Description

Air transportation in Canada comprises of local, regional, national and international airlines which transport passengers and cargo to destinations both domestically and around the world. In 2018, there were 600 air carriers with licenses in Canada. The Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA) regulates and oversees the safety of the country’s air transportation system.

Canada’s air sector depends on aerodromes and airports; and Transport Canada requires airports to:

• have a safety management system in place

• comply with airport safety standards and security requirements.

There are over 2000 aerodromes in Canada with three different categories, each presenting progressively different safety requirements. In order to ascending safety level, the categories are listed below:

• aerodromes (small airstrip located on private property that are neither registered or certified)

• registered aerodromes

• certified aerodromes, referred to as airports

Registered Aerodromes:
While listed, registered aerodromes are not certified as airports in the Canada Flight Supplement (CFS). Registered aerodromes are not subject to ongoing inspection by Transport Canada, however they are inspected periodically to verify compliance with Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs).

Certified Aerodromes:
Airports are aerodromes certified under Subsection 302.03 of the CARs. Despite regulations that govern registered and non-registered aerodromes, the onus remains on a pilot to determine whether an aerodrome is safe and suitable.

Originator

1. NavCanada

2. Transport Canada

Use Cases

Source(s)

Remarks

1. The most appropriate dataset to use for EGIS would be CSV file from NavCan as it is updated bi-monthly.

2. Canada Flight Supplement/Water Aerodrome Supplement (CFS/WAS) are PDF publication released bi-monthly (59 days). Two versions are available: Ftp PDF download or CD. Single subscription pricing: $350/year. Contact NavCan AEROPUBS at 1-866-731-7827 or by e-mail at aeropubs@navcanada.ca for network distribution (approx. $5000/yr).

3. Canada Airport is a subset of Aerodrome Dataset release bi-monthly (59 days). Annual subscription pricing is approx. $22,750 under the term of Commercial Data Licensing Agreement. Contact Janelle Denton dentonj@navcanada.ca, Manager Customer Service, NavCanada

4. EGIS Data Folder: \\ncras382\Application Source Files\EGIS\Smartmap Files\

CFS, WAS, Procedure Chart, Airport Chart PDF Splitting:

1. Airport attributes contains hyperlinks to CFS/WAS, Procedure and Airport Chart PDF files.

2. CFS, WAS, Procedure Chart and Airport Chart are extracted by splitting PDF into individual airport file using bookmarks. The outputs are renamed to Airport Identifier for consistency in linking.
   CFS, WAS, Procedure Chart and Airport Chart Splitting:

3. AutoSplit from EverMap is used to split PDF files. It is an Adobe Acrobat PDF plugin.

4. Open PDF to split, select Plug-ins > Split Documents from the Menu.

5. From the Split Document Settings dialog, set the Split Method to Use Bookmark Tree.

6. Browse the output directory and select Ok to run.

7. Output files inherit the bookmarks title.

8. Rename files to Airport Identifiers using the Plug-Ins > Auto Rename PDF Files.

External Documents/URL Links

1. Create new attributes with document hyperlinks to CFS, WAS, Procedure Chart and Airport Chart.

2. Create new attrbute with URL hyperlink to Aeronautical Chart from SkyVector.com (https://skyvector.com/airport/@Value(Identifier) )

3. Create new attribute with URL hyperlink to Arrival/Departure Status from OurAirports.com . (http://ourairports.com/airports/@Value(Identifier)/flights.html#arrivals )

4. Create new attrbute with URL hyperlink to Inbound/Outbound Routes from OurAirports.com . (http://ourairports.com/airports/@Value(Identifier)/routes/#inbound )

5. Create new attrbute with URL hyperlink to NOTAM from FAA. (https://pilotweb.nas.faa.gov/PilotWeb/notamRetrievalByICAOAction.do?method=displayByICAOs&formatType=ICAO&retrieveLocId=@Value(Identifier)&reportType=RAW&actionType=notamRetrievalByICAOs )

Process for EGIS integration

Canada Airport Database Options:

Option 1: CSV file from Nav Canada (Most desirable)
Pro: Updated bi-monthly
Con: $22,750/year/license

Option 2: MS Access Database from TC NASD
Pro: Free
Con 1: Database hasn't been properly maintained since 2014.
Con 2: Account required

Option 3: ePub or eCFS PDF Subscription from NavCan
Pro: Updated bi-monthly
Con 1: Requires data extraction from PDF file, a complex and labour intensive process.
Con 2: Requires subscription

Display Optimization:

1. To improve display performance, Certified Airports are displayed at smaller scale, Registered Airports and Seaplane Base displayed at medium scale and Helipads are displayed at large scale to reduce cluttering and improve display performance.

CSV File:

1. CSV can be integrated directly into ArcMap and ArcGIS.

2. In FME, transform Lat/Long to point.

3. Output to KML, SHP or GDB as required

4. Import into EGIS

TC Smart Maps:

1. Not all GIS applications can consume KML file directly due to its unique data structures such as networklinks, folders, models etc.

2. Please contact Lawrence Chong, Digital Services Directorate for TC Smart Maps KML dataset and format translation.

3. TC Smart Maps KML link: \tc.gc.ca\tcgis\GISData\Google Mashup\Aerodrome\CanadaAirport\CanadaAirport.kmz

Customization:

• Schema transformation: As required

• Denormalization: Not required

• Value coding: Not required

• Attribute renaming: As required to improve readability

• Attribute removal: It is highly recommended as some fields are unnecessary, this will also reduce file size and improve performance

• Geoenrichment: Feature symbolization is recommended to improve visualization.-Symbolize airport by Category

• Geoenrichment: External document link for Canada Airport Chart

• Geoenrichment: External URL link for Aeronautical Chart

• Geoenrichment: External URL link for live Airport Arrival/Departure status

• Geoenrichment: External URL link for Airport Inbound/Outbound routes

• Geoenrichment: External URL link for NOTAM (Notice to Airman)

• Format translation: As needed

• Language translation: French version not available

• Update frequency: As identified