Airfield Ratings in Turnpoint list naming convention

2KA wrote, On 6/24/2014 5:38 PM:
There is one other question. The name may not be the best place for
embedding this kind of information. Some platforms -- Volkslogger,
for example -- have very limited name lengths. Many pilots use
restricted short names as a matter of preference, in order to save
screen real estate. In these cases there just isn't much information
that can practically be fit in a name suffix.

For many platforms, a better choice is the attribute code or the
comment. John Leibacher has already defined an extensive set of
codes that can be used with devices that support the STX format. The
comment field can be used for longer text on SeeYou mobile and other
devices that support .cup files.

I agree with Lynn: The name is a poor place to put important
information. There is plenty of space in the comment section of the
soaring programs in use today. If your program is too limited for useful
comments, dump it and get something better.

I use a simple name that indicates the type of landing place, such
"field", "dirt", "pave"; a digit is appended, along with the state
abbreviation, so the final name is something like "dirt3 Wa". Lately,
I've reduced it to "D3 WA". The state abbreviation allows reuse of names
in each state, such as "D3 WA", "D3 TX", etc. No reason you couldn't use
"D205", of course, but I like knowing the state when trying to pick a
name from a list - reduces errors on my part.

The comment section contains length x width, anything else of
importance, and the date I last observed the field. Generally, I do not
count on any field I haven't seen "recently", which usually means "this
soaring season", unless it's a paved field. Even paved fields, though
more permanent than a dirt or grass field, can have problems, even from
week to week, such the farmer storing tractors, hay, and who knows what
else on it. Grass airstrips can have sprinklers magically appear and
disappear.

A national database with filtering and selectable output formats would
be wonderful. Something map based, such as the Google-based method
developed by Michael Reid, would be my preference.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Feb/2010" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm
http://tinyurl.com/yb3xywl