Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Not for Navigation: FAA Parachute Jump Zones KML

I got around to parsing the FAA's parachute file. At first, the data elements looked good enough to do a proper circle in Google Earth. However, most jump zones have a null radius or no radius. Nevertheless, where there is a radius, it's listed in the area comments. There's a similar problem throughout the data -- elements are missing in many records.

Another mystery: Some areas are charted, some are in the A/FD, and some are listed in neither. (FAA's Airport/Facility Directory This link will expire.).

If you've ever wanted to see all the jump zones in the US in Google Earth, the file is in the archive. Hint: It's called dropzones in the kml directory.

Another mystery: Why I can't get the lat/long math correct on multiple hemispheres the first time I try.

NOT FOR NAVIGATION

No comments:

Post a Comment