I don't think there exists a fully machine readable database of all European airspace classes i.e. a database which could be simply parsed and rendered directly into what we recognise as a complete map of all controlled airspace for Europe.
There used to be - the US DAFIF one but that was taken off non-military access c. 2005.
I believe EAD have e.g. an airway database where you get the centreline and the width, but the client device has to implement the 3D joining of all the various objects. Also for irregular shapes e.g. TMAs all you get is a coordinate list in the AIP PDFs which has to be semi-manually copy/pasted.
So there is plenty of opportunity for differences between the printed VFR charts and some airspace representation rendered on an electronic device which processes a vector (layered) database.
This also explains why Jepp are slow in adding more countries. It is a lot of work, and their customer is only the bit of the VFR pilot market that doesn't just buy the maps from their local pilot shop.
What I don't understand is why Jepp can't (apparently) make use of their "VFR/GPS" chart data, which is obviously in some CAD format and which has obviously been maintained by somebody for all these years. Those charts are basically good, and the best option for anyone flying internationally within Europe. They have just recently expanded them to cover Croatia and some other stuff in the south east. It looks like it is a separate department within Jepp which is not talking to the others...
I don't think there exists a fully machine readable database of all European airspace classes i.e. a database which could be simply parsed and rendered directly into what we recognise as a complete map of all controlled airspace for Europe.
There is. Go to EAD in the Java version, select SDO Reporting, Generate Report and then generate the two reports "Airspace vertex" and "Airspaces of all types with lower and upper limits".
I don't know how complete it is, in theory it should be the legally binding stuff. Historically, one would write scripts that went through the individual AIPs and parsed the airspace information. That is not hard to do but needs to be tweaked for every country and closely monitored because the document format can change. I think it would take me about 15-60 minutes per country to develop such a script.
What I don't understand is why Jepp can't (apparently) make use of their "VFR/GPS" chart data, which is obviously in some CAD format and which has obviously been maintained by somebody for all these years.
That's exactly what they do. The Mobile FlightDeck VFR data comes from the very same database as the VFR+GPS charts. Still, it requires manual work they say. It is the same department in Frankfurt that does all VFR+GPS maps and the VFR iOS product.
I don't know how complete it is, in theory it should be the legally binding stuff.
In Switzerland, there's an AIC which explicitly forbids you from using EAD operationally.
This, in effect, makes all the IFR traffic in Switzerland illegal, as all IFR flight plans are validated against effectively EAD data. This shows the competence of FOCA.
The level of completeness depends on the country. As a minimum, most of the airspaces referenced by RAD rules are in there.
Skyguide seems to be unwilling or unable to cooperate with Eurocontrol/EAD, therefore a lot of Swiss data is missing from EAD.
Skydemon is big in the UK but I wonder how many pilots elsewhere in Europe are running and thus testing the database? At least the Jepp VFR charts were the only practical game in town for much of Europe.
Here in Austria, Skydemon has made big inroads in the past months and is quickly replacing AirNavPro as the "standard" solution with the pilots I know. I switched over myself when the iPad Mini came out.
8 of 10 pilots I know have been using the Jeppesen VFR charts, but discipline to buy new charts has greatly declined in the past 2 or 3 years. The same applies to buying approach plates in paper form.
However, there seems to be a considerable number of "seasoned" pilots in the VFR-only scene (eg. 65+),who are only flying once every months or so and are unable/unwilling to switch to new technology. I feel there will be a limited market for paper products for some time to come.
8 of 10 pilots I know have been using the Jeppesen VFR charts, but discipline to buy new charts has greatly declined in the past 2 or 3 years. The same applies to buying approach plates in paper form.
I suspect that will be true everywhere, although buying approach plates in paper has not made any sense ever since Jepp (the only way to "buy" them) brought out Jeppview years ago, which you could install on your PC and just print the ones you need. Inserting the monthly updates to the paper approach plate ring binder used to be a huge waste of time (I used to do it with Aerad).
It will be interesting how this pans out. There is a % of the VFR market which is happy to fly with a moving map GPS running the "real printed" charts (I am one of those). I think most of the market will go for the vector-map solutions simply because they are so much more feature-packed, but the market is quite fragmented.
Seems like Jeppesen is phasing out their paper charts in order to promote their digital product, Mobile FlightDeck VFR
That sounds like an attempt to force users away from much more superior products, towards Mobile FlightDeck VFR, which in my limited trial is very inferior compared to most of the other EFB products out there. This sounds like when Microsoft monopolised the Internet Browser market.... Shame, I pondered purchasing a Jepp VFR + GPS subscription, but I won't do if it can only be utilised via Mobile FlightDeck. I'd rather have a bunch of different national charts instead,
http://ww1.jeppesen.com/personal-solutions/aviation/vfr-and-gps.jsp?cid=exoton5501954
Germany, Austria & Benelux have current charts (I can vouch for this as I own and recently used the German and Benelux charts) - much of the rest of Europe "TBD".
Very irritating if they do get withdrawn - not only are they very useable, they've forced significant improvement in the CAA charts.
G
I saw a load of Jepp 2013 VFR charts at the pilot shop at Prague LKPR yesterday.
They were mostly for Spain, Slovenia and a few other places.
What I thought was amusing was that right next to these were 2012 and 2011 editions of these charts, marked at the same price. I have seen this at a well known UK pilot shop too, and always thought it to be rather bizzare...
I may have said this before but with the major pilot communities in Europe being UK, Germany and France, and each of these having their own nationally published VFR charts which are very satisfactory, this left the Jepp VFR charts looking for business among pilots who either live in the other parts of Europe, or who do touring.
And those who do touring tend (of necessity) to be fairly clued-up and aware of electronic solutions, and a number of electronic chart products have been biting bits off that market lately.
Almost nobody in the UK used the Jepp VFR charts because most UK pilot touring is flying to France, which has 3 different VFR charts available (SIA, IGN, Cartabossy) in addition to Jepps.
Also a lot of touring pilots have an IR in which case they tend to not use VFR charts. However one still needs VFR charts of sorts for situations where you are departing or arriving from/to an unmanned airfield in which case you don't have an IFR clearance...
What I hope Jepp don't do is stop publishing their Raster Charts product - at least for countries other than those above three. It's not a huge issue for me (I have an IR so fly everywhere I can IFR) but you have to start somewhere and it's grossly unfair to tell pilots they can't fly abroad until they get an IR.
The Ipad product is IMHO a poor solution because not everybody wants a €500 tablet whose functionality is variously crippled, and which has to be kept charged up etc. Then, what about a backup? Can you print VFR strip charts from it?
I suppose it's a case of not knowing the value of something until you lose it...
I just received an email from a local Swedish pilot shop regarding Jeppesen VFR charts.
The following countries will not be updated during 2013: - United Kingdom - Ireland - France - Poland - Denmark/Sweden - Southeast Europe
There is competition. Cartabossy is available for France, UK, Ireland and Germany. Could be an alternative for touring VFR.
