Augment maps with aeronautical information

Flight planning and operational apps have situational awareness aspects to them. This is particularly true with applications that have mapping components. You can add information from Laminar to the maps that give you additional layers of information.

Audiences

• Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP)
• Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM)
• Airlines

Platform

Laminar Data Hub

Augment maps with aeronautical information

You need aeronautical data to understand the underlying contextual and reference information used by airspace users and systems.

If you want to have a higher level of details on a map, you must add key aeronautical data assets like airspaces, aerodromes, designated points, and NAVAIDs (navigational aids).

The Laminar Data Hub provides the following information about an airspace:

• Lateral and vertical limits

• Type of the airspace. Examples include controlled or restricted airspaces

• Classification. This helps in understanding which flight rules apply in a controlled airspace

Here's a view of restricted airspace over California:

Key elements of aerodromes found on the Laminar Data Hub are:

• Designator, which represents aerodrome identification

• Name, center point, and elevation

• The type of the aerodrome. Examples include aerodrome only, aerodrome with heliport, or heliport only

• IATA and ICAO identification codes

Here's a view of Spanish aerodromes:

How to augment maps with aeronautical information

Here, we'll explain how to collect all the aeronautical data you need to augment the UK map.

1) Get API access

Create a Laminar Data Hub account by signing up on the Get evaluation account page. Once you create your account and your email is validated, you can access Applications and access your user key from the home page. Note that these are restricted APIs.

2) Collect airspaces

To retrieve a list with all the UK airspaces, you make a request to the Airspaces by Country API.

The API requires two mandatory parameters:

• User key: This was provided in the previous step

• The three-letter code of the country, which in this case is GBR

After adding all the parameters, the URL will look like this:

An easy way to make the request is by using the curl command. The response is a GeoJSON object that you can visualize with a tool like geojson.io.

Here's a view of UK airspaces:

3) Collect aerodromes

To retrieve a list with all the UK aerodromes, make a request to the Aerodromes by Country API.

The API requires two mandatory parameters:

• User key: This was provided in the first step

• The three-letter code of the country, which in our case is GBR

After adding all the parameters, the URL looks like this:

An easy way to make the request is by using the curl command. The response is a GeoJSON object that you can visualize with a tool like geojson.io:

Here's a view of UK aerodromes:

If you combine airspace and aerodrome in a customized solution the map will look like this:

4) Collect designated points

To retrieve a list with all the UK designated points, make a few requests to the Designated Points by FIR API. Query all the UK FIRs, which are: EGGX, EGPX, and EGTT.

The API requires three mandatory parameters:

• User key: This was provided in the first step

• ICAO prefix: The first letter of the ICAO designator. All FIRs start with "E" as the first letter

• ICAO FIR: In this case, the value is EGGX, EGPX, or EGTT

After adding all the parameters, the URL looks like this:

You must also query:

5) Collect NAVAIDs

Similarly to designated points, you must make a few requests to the NAVAIDs by FIR API to retrieve a list with all the UK navigational aids. Query all the UK FIRs, which include: EGGX, EGPX, and EGTT.

The API requires three mandatory parameters:

• User key: This was provided in the first step

• ICAO prefix: The first letter of the ICAO designator. In this example, the letter is E since all FIRs start with this letter

• ICAO FIR: In this case, the value is EGGX, EGPX, or EGTT

After adding all the parameters, the URL looks like this:

You must also query:

Here's what it looks like when you combine all the aeronautical data into one image:

Additional information

The data is available in GeoJSON or XML format. XML follows the AIXM 5.1. specification.

When querying the data, remember that aeronautical data is published every 28 days. This is known as the AIRAC cycle (Aeronautical Information Regulation and Control).

If you need data for the entire planet, you can get this by querying all the FIRs. These are available on the Reference Data page.

Since you'll work with huge data sets, we recommend that you filter the data based on your needs. You can also use the zoom level to display less information, which will clear up the map. We recommend a zoom level of 9+ for displaying NAVAIDs and designated points.

Resources

The Laminar Data Hub provides all you need to know about using Laminar APIs.

The Get evaluation account page is where you can sign up for an account.