tlarsendataguy / us_airspace_data

This repository contains the replication infrastructure and data catalog for a publicly-accessible database containing the FAA's 28-day NASR subscription data.

Open access National Airspace System Resource (NASR) data

This project's goal is to provide NASR data files in an open and user-friendly format. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) provides NASR files on 28-day and 56-day cycles. These data files contain a wealth of information about the airspace of the USA, from airport and runway information to navigational aids and weather stations. The files are provided by the FAA in flat-formatted text and XML files. This project parses these files and uploads them into a publicly-accessible Snowflake database.

This project is not affiliated or endorsed by the FAA or any department of the US government. It is purely a hobbyist-supported project and should not be used for production systems. It is intended as an educational resource for those who have an interest in both aviation and data analysis.

Data access

All of the parsed NASR data is provided in a publicly-accessible Snowflake database. The database can be accessed with the following connection parameters using the Snowflake ODBC driver:

Driver:    SnowflakeDSIIDriver
Server:    pe04767.east-us-2.azure.snowflakecomputing.com
Database:  NASR
Schema:    PUBLIC
Warehouse: COMPUTE_WH
Username:  nasr_access
Password:  f!5C$66eMxYC&^vz

Parsing and replication

The NASR and digital object files are parsed using Alteryx workflows. This repository contains the workflows used to parse and publish the NASR data to a Snowflake database. To encourage an atmosphere of open collaboration, all workflows are provided under an MIT license.

The data in the database will be updated on a 28-day cycle, in alignment with the NASR schedule. The date-time of the last update and the effective date of the data can be found in the properties table.

Object catalog

The following high-level objects are contained in the database, represented by 1 or more tables:

Object	Description
AFF	Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) facilities and communications
Airspace	Class B, C, D, and E Airspace
APT	Landing facilities (airports, heliports, ultralight aerodromes, etc)
ARB	ARTCC boundary segments
ATS	Air traffic service route airways
AWOS	Automated weather/surface observing systems
AWY	Airways
CDR	Coded departure routes
DOF	Digital obstacle file
elevation	Ground elevation
FIX	Radio fixes / reporting points
FSS	Flight service stations
HPF	Holding patterns
ILS	Instrument landing systems
LID	Location identifiers
MAA	Miscellaneous activity areas
MTR	Military training routes
NAV	Navigational aids (NAVAIDS)
PFR	Preferred routes
PJA	Parachute jump areas
STARDP	Standard terminal arrivals (STAR) and standard departure procedures (DP)
SUA	Special use airspace (not current available)
TWR	Terminal communications services (towered airports)
WXL	Weather reporting locations