ADS-B Data Sharing and/or Free Receivers

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PlaneFinder

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Hi Guys,

First off - thank you for allowing me to post this information.

My name is Mark Daniels and I'm the co-developer of an iPhone app called Plane Finder.
We also have apps for the iPad and Android.

We have been supplying SBS receivers and DPD antennas to people in the US (including on this forum) over the last few months as we build up ADS-B coverage for our apps. Much of this data is also available via Plane Plotter.

This is going well and we will continue to do this.

We also enjoy considerable goodwill from many people in the aircraft monitoring community and work hard to maintain this.

We have more receivers and antennas available especially for locations where we have little or no coverage. Supply is limited but we will try our best to provide as many as we can.
(We already have great coverage for LAX and much of the Eastern Seaboard with receivers also in Denver, Dallas and Phoenix but have little or nothing for many airports and overflight locations).

We would therefore very much welcome contributions from anyone with ADS-B equipment who is happy to share their data with us. We are obviously happy to provide copies of the apps if required.

We also welcome enquiries from people who are interested in taking advantage of the free equipment offer.

Please contact me if you require more information.

Thank you.

Mark Daniels
support@pinkfroot.com
pinkfroot - Home of Plane Finder, Ship Finder and more
planefinder.net - Real Time Air Traffic Flight Radar
 

MilAirNJ

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Plane Finder

Unfortunately I do not have the equipment you require. But I will volunteer to host anything you need. I live in Atlantic City, NJ. 2 Blocks from Ocean. About 12 miles East of Atlantic City International Airport. Anything further you need let me know if I can assist :)
 

CalebATC

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Blairsville, Georgia
I would love to put one up at a tower site on top of a mountain to cover here, Atlanta, and some of Charlotte.

Problem is I don't have a box! I do have the space though, on top of a tower that is one of the tallest in Georgia.
 

abqscan

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I would love to put one up at a tower site on top of a mountain to cover here, Atlanta, and some of Charlotte.

Problem is I don't have a box! I do have the space though, on top of a tower that is one of the tallest in Georgia.

Send an email to Mark. If he needs coverage where you live, he will send you a FREE SBS box and DPD antenna. I sent him an email and I already have a tracking #. :D Thanks again Mark!
 

CalebATC

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Send an email to Mark. If he needs coverage where you live, he will send you a FREE SBS box and DPD antenna. I sent him an email and I already have a tracking #. :D Thanks again Mark!

Sent him an email earlier.

Sure is one nice website, wish I would of known about that earlier!

Hopefully the same will happen with me.
 
D

DaveNF2G

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How does one get rid of the ad that covers the entire northeastern USA on the map page?
 

krokus

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Click-and-drag, the map the direction you want. The ad stays, but the map moves.

You can also change the map zoom level, to get more details for an area.
 

mdgjedde

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Aug 20, 2010
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I don't have the appropriate equipment to host a feed, but I would like to complement the developer on a great app! I downloaded it today from the App Store. Very useful. Online version will be a good resource as well.
 

PlaneFinder

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Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
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Location
Hampshire, England
Thank you for the great feedback and interest in the receivers.
We are arranging to supply a few already and Lee and I are happy to carry on with this as best we can.
Thanks also to those sharing data with us - both via plane plotter or via the simple client software we can supply instead.
Very much appreciated.
We are working on a new web map that does not have the big blue screen, we know it is a bit annoying! The new one should be released soon now.
All the best,
Mark
 

ATCTech

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I know nothing about where the actual flight plan info being displayed with the target online is derived from other than as part of the ADS-B message from the aircraft, but I can say without doubt that a great number of flights are way off in accuracy. For example, I'm seeing Canadian registrations (with ICAO addresses that match the reported airframe) shown as flying routes like EWR-FLL,or LAX-MIA. Many others have no flight plan data at all. At work yesterday I was watching live ATC radar with proper flight plan data and comparing that to what planefinder was displaying. There were many inaccuracies, even given the roughly 15 minute delay in what you're seeing online. I suspect a good bit of this is that ADS-B in North America isn't mandatory in Southern Domestic airspace (in Canada I mean) and therefore the boxes aren't likely being set-up on each leg of the flight. I don't believe that the FAA is using ADS-B in many areas either, other than the Gulf of Mexico.

Not to criticize the efforts of planefinder at all, and as interested I am in online flight tracking and even more in buying an ADS-B receiver,what's the point of consumer-grade ADS-B boxes if the data can't be accurately correlated with proper flight plans?

Cheers!

Bob
 
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freqhopping

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I know nothing about where the actual flight plan info being displayed with the target online is derived from other than as part of the ADS-B message from the aircraft, but I can say without doubt that a great number of flights are way off in accuracy. For example, I'm seeing Canadian registrations (with ICAO addresses that match the reported airframe) shown as flying routes like EWR-FLL,or LAX-MIA. Many others have no flight plan data at all. At work yesterday I was watching live ATC radar with proper flight plan data and comparing that to what planefinder was displaying. There were many inaccuracies, even given the roughly 15 minute delay in what you're seeing online. I suspect a good bit of this is that ADS-B in North America isn't mandatory in Southern Domestic airspace (in Canada I mean) and therefore the boxes aren't likely being set-up on each leg of the flight. I don't believe that the FAA is using ADS-B in many areas either, other than the Gulf of Mexico.

If the SBS works anything like the AirNav Radarbox, part of the application involves a database containing flight IDs with their origins and destinations. When airlines change their flight numbers it's necessary to update the database. It's not always that easy to keep on top of the changes. If it's not updated then you will get displayed routes that don't make sense. And like you mentioned, it's quite common for flights to not have the proper flight ID programmed. There are lots of flights that have only the number, no ICAO designator and so no route is displayed.


What I'm seeing online isn't 15 minutes delayed. It matches almost exactly the live data on my Radarbox. Pretty good considering the data has to travel all over the net.
 

sigint1

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Jul 19, 2001
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I suspect a good bit of this is that ADS-B in North America isn't mandatory in Southern Domestic airspace (in Canada I mean) and therefore the boxes aren't likely being set-up on each leg of the flight. I don't believe that the FAA is using ADS-B in many areas either, other than the Gulf of Mexico.

Not to criticize the efforts of planefinder at all, and as interested I am in online flight tracking and even more in buying an ADS-B receiver,what's the point of consumer-grade ADS-B boxes if the data can't be accurately correlated with proper flight plans?

Cheers!

Bob

Actually FAA has mandated the implementation of ADSB and will be done in stages over the next 10 years. A lot of aircraft already have the ADSB particularly ones that fly international routes additionaly almost all FEDEX and UPS aircraft have and use ADSB on a regular basis as do most of the transiting foreign aircraft.

Aircraft registrations don't always mean a lot - I frequently track Areoflot flights on my radarbox and most of the aircraft have Bermuda registrations (VP/VQ)

Also as you pointed out sometimes the info is not programed or programmed incorrectly into the ADSB (and MOODE S) transponders - I have seen this on several occasions where the data says it should be going one place and its actually heading another I usually see this where a foreign aircraft has flown from say London to LAX and is now on the return leg from LAX - it still shows the original departure/destination.

But all this aside the flights I get on my radarbox are always dead on with the position on the planefinder map in real time
 

ATCTech

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Thanks freqhopping, I think your reference to a local PC database makes the most sense, just like ACARS databases in PC-HFDL and so forth.

I can't explain the delays I saw online, all I can tell you is I was standing at the ATC sector that had worked a particular flight yesterday here in Toronto and while the web site showed it just entering the sector's airspace it was already working Cleveland ARTCC, which equated to about a 15 minute delay. Sorry guys, it doesn't get any more "live" than standing beside the controller who is (or in this case was) working the flight.I don't have the ability to compare SBS-1 or Radarbox to the web site, which is why I posted my question in the first place.Maybe the source of that data had a very long delay in uploading it to the web site. At any rate, it's nice to see but not necessarily timely.

Someone asked what's wrong with foreign aircraft flying the routes I mentioned. Simple, the airline in question doesn't fly domestic US routes, and they don't lease out aircraft.

Russiian aircraft with foreign civil registrations - that is correct, they are registered properly that way. Leased.

Last, yes ADS-B is coming online in phases, but I don't believe there's anywhere in wn route domestic US airspace where it is mandatory. I may be wrong, but I don't think so at this time, hence the data it is sending is either experimental or perhaps more for FBO or company use so far.

Cheers!

Bob
 
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rmiller818

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Marietta GA
Someone asked what's wrong with foreign aircraft flying the routes I mentioned. Simple, the airline in question doesn't fly domestic US routes, and they don't lease out aircraft.

I think I misunderstood you and assumed just foreign registered private aircraft and not air carriers.
 

ATCTech

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No problem, I didn't specify airline or private aircraft, you are correct! In particular I'm seeing both Westjet and Air Transat tags (and matching ICAO addresses and civil registrations per airframes.org) showing up on some 'way outside any chance of even remotely possible' U.S. domestic routes.

I've checked the reported ICAO addresses each time I've seen a weird one in case another more probable aircraft just happened to have the same 24 bit code, but it's never lined up that way so far, even to a match with a bizjet. That's what makes me wonder about the accuracy of the displayed online data and exactly where the ADS-B derived data is being correlated to an airframe and/or flight plan.

Cheers!

Bob
 
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DaveNF2G

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The explanation for the inaccurate route data depends on how the PlaneFinder network is set up. There are (at least) two possibilities:

1) Each user shares their local data with their tracked aircraft. A user with an outdated database will be sharing bad info.

2) The network refers to a central repository of flight routes which is out of date.

Either situation can be corrected by getting the database(s) in use updated.

For PlanePlotter, the flightroute.sqb file (originally part of the SBS-1 application) is updated almost daily by a volunteer and posted to the file area of the PP Logs & Routes Yahoogroup. That volunteer receives both automated updates and manual submissions from other RB/SBS/PP users (including myself).

It is possible for users to share locally generated route info as well. PP shows that data when the sqb file has no entry for a flight. Unfortunately, local users can put in wrong info as well, so I have incoming route sharing turned off at my station.

I don't mean to promote another application here. I'm just trying to assist all of us to understand how PlaneFinder is functioning.
 
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