The Global Airport Database

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The Global Airport Database (GADB) is a FREE downloadable database of 9300 airports big and small from all around the world. The database is presented in a simple token delimited format. The database provides detailed information about the airports listed including:

  • ICAO code
  • IATA code
  • Name
  • Country
  • City
  • Latitude-Longitude position
  • Altitude

Global Airport Database Map - Copyright Arash Partow

Download High Resolution Global Airport Database Map - Copyright Arash Partow [High Resolution Map]




The Global Airport Database Structure

The Global Airport Database is comprised from a series of tuples. Each tuple contains exactly 16 fields of varying pieces of information. The fields depending on what they represent are either a text string, integer, floating point or character.

Some fields are of constant length whilst others are of varying length. The fields are separated from each other by a single colon character ':' acting as a delimiter. There are no leading or trailing delimiters or white-space.

The following table describes each of the fields, their order and associated value type:


FieldNameType
01ICAO Code String (3-4 chars, A - Z)
02IATA Code String (3 chars, A - Z)
03Airport Name String
04City/Town String
05Country String
06Latitude Degrees Integer [0,360]
07Latitude Minutes Integer [0,60]
08Latitude Seconds Integer [0,60]
09Latitude Direction Char (N or S)
10Longitude Degrees Integer [0,360]
11Longitude Minutes Integer [0,60]
12Longitude Seconds Integer [0,60]
13Longitude Direction Char (E or W)
14Altitude Integer [-99999,+99999]
(Altitude in meters from mean sea level)
16Latitude Decimal Degrees Floating point [-90,90]
17Longitude Decimal DegreesFloating point [-180,180]

As an example, the following tuple taken from the database, depicits the details of the Melbourne international airport (aka Tullamarine airport):

YMML:MEL:MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL:MELBOURNE:AUSTRALIA:037:040:024:S:144:050:036:E:0434:-37.673:144.843

Note: Some tuples may have missing or otherwise unaviable pieces of data. In the event the values are not present, given the data type a default value will be used as follows:

  • String : N/A
  • Integer: 0
  • Char : U
  • Floating Point: 0.0


The Global Airport Database License

Free use of The Global Airport Database is permitted under the guidelines and in accordance with the MIT License.




Downloads




Support

In order to maintain the integrity of The Global Airport Database assistance is needed from the general public for information about new airports not already listed in the database, also information in order to fill in missing pieces of data from currently listed airports such as ICAO/IATA codes, lat-long coordinates and any other details.

Any help correcting or collecting new airport data would be greatly appreciated. For more information or to suggest a new airport or correction please get in contact via the following e-mail address: Global Airport Database Contact




Fun Facts...

The following are some "fun facts" derived from the global airport database:

  • Total number of airports: 9300

  • Highest altitude airport: Charana Airport in Bolivia (4060m)

  • Lowest altitude airport: Bar Yehuda Airport in Israel (-385m)

  • Number of airports in the northern hemisphere: 3317

  • Number of airports in the southern hemisphere: 1798

  • Two closest airports: At 370m apart are the Horsching International Airport and Linz Aiports in Austria

  • Two farthest airports: At 20014km apart are the Benito Salas Airport of Colombia and Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Airport of Indonesia.

  • Top 5 countries with the most airports:
    1. USA (552)
    2. Germany (529)
    3. France (472)
    4. South Africa (262)
    5. Canada (259)



Version History

  • Release 0.0.2 - 20170321: Addition of lat/lon decimal degree fields
  • Release 0.0.1 - 20030527: Initial realase of GADB




© Arash Partow. All Rights Reserved.