Re: Database

["Edward A. Falk" <falk efalk org>]

On 2005.06.16 01:28, Stephen Birch wrote:
> Ed:
> 
> Hi Edward
> 

> > http://www.faa.gov/ats/ata/ata100/120/stdatafiles.html
> 
> I am not sure what happens here.  Do you download the database and
> then run a program against it to reformat for fplane?
> 
> If so .. it would be more useful if we could package the program you
> use and permit users to grab the latest database themselves. Are you
> prepared to open source your tools under a free license so that can be
> done?
> 
> Or have I musunderstood the process?

Hi; standard procedure is to purchase the CDs from the FAA for
$35.

There's a web site, http://aviationtoolbox.org/raw_data/FAA/ATA-100/,
that zips the CDs and puts them on-line as a public service, and
that's where I got the raw FAA database.

Then, I run some tools I wrote to convert the FAA database into the
formats used by fplan.

The tools are a little clumsy; if the database format changes, which
can happen, the tools have to be modified, which takes time.

My plan was to clean up my own tools and then publish them.  Maybe
I should just publish them right now, and worry about cleaning them
up later.


In addition, the original command-line fplan web site has a whole
different set of tools called avdbtools

  http://www.ibiblio.org/fplan/avdbtools/index.html

I haven't looked at them, but they seem to be more complete
than my own tools.  Theoretically, you can pop the CD into your
drive, and the tools do the rest.  I haven't had time to look
avdbtools yet, but it's likely that there's no reason to publish
my own tools at all.

	-ed