's web site. Unfortunately, the data is a little on the
> expensive side. A one time purchase is 108.75 US$, and 1413.75 US$
> for a year subscription with updates every 28 days. I dont know if
> the data can be freely distributed? See these pages for more info;
>
> http://acc.nos.noaa.gov/PriceLists/PricesNOSAero.html
> http://acc.nos.noaa.gov/Catalog/DAFIF.html
>
> For the long term, I suspect the best option for non-US pilots is
> purchasing data in ARINC 424-13 format. I haven't had a chance to
> research the specifics of this format, the documentation can be
> ordered :( for $100) from ARINC;
>
> http://www.arinc.com/Ind_Govt_Srv/Characteristics/arinc400.html
> http://www.arinc.com/Ind_Govt_Srv/Characteristics/424.html
>
> The main advantage of this approach is that current and accurate data
> in ARINC 424-13 format can be purchased from a variety of commercial
> sources for just about any country. The NavData CD-ROM product from
> Jeppesen is one familiar example. (By the way, I'd be interested in
> expired Jepp NavData CD-ROMs if anyone has one they would be willing
> to part with). The disadvantage of this approach is that it wouldn't
> be free. Each pilot would likely have to purchase the data due to
> the license restrictions. (Not sure of this, just a good guess?)
>
> For US airports, there have been some changes, some good and bad
> news. Two pieces of bad news; 1) the format of the comma delimited
> NFDC files has changed and that broke avdbtools, 2) as some of you
> may have discovered, these files are no longer available for free
> download over the Internet. Now for the good news...
>
> The "official" (meaning current and up to date) US National
> Airspace Data can now be purchased on CD-ROM for 36 US$. They have
> new releases every 56 days, and also offer a subscription service
> (details below). I've never worked with the old tapes they used
> to distribute, but I've heard they were a real nightmare. They
> advertise the new CD-ROMs as being much easier to work with. I'll
> find out shortly, as I just mailed off a check for the next release
> due out in early December. Anyhow, there is some work to be done on
> avdbtools to get it to work with the new format they are using. So
> unless you are planning to help with that effort, don't rush out
> and order this stuff just yet. Actually, it shouldn't be much work
> if they distribute the "original" fixed format data files that the
> comma delimited files are derived from. The older releases included
> the awk scripts that are / were used to generate the comma delimited
> files, and they could be tweaked to meet our needs without too much
> sweat. Anyhow, here are the new web pages describing everything;
>
> FAA - Aeronautical Information Services
> http://www.faa.gov/nfdcata100/100miss.html
> FAA - National Airspace Data Distribution
> http://www.faa.gov/nfdcata100/120/120nadd.html
> FAA - National Flight Data Center
> http://www.faa.gov/nfdcata100/110/110splsh.html
>
> This brings up another issue. I don't think there is a problem with
> redistributing this data for free. So perhaps we can find a corporate
> sponsor, or pool our money to enroll in the subscription program.
> Add a few volunteers to help reformat the data when it comes in,
> and we would once again have current US databases available for
> everyone to download!
>
> Best Regards, John
>
> --
> ___|___ | John C. Peterson, <jaypee@netcom.com> | "Once you have flown,
> -(*)- | you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there
> o/ \o | you have been, there you long to return." -- Leonardo da Vinci.
> -
> Archives of linux-aviation: http://mail.nl.linux.org/lists/linux-aviation/
> To unsubscribe: send the command "unsubscribe linux-aviation" in the body
> of a mail message to <Majordomo@mail.nl.linux.org>.
-
Archives of linux-aviation: http://mail.nl.linux.org/lists/linux-aviation/
To unsubscribe: send the command "unsubscribe linux-aviation" in the body
of a mail message to <Majordomo@mail.nl.linux.org>.