Replacement for DAFIF Airspace Data

All,

I've just embarked on a project to extract US (CONUS) airspace data
from the FAA National Airspace System Resource files and process it
into more accessible formats (such as OpenAir and Tim Newport-Peace).
This is a little more complicated than it sounds, because the NASR
uses ESRI shapefile formats for Class B-E airspace, and the conversion
isn't straightforward. I do, however, think it is possible, and I
expect to complete the project before spring flying begins.

I'm also working on extracting airport data from the same source into
turnpoint files. I should be able to produce .CUP and .NDB turnpoint
files from the NASR data by springtime as well.

When I'm done, I'll submit the results to the Worldwide Turnpoint
Exchange.

Note: The NASR files are available free of charge to the public
through the National Flight Data Center, but you do have to go through
a registration and approval process that includes a request for
permission to access the data.

2KA

2KA,

I'm about to announce a web page that converts FAA National Flight
Database (NFD) files into both of the airspace formats you describe
(Tim Newport-Peace and OpenAir(tm)). It also provides a KML version
for viewing the airspace in 3D with Google Earth.

I'm not familiar with the NASR files. The NFD is subscription only,
and it is because of FAA requirements for maintaining the subscription
that I'm charging for it on my webpage ($20/year).

Users will be able to provide a Cambridge-formatted turnpoint with
which to specify their area of interest, or provide latitudes &
longitudes for the bounding rectangle.

Look for the announcement in a few days.

~ted/2NO

2KA wrote:
All,

I've just embarked on a project to extract US (CONUS) airspace data
from the FAA National Airspace System Resource files and process it
into more accessible formats (such as OpenAir and Tim Newport-Peace).
This is a little more complicated than it sounds, because the NASR
uses ESRI shapefile formats for Class B-E airspace, and the conversion
isn't straightforward. I do, however, think it is possible, and I
expect to complete the project before spring flying begins.

I'm also working on extracting airport data from the same source into
turnpoint files. I should be able to produce .CUP and .NDB turnpoint
files from the NASR data by springtime as well.

When I'm done, I'll submit the results to the Worldwide Turnpoint
Exchange.

You'll be in my prayers for the entire 2008 season!

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly
* "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org

Ted,

Your website sounds really great -- I'll subscribe for sure. I think
I'll still go ahead with my project in the interest of providing
something portable and open source. I'll be interested to compare the
results.

2KA

On Dec 20, 4:44 pm, Tuno wrote:
2KA,

I'm about to announce a web page that converts FAA National Flight
Database (NFD) files into both of the airspace formats you describe
(Tim Newport-Peace and OpenAir(tm)). It also provides a KML version
for viewing the airspace in 3D with Google Earth.

I'm not familiar with the NASR files. The NFD is subscription only,
and it is because of FAA requirements for maintaining the subscription
that I'm charging for it on my webpage ($20/year).

Users will be able to provide a Cambridge-formatted turnpoint with
which to specify their area of interest, or provide latitudes &
longitudes for the bounding rectangle.

Look for the announcement in a few days.

~ted/2NO

Thanks to both of you !

I've got John Leibacher an ILEC SN10 conversion utility that
runs on his computer (replacing our less-than-reliable SOAP
implementation). This plus your efforts should yield better
NDB's on his web site !

Thanks again,
Best Regards, Dave "YO"

Dave,

My web site will be announced sometime today.

If someone can send me a specification for the NDB format, I can add
it to the supported formats.

~ted/2NO

2KA,

I haven't dived into the gory details of the NASR, but after browsing
the SUA table of the primary data, the format descriptions for all the
tables, and the class B-E shapes in the "Additional" data, I have the
following observations:

* The APT table can be used in conjunction with the FAA NFD (what I'm
using on www.justsoar.com) to provide the comm frequencies missing
from the latter. (They have a common key.)

* Similarly, the SUA table provides active times missing from the NFD,
for Restrictive, Alert, and MOA areas.

(Alas the good news seems to end there.)

* The SUA table does not provide precise descriptions of the
restrictive areas. Arcs and circles, instead of being described by
[center, radius, begin point, end point, and direction to travel], are
lists of approximated points. They are not suitable for navigation
purposes, and I believe the NASR description even says so.

* The shapes data (for class B-E) have nice vector renderings (I used
TNTatlas), but this data appear to be 2 dimensional only, and also not
suitable for navigation purposes. (To be useful for navigation, top
and bottom elevations must be provided.) It seems this data are useful
only for 2D plotting. Also, at least the Class B file is out of date;
I got the 20 Dec 07 - Feb 08 download, but it still has the old
Phoenix Class B.

I don't want to discourage you from your project, but potential users
should be aware of these limitations.

I do think that creating an airport turnpoint list from the APT table
would be very useful. I hope you don't mind if I add this feature to
what I provide on justsoar.com.

2NO

On Dec 21, 11:01 pm, Tuno wrote:
2KA,

I haven't dived into the gory details of the NASR, but after browsing
the SUA table of the primary data, the format descriptions for all the
tables, and the class B-E shapes in the "Additional" data, I have the
following observations:

* The APT table can be used in conjunction with the FAA NFD (what I'm
using onwww.justsoar.com) to provide the comm frequencies missing
from the latter. (They have a common key.)

* Similarly, the SUA table provides active times missing from the NFD,
for Restrictive, Alert, and MOA areas.

(Alas the good news seems to end there.)

* The SUA table does not provide precise descriptions of the
restrictive areas. Arcs and circles, instead of being described by
[center, radius, begin point, end point, and direction to travel], are
lists of approximated points. They are not suitable for navigation
purposes, and I believe the NASR description even says so.

* The shapes data (for class B-E) have nice vector renderings (I used
TNTatlas), but this data appear to be 2 dimensional only, and also not
suitable for navigation purposes. (To be useful for navigation, top
and bottom elevations must be provided.) It seems this data are useful
only for 2D plotting. Also, at least the Class B file is out of date;
I got the 20 Dec 07 - Feb 08 download, but it still has the old
Phoenix Class B.

I don't want to discourage you from your project, but potential users
should be aware of these limitations.

I do think that creating an airport turnpoint list from the APT table
would be very useful. I hope you don't mind if I add this feature to
what I provide on justsoar.com.

2NO

2NO

What you say about the SUA is absolutely true. The line segments are
accurate, but arcs and irregulars are only approximate. I hope the
FAA will add them.

The shapefile descriptions actually do include the elevation data you
mention, as well as the name of each segment. The shapefiles are
currently beta only; the FAA says they will be official and updated
regularly sometime in mid-2008.

Please do add the airport turnpoint list to turnpoint.com. I'll send
over some of my source code for comparison, so you can see how I
handle things like unique short name generation.

2KA

2KA

Thanks 2KA, I'd love to see your source code for the airport turnpoint
stuff. You can find my e-addy at justsoar.com.

I've completed a program that takes a Cambridge turnpoint file (for
boundaries) and outputs (1) a new version of the same file padded with
all APT entries not closer than a mile to any turnpoint already in the
file, (2) a separate file of the same format with all APT entries in
the same boundary, and (3) a SeeYou (.cup) file with all APT entries
as turnpoints. The last one is nice to load in SeeYou and do whatever
with from there.

The entire APT file creates a file with 13520 turnpoints. And that's
facility type = "AIRPORT" or "GLIDERPORT" only.

Interesting that Turf Soaring (Pleasant Valley Airport) is listed as
an airport and not a gliderport.

Lots of info available to plop into the "Description" field. CTAF and
runway idents?

2NO

On Dec 21, 10:44 am, Tuno wrote:
Dave,

My web site will be announced sometime today.

If someone can send me a specification for the NDB format, I can add
it to the supported formats.

~ted/2NO

Hi Guys - See my website for updated resources on ILEC SN10.
Under the "airspace" section, you'll find NDB format information
and all of the gory info about converting TNP to NDB as required
for SN10...
Enjoy,
Best Regards, Dave

http://www.nadler.com/sn10/SN10_Resource_Index.html