Creating Airport Outlines

[Allocator]

Dear Allocator,

Sorry to bother you. I saw you helped HH plot the outline of EDDH on his map. Could you show me how to do this? I am visiting EDFF and ELLX in late October. I am going to have my RadarBox with me and I am very curious about what I will get at those two airports. Is the RadarBOx editable?

I am kind of new to RadarBox.

Regards,

Chung-ping Liang

Hi there Chung-ping,

Creating the airport outlines is not difficult, but it does take a little time.  Here is how you do it:

1. Visit Bones RadarBox Utilities web page here:

http://www.homepages.mcb.net/bones/AirNav/AirNav_Utilities.htm

2. Go to the bottom of the page to "Jordan's Outline Marker"

http://www.acme.com/jef/outlines/

3. You will see a Google Map display on the page.  You need to move to the position where the airfield is.  If you have to move the map a large distance, zoom out by using the scale slider on the left, drag the map, then zoom in again.

4. You can then switch to the Satellite view so you can see the actual airfield which has more detail that the map view.

5. You are now going to mark the outside of the airfield.  Left click on the map where you want to start drawing.  As you continue to click on the picture, you will see a red line being left on the picture each time you click.  If you make a mistake, you can undo by using the "Delete last point" button.  You can do this as many times as you like to delete as many points as you like.  You will see co-ordinates appearing at tthe bottom of the screen as you click.

6. When you have gone all around the outside of the object, say the outline of the runways and taxyways and back to the start point, click the "Start New Line" button.

7. You can now start to fill in all the detail by choosing another area to outline.  Remember, you are drawing one continuous line each time to always finish each line where you started.

8. When you have finished, you will have a whole load of co-ordinates scrolling off the screen at the bottom.  You need to copy these co-ordinates by left clicking with the mouse at the start, then dragging to the last co-ordinate (which will be -1) and pressing Crtl+C to copy.

9. Open Windows NotePad, and paste the co-ordinates.

10. Save the NotePad file as an .out file (for example EDDH.out) to the /AirNav RadarBox 2007/Outlines directory.  Make sure that the file is saved as .out and not .txt or .out.txt

11. Run RadarBox, and your outline should appear.  You might need to zoom right in to see the airfieid outline.

Ok, that's it.  It takes longer to describe than it actually does to create the outline.  Start with just the airfield outline and load it into RB  to see how it works, then go for the whole thing.

Here is a copy of the EDDH.out file.  I don't think that the $Type=2 does anything in RB, this is an SBS setting.

{Hamburg EDDH}
$TYPE=2
53.65420+9.97486
53.63319+9.99310
53.61843+9.96340
53.61797+9.96400
53.61723+9.96387
53.61680+9.96417
53.61657+9.96490
53.61670+9.96572
53.61692+9.96623
53.62196+9.97657
53.62189+9.97709
53.62171+9.97735
53.62120+9.97803
53.62102+9.97799
53.62049+9.97705
53.61934+9.97859
53.62151+9.98297
53.62176+9.98254
53.62237+9.98400
53.62273+9.98516
53.62283+9.98597
53.62260+9.98614
53.62291+9.98765
53.62331+9.99142
53.62339+9.99408
53.62342+9.99653
53.62431+9.99661
53.62441+9.99606
53.62418+9.99610
53.62408+9.99310
53.62431+9.99258
53.62527+9.99237
53.62560+9.99262
53.62573+9.99314
53.62550+9.99318
53.62540+9.99301
53.62499+9.99318
53.62543+9.99704
53.62581+9.99683
53.62583+9.99627
53.62601+9.99576
53.62632+9.99799
53.62609+9.99910
53.62504+10.00009
53.62563+10.00237
53.62563+10.00301
53.62548+10.00322
53.62314+10.00524
53.62382+10.00777
53.62426+10.00743
53.62400+10.00653
53.62838+10.00258
53.63034+10.00468
53.63349+10.00425
53.63446+10.00382
53.63492+10.00322
53.63469+10.00275
53.63472+10.00241
53.63487+10.00228
53.63510+10.00249
53.63571+10.00301
53.63642+10.00258
53.63662+10.00211
53.63673+10.00172
53.63706+10.00125
53.63581+9.99863
53.63611+9.99734
53.63746+9.99417
53.63807+9.99301
53.63909+9.99198
53.64207+9.98945
53.64622+9.98589
53.64878+9.98353
53.65425+9.97885
53.65466+9.97842
53.65491+9.97782
53.65497+9.97713
53.65484+9.97653
53.65456+9.97559
53.65494+9.97499
53.65479+9.97438
53.65428+9.97477
-1

etc

I've shortened this post, so this isn't the entire EDDH.out file, but I'm sure you get the idea.  If you do need the whole file, just let me know

[b744]

on vaguely the same subject, how do you or can Airnav, load a new airport? VTBS,BKK Bangkok's new(ish) airport is not in the database only the older VTBD,DMK.
Please can airnav add this together with the usual ext. centre lines for the 2 rwys 01/19LR

Thanks

[Allocator]

B744,

I guess that you can just enter the new airport details in the RB Database explorer.  Looks like the fields are:

p4 = ICAO 4 letter designator e.g.EGLL

p3 = The three letter designator - LHR

pn = Location? - London Heathrow

pc = Name - Heathrow

etc with pa and po being the lat/lon

Again I'm guessing, but this would probably plot the airport on the RB map.  Not sure how the centrelines are produced though, as there isn't a field for runways in the database that I can see.

EDIT: Nope, that doesn't work.  You can edit the database, but the new airport doesn't appear in the search items nor does it appear on the map.  There must be an additional database that plots the airfields.

You could then create the airfield outline as described above.  You could create the centrelines too, although it would be a bit hit and miss.  I'm sure that there was somebody on the Kinetic SBS forum who could do this to automatically produce the figures for the out file to give you the centrelines.

[ChrisGR]

And how the color of outline change because only on Light map color i see them?

Obrigado
Chris

[Allocator]

And how the color of outline change because only on Light map color i see them?

Obrigado
Chris

I'm not entirely sure although I think that it might be the $TYPE=2 setting in the .out file.  Also, the colour must be changeable through the /File/Preferences/Map Colours option.

OK, just tested this and with $TYPE=2 in the .out file, the colour of the airport outline changes when you change the Airport colour in /File/Preferences/Map Colours.

Remember, once you have changed a colour scheme like this, you need to clik the Export button and save your new scheme as an .mcl file.  It then appears in the Map/Colors dropdown box.

[CanadaKen]

Thanks for that, Allocator!!!

That site could come in handy for more than just RB or SBS.

CK

[ChrisGR]

Yessss!!!! Thats it! Thank you allocator.

http://www.svham.net/outfiles/lgav.zip for El. Venizelos in Athens

I don’t know how important it’s this (I think no so much) but on map the place that is shows the LGMR (Marathon) airport is incorrect. There is a lake for rowing sports constructed in 2003 for Olympic Games. This airport do not exists any more. It's a lake ! Do not try to land there. :)
Also perhaps is a good idea for admins to open a section on this forum who they worldwide RB users correcting wrong data on maps etc.


Chris

[ChrisGR]

I make some outlines for missing big Aegean islands on map.





Any smart trick to fill with color this outline of islands?

Obrigado

Chris

[igsr13]

I follow all the above steps for a map drawing.  Also i download some .out files from the suggested links.

But i cannot see any outlines on me screen.

any idea?

[Allocator]

I follow all the above steps for a map drawing.  Also i download some .out files from the suggested links.

But i cannot see any outlines on me screen.

any idea?

Have you done the following:

Save the NotePad file as an .out file (for example EDDH.out) to the /AirNav RadarBox 2007/Outlines directory.  Make sure that the file is saved as .out and not .txt or .out.txt

Run RadarBox, and your outline should appear.  You might need to zoom right in to see the airfiied outline.

Can you see any outlines on the map at all?

Have you changed the colours so that the outline colour is the same as the background colour?

[igsr13]

Hi Allocator,

yes i did all these very carefully.  Regarding the outline colour i can not find it on Rpeferences.  I use the "Real Radar" colour.

Generally i can not see any outline at all

Any other idea?  :-(

[Allocator]

Go to File/Preferences/Map Colors

Look at Aviation Related - Airport

Click on the color next to Airport and change to a really bright color that will show up on your map.  Click Apply - can you see anything?

Also try the same for the other options such as:

ATC Boundary
Airways
Runways

All these setting change how the .out files and AirNav lines are drawn on the map.

Also, try the other color settings - Dark, Elevations, Light and see if you can see anything.

If you have a small .out file for an airfield, copy the contents to the forum here so I can have a look at it.

[igsr13]

OK,
i test the colours of the above items but still nothing. 

Here is an outline for EDDH (from someone who works it)

I can see the changes of the colours but on the RB version not the outlines.

{Hamburg EDDH}
$TYPE=2
53.65420+9.97486
53.63319+9.99310
53.61843+9.96340
53.61797+9.96400
53.61723+9.96387
53.61680+9.96417
53.61657+9.96490
53.61670+9.96572
53.61692+9.96623
53.62196+9.97657
53.62189+9.97709
53.62171+9.97735
53.62120+9.97803
53.62102+9.97799
53.62049+9.97705
53.61934+9.97859
53.62151+9.98297
53.62176+9.98254
53.62237+9.98400
53.62273+9.98516
53.62283+9.98597
53.62260+9.98614
53.62291+9.98765
53.62331+9.99142
53.62339+9.99408
53.62342+9.99653
53.62431+9.99661
53.62441+9.99606
53.62418+9.99610
53.62408+9.99310
53.62431+9.99258
53.62527+9.99237
53.62560+9.99262
53.62573+9.99314
53.62550+9.99318
53.62540+9.99301
53.62499+9.99318
53.62543+9.99704
53.62581+9.99683
53.62583+9.99627
53.62601+9.99576
53.62632+9.99799
53.62609+9.99910
53.62504+10.00009
53.62563+10.00237
53.62563+10.00301
53.62548+10.00322
53.62314+10.00524
53.62382+10.00777
53.62426+10.00743
53.62400+10.00653
53.62838+10.00258
53.63034+10.00468
53.63349+10.00425
53.63446+10.00382
53.63492+10.00322
53.63469+10.00275
53.63472+10.00241
53.63487+10.00228
53.63510+10.00249
53.63571+10.00301
53.63642+10.00258
53.63662+10.00211
53.63673+10.00172
53.63706+10.00125
53.63581+9.99863
53.63611+9.99734
53.63746+9.99417
53.63807+9.99301
53.63909+9.99198
53.64207+9.98945
53.64622+9.98589
53.64878+9.98353
53.65425+9.97885
53.65466+9.97842
53.65491+9.97782
53.65497+9.97713
53.65484+9.97653
53.65456+9.97559
53.65494+9.97499
53.65479+9.97438
53.65428+9.97477
-1

[davis]

This is the Alghero Airport made by myself

AHO  LIEA

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Allocator]

OK,
i test the colours of the above items but still nothing. 

Here is an outline for EDDH (from someone who works it)

I can see the changes of the colours but on the RB version not the outlines.

{Hamburg EDDH}
$TYPE=2
53.65420+9.97486
53.63319+9.99310
...................
...................

This is not the complete EDDH outline file, it is only a short part of it I put on the forum to show Chung-ping how it should look.  I don't have the file with me at the moment, but it is much longer than the lines that you have posted.

davis has posted an outline file that works, try his Alghero file LIEA.out and see how this looks.

Hi davis, good to see that you are enjoying RadarBox :-)

I worked at Decimomannu AB as a Talkdown Controller back in the early 1980's and spent a lot of time in Cagliari - I have some very fond memories of Sardinia!