I’ve seen a number of different well known reporting facilities listed in this field such as gandor center, moncton center and montreal center.
But I’ve also seen listings such as: FlightAware, FlightAware UK, FlightAware Transoceanic, FlightAware Approximate.
Where did the data actually come from when the reporting facility is one of these?
Is this data reliable?
We have our own privately operated radio receiving facilities deployed in a few key cities, like Houston, New York, London, Paris, etc to allow us to receive position information from aircraft.
On the flight I’m looking at (UA91) you are showing tracking data across most of the Atlantic, and I’m interested in using this kind of data. My only question is:
How can this data possibly be real? Do you operate radio receiving facilities throughout the Atlantic?
Transoceanic data is usually received through data partnerships that we have, and might use long distance HF radio or ACARS transmission. We also receive some of our data via satellite data providers, including Iridium based systems.
FlightXML does not return any projected positions, since most people using it want to do data analysis on the real data. There have been requests to allow FlightXML to return projected positions, which we will optionally allow in a future version of FlightXML. The projected and approximated positions are produced for our website to make the maps appear smoother.
What is the difference between “Reporting Facility: FlightAware Approximate” and “Reporting Facility: Estimated”?
I had understood that “Estimated” means “projected” and “approximate” means data that was reported from sources that are less precise. As such, I had understood that FlightXML does not return any positions that are “Estimated” but it does return positions that are “Approximate”.
“FlightAware Approximate” and “FlightAware Estimated” are actually both just types of synthetic data projection, but are relying on either waypoints or the destination (respectively) to project where the aircraft is located when no other data source is available. As I mentioned, both types are considered to be projected positions and will not be returned by GetHistoricalTrack.
It seems that positions reported by “FlightAware Approximate” are included in responses to InFlightInfo().
Is there any way to exclude them?
Better yet, is there any parameter which would tell us whether a given position was reported by “Salt Lake Center” “FlightAware” of “FlightAware Approximate”. This would allow our script to decide which positions to accept and which to ignore.
Actually, a better way will be to call InFlightInfo and look at the “updateType” element. If it is “TP” then the position was projected. “TZ” indicates it is an actual position. (The altitude can legitimately be 0 for reasons other than projection.)
But I’ve actually been getting “TA” for my update type. What does that mean?
Is there any place in your documentation where it says all possible return values and what they mean?
The possible values aren’t documented, since it’s not a commonly requested item. However, “TO” is oceanic position, “TP” is projected, “TZ” is radar position, “TA” is ADS-B position. You really only care that it is not “TP”
FlightAware Transoceanic are projections along the 4D trajectory between the prior reporting point and the next reporting point.
Transoceanic Reports are datalink positions reports.
1-OK, so I’m getting some "O"s now. Is that the equivalent of “FlightAware Transoceanic” (4D projections) or “Transoceanic Report” (datalink positions reports)?
Again, I need to make sure I’m not working with any projected data.
FlightXML does not return any projected positions,
2-Now getHistoricalTrack() is starting to give me "P"s.
(For example: Flight ID: UAL90-1372397683-airline-0079 at Timestamp 2013-07-01 09:12 UTC)
