Available with Aviation Charting license.
The AIS geodatabase schema contains feature classes conforming to standards set by the FAA, ICAO, and AIXM.
Aeronautical features
The features shown in the following table represent main features. You can create cartographic representations from this data.
Learn more about cartographic features
| Feature class name | Description |
|---|---|
| ADHP | Aerodrome/Heliport (ADHP) features refer to a defined area on land or water (including any buildings, installations, and equipment) intended to be used either wholly or in part for the arrival, departure, and surface movement of aircraft or helicopters. It is standard from ICAO Annex 15. |
| ADHPHotSpot | A location on aerodrome movement areas with a history or potential risk of collision or runway incursion and where heightened attention by pilots or drivers is necessary. It is standard from ICAO Annex 15. |
| ADHPSurfaceArea | A defined rectangular area on an airfield for the landing and take-off of aircraft. It is categorized by subtype based upon the value of the Subtype_Code field. It is standard from ICAO Annex 15. |
| ADHPSurfaceElement | Contains parts of a defined ADHPSurfaceArea. It is categorized into subtypes based upon the value of the Subtype_Code field. It is standard from ICAO Annex 15. |
| ADHPSurfaceLine | Contains runway centerline features. It is categorized into subtypes based upon the value of the Subtype_Code field. It is standard from ICAO Annex 15. |
| ADHPSurfacePoint | The horizontal limits of an aerodrome surface, such as an apron or a landing and take-off protection area, described as a sequence of points. It is categorized in to subtypes based upon the value of Subtype_Code. It is standard from ICAO Annex 15. |
| ADHPThreshold | Markers on runway indicating the landing touchdown points. It is categorized into subtypes based upon the value of Subtype_Code. It is standard from ICAO Annex 15. |
| AOI | Area of Interest (AOI) refers to polygon features stored with the details for the spatial reference, rotation, and reference scale to generate the various aeronautical chart products. |
| ATSRoute | Air Traffic Service (ATS) routes are designated routes for channeling the flow of traffic as necessary for the provision of air traffic services. This includes jet routes, area navigation routes (RNAV), and arrival and departure routes. Routes may be defined with a designator, a path to and from significant points, distance between significant points, reporting requirements, and the lowest safe altitude. |
| AeroGroundLight | Any fixed light specially provided as an aid to air navigation. An example is an approach lighting system or an obstacle light. It is standard from AIXM, derived from ICAO Annex 15. |
| AirportBuilding | Structures associated with an airport or ADHP. |
| AirspaceArea | Represents airspace features with identical horizontal but different vertical extents. An AirspaceArea feature models one or more airspace features stacked on top of each other. The AirspaceArea feature has all vertical information from any airspace features that has its same horizontal extent. |
| AirspaceLine | Contains airspace line segments that are constructed using existing airspace polygon features. |
Airspace | An entity representing various regions (ICAO and otherwise), areas, zones, sectors (elementary or consolidated), and so on, as used by air traffic services, including those of the FUA concept, special regulated and client defined airspaces and other types of limited airspaces. It is also used to identify political and geographical two-dimensional areas representing countries, coastlines and so on. It should be noted that countries and states can be regarded as three-dimensional areas with MSL as lower and UNL as upper levels or as a defined three-dimensional region of space relevant to air traffic. |
| ChangeOver | The distance from the start of the route segment to the position where change over occurs for the VOR ahead of a pilot. |
| CirclingArea | The area where aircraft circle to land under visual conditions after completing an instrument landing approach. It is standard from FAA 8260.3. |
| Clearance | Lowest allowed airspace altitude. |
| Contour | Ground surface elevation contours. |
| DesignatedPoint | A named geographical location not marked by the site of a radio navigation aid, used in defining an ATS route, the flight path of an aircraft, or for other navigation or ATS purposes. |
| GeoBorder | A physical or political border. In general, it is the border between two countries or states, but it can also be a coastline, the bank of a river, or any other geographical shape that can be named and used to describe the border of an airspace. If two countries or states have more than one common border, each one is an occurrence of this feature. |
| HoldingPattern | A predetermined manoeuvre that keeps an aircraft within a specified airspace while awaiting further clearance. |
| LightElement | An elementary light source that is part of a lighting system. |
| MSA | Minimum Sector Altitude (MSA) is the lowest altitude that provides a minimum clearance of 300 meters (or about 1,000 feet) above all objects located in the sector. |
| MSAGroup | A set of MSAs that completely describes an area centered on a significant point, usually contained within a sector with a 46 kilometer (or about 25 nautical mile) radius. |
| MTRPoint | Military Training Route (MTR) waypoint. It is categorized into subtypes based upon the value of Subtype_Code. |
| MTRSegment | Military Training Route (MTR). It is categorized into subtypes based upon the value of Subtype_Code. |
| NavSysCheckPt | A point established and marked on the surface of an aerodrome allowing the checking of a navigation system—such as a VOR, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), and so on—or initialization of an inertial navigation system. |
| NavaidComponent | A component of the navigation service provided by a navaid. For example, the DME NavaidEquipment is a NavaidComponent of an ILS system. The DME may be collocated with the localizer and the DME may provide the navigable location for the navaid service. It is categorized into subtypes based upon the value of Type_Code. |
| NavaidSystem | Combinations of one or more navaid components. It is categorized into subtypes based upon the value of Subtype_Code. |
| NoCircling | Airspace where circling a runway approach is not allowed. |
| Notes | A general text note for a feature or for one of its attributes. |
| ObstacleLine | Obstacle with a linear horizontal extent represented by a line. |
| ObstaclePoint | Obstacle with a limited horizontal extent represented as a point. |
| ObstaclePolygon | Obstacle with a two-dimensional horizontal extent represented by a polygon. |
| ProcedureLeg | A segment of a Standard Instrument Departure (SID), Standard Terminal Arrival Route (STAR), Instrument Approach Procedure, or Holding Procedure with a specific type of flight path and a specific type of termination of flight path. |
| ProcedureLegPoint | A point on a SID, STAR, Instrument Approach Procedure, or Holding Procedure with a specific type of flight path and a specific type of termination of flight path. |
| RadarEquipment | Physical radar equipment such as Precision Approach Radar (PAR), Air Route Surveillance Radar (ARSR), Airport Surveillance Radar (ASR), Secondary Radar (SECRA), and so on. |
| RadarSystem | One or more RadarEquipment features providing radar services. |
| RadialBearing | Features representing the direction from a navaid to a fix (radial) or from a fix to a navaid (bearing). The length of the feature is arbitrary. |
| RadioFrequencyArea | A limitation—such as coverage, usability, and so on—of a navaid equipment or service frequency. |
| RangeRing | Ring features representing a constant distance from a point, often a navaid. For terminal procedure charting, the area enclosed by the range ring feature must be drawn to scale. |
| ReferenceArc | Ring or arc features representing a constant distance from a navaid. |
| Reflector | Describes various reflectors used with PARs. |
| RefuelingPoint | Start and end points for air refueling tracks. It is categorized in to subtypes based upon the value of Type_Code. |
| RefuelingTrack | Air refuel tracks. It is categorized in to subtypes based upon the value of Type_Code. |
| Service | A feature class representing all types of services furnished to pilots, flights, aircraft operators, and other personnel and institutions concerned with flight operations. |
| SpecialNavStation | A land-based station of a special navigation system. |
| SpotHeight | Point features indicating ground or surface elevation. |
| TAA | Terminal Arrival Area or Altitude (TAA) is the lowest altitude that provides a minimum clearance of 300 meters (or about 1000 feet) above all objects located in an arc of a circle defined by a 46 kilometers (25 nautical miles) radius centered on the Initial Approach Fix (IAF), or where there is no IAF on the Intermediate Approach Fix (IF), delimited by straight lines joining the extremity of the arc to the IF. The combined TAAs associated with an approach procedure shall account for an area of 360 degrees around the IF. It is a specification from ICAO Annex 15. |
| Unit | A generic term referring to all types of services as units. This includes particularly Air Traffic Management (ATM) Units but also units that are not express verbs included in ATM such as SAR, MET, COM, and so on. |
VerticalLimitsOverrides | A table containing region-specific altitude values that override Generate Airspace Areas preferences. Airspace IDENT values are compared to records in the table's ICAO field to determine airspaces where vertical overrides should be applied. |
Cartographic features
Cartographic features are chart-specific copies of the main aviation data in the production database. They are the features that are symbolized on a chart and from which annotation is generated. Because of the cartographic variations between the different types of charts, you may need to remove, relocate, or alter the appearance of features in one chart without affecting other charts that may reference the same features. Cartographic features make this possible. They are stored in feature classes in the Aeronautical Information System (AIS) data model that are named with the _C suffix. They are related to main features via the Master_Id attribute. Master_Id is a foreign key field that stores the GFID attribute value of the related main feature.
| Feature class name | Description |
|---|---|
| ADHPHotSpot_C | Cartographic features for the ADHPHotSpot feature class. A location on aerodrome movement areas with a history or potential risk of collision or runway incursion, and where heightened attention by pilots or drivers is necessary. It is standard from ICAO Annex 15. |
| ADHPSurfaceArea_C | Cartographic features for the ADHPSurfaceArea feature class. It is a defined rectangular area on an airfield for the landing and take-off of aircraft. It is categorized by subtype based upon the value of the Subtype_Code field. It is standard from ICAO Annex 15. |
| ADHPSurfaceElement_C | Cartographic features for the ADHPSurfaceElement feature class. It contains parts of a defined ADHPSurfaceArea. It is categorized into subtypes based upon the value of the Subtype_Code field. It is standard from ICAO Annex 15. |
| ADHPSurfaceLine_C | Cartographic features for the ADHPSurfaceLine feature class. It contains runway centerline features. It is categorized in to subtypes based upon the value of the Subtype_Code field. It is standard from ICAO Annex 15. |
| ADHPSurfacePoint_C | Cartographic features for the ADHPSurfacePoint feature class. The horizontal limits of an aerodrome surface, such as an apron or a landing and take-off protection area, are described as a sequence of points. It is categorized into subtypes based upon the value of Subtype_Code. It is standard from ICAO Annex 15. |
| ADHPThreshold_C | Cartographic features for the ADHPThreshold feature class. Markers on the runway indicate the landing touchdown points. It is categorized into subtypes based upon the value of Subtype_Code. It is standard from ICAO Annex 15. |
| ADHP_C | Cartographic features for the ADHP feature class. Aerodrome/Heliport (ADHP) features refer to a defined area on land or water (including any buildings, installations, and equipment) intended to be used either wholly or in part for the arrival, departure, and surface movement of aircraft or helicopters. It is standard from ICAO Annex 15. |
| ATSRoute_C | Cartographic features for the ATSRoute feature class. Air Traffic Service (ATS) routes are designated routes for channeling the flow of traffic as necessary for the provision of air traffic services. This includes jet routes, area navigation routes (RNAV), and arrival and departure routes. Routes may be defined with a designator, a path to and from significant points, distance between significant points, reporting requirements, and the lowest safe altitude. |
| AdvisoryRoute_C | Cartographic features for the AdvisoryRoute feature class (class of ATS Route). |
| AeroGroundLight_C | Cartographic features for the AeroGroundLight feature class. It includes any fixed light specially provided as an aid to air navigation. An example is an approach lighting system or an obstacle light. It is standard from AIXM, derived from ICAO Annex 15. |
| AirportBuilding_C | Cartographic features for the AirportBuilding feature class. Structures are associated with an airport or ADHP. |
| AirspaceArea_C | Cartographic features for the AirspaceArea feature class. It represents airspace features with identical horizontal but different vertical extents. An AirspaceArea feature models one or more airspace features stacked on top of each other. The AirspaceArea feature has all vertical information from any airspace features that has its same horizontal extent. |
| AirspaceLine_C | Cartographic features for the AirspaceLine feature class. It contains airspace line segments that are constructed using existing airspace polygon features. |
| Airspace_C | Cartographic features for the Airspace feature class. It is an entity representing various regions (ICAO and otherwise), areas, zones, sectors (elementary or consolidated), and so on, as used by air traffic services, including those of the FUA concept, special regulated and client defined airspaces and other types of limited airspaces. It is also used to identify political and geographical two-dimensional areas representing countries, coastlines, and so on. It should be noted that countries and states can be regarded as three-dimensional areas with MSL as lower and UNL as upper levels or as a defined three dimensional region of space relevant to air traffic. |
| ArrestingGear_C | Cartographic features for the ArrestingGear feature class. It is a series of devices, namely engaging or catching devices and energy absorption devices used to stop an aircraft by absorbing its momentum in a routine, emergency landing, or aborted take-off |
| ChangeOver_C | Cartographic features for the ChangeOver feature class. It is the distance from the start of the route segment to the position where change over occurs for the VOR ahead of a pilot. |
| Clearance_C | Cartographic features for the Clearance feature class. It is the lowest allowed airspace altitude. |
| Contour_C | Cartographic features for the Contour feature class. It describes ground surface elevation contours. |
| DMEMileage_C | Cartographic features for the Distance Measuring Equipment feature class. It is the mileage measurement from signal exchange. |
| DerivedAirspace_C | Airspace created from other medium such as political or geographic boundaries or cartographic features. |
| DesignatedPoint_C | Cartographic features for the DesignatedPoint feature class. It is a named geographical location not marked by the site of a radio navigation aid, used in defining an ATS route, the flight path of an aircraft, or for other navigation or ATS purposes. |
| HPEntry_C | Cartographic features for the Holding Pattern entry point. |
| HoldingPattern_C | Cartographic features for the HoldingPattern feature class. This is a predetermined manoeuvre that keeps an aircraft within a specified airspace while awaiting further clearance. |
| LightElement_C | Cartographic features for the LightElement feature class. It is an elementary light source that is part of a lighting system. |
| MSAGroup_C | Cartographic features for the MSAGroup feature class. It is a set of MSAs that completely describe an area centered on a significant point, usually contained within a sector with a 46 kilometer (or about 25 nautical mile) radius. |
| MSA_C | Cartographic features for the MSA feature class. Minimum Sector Altitude (MSA) is the lowest altitude that provides a minimum clearance of 300 meters (or about 1000 feet) above all objects located in the sector. |
| MTRPoint_C | Cartographic features for the MTRPoint feature class. It is a Military Training Route (MTR) waypoint. It is categorized into subtypes based upon the value of Subtype_Code. |
| MTRSegment_C | Cartographic features for the MTRSegment feature class. It is a Military Training Route (MTR). It is categorized into subtypes based upon the value of Subtype_Code. |
| MultiFeaturePoint_C | A cartographic point feature used to combine aeronautical point features into collections for the purposes of annotation. |
| NavSysCheckPt_C | Cartographic features for the NavSysCheckPt feature class. It is a point established and marked on the surface of an aerodrome allowing the checking of a navigation system (such as a VOR, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), and so on) or initialization of an inertial navigation system. |
| NavaidComponent_C | Cartographic features for the NavaidComponent feature class. It is a component of the navigation service provided by a navaid. For example, the DME NavaidEquipment is a NavaidComponent of an ILS system. The DME may be collocated with the localizer and the DME may provide the navigable location for the navaid service. It is categorized into subtypes based upon the value of Type_Code. |
| NavaidSystem_C | Cartographic features for the NavaidSystem feature class. They are combinations of one or more navaid components. They are categorized into subtypes based upon the value of Subtype_Code. |
| NoCircling_C | Cartographic features for the NoCircling feature class. It describes airspace where circling a runway approach is not allowed. |
| Notes_C | Cartographic features for the Notes feature class. It is a general text note for a feature or for one of its attributes. |
| ObstacleArea_C | Cartographic features for the ObstacleArea feature class. |
| ObstacleLine_C | Cartographic features for the ObstacleLine feature class. It is an obstacle with a linear horizontal extent represented by a line. |
| ObstaclePoint_C | Cartographic features for the ObstaclePoint feature class. It is an obstacle with a limited horizontal extent represented as a point. |
| ObstaclePolygon_C | Cartographic features for the ObstaclePolygon feature class. It is an obstacle with a significant horizontal extent represented by a polygon. |
| Obstacle_C | Cartographic features for obstacles. It includes all fixed objects whether temporary or permanent, or parts thereof, that are located on an area intended for the surface movement of aircraft or that extend above a defined surface intended to protect aircraft in flight. It is the highest airspace, obstacle, or terrain relative to a prescribed plane within a specified area. |
| ProcedureLegPoint_C | Cartographic features for the ProcedureLegPoint feature class. It is a point on a SID, STAR, Instrument Approach Procedure, or Holding Procedure with a specific type of flight path and a specific type of termination of flight path. |
| ProcedureLeg_C | Cartographic features for the ProcedureLeg feature class. It is a segment of a Standard Instrument Departure (SID), Standard Terminal Arrival Route (STAR), Instrument Approach Procedure, or Holding Procedure with a specific type of flight path and a specific type of termination of flight path. |
| RadialBearing_C | Cartographic features for the RadialBearing feature class. These are features representing the direction from a navaid to a fix (radial) or from a fix to a navaid (bearing). The length of the feature is arbitrary. |
| RangeMarker_C | Cartographic features for the RangeMarker feature class. It is a circular grid showing bearing and distance from a specified point. |
| RangeRing_C | Cartographic features for the RangeRing feature class. These are ring features representing a constant distance from a point, often a navaid. For terminal procedure charting, the area enclosed by the range ring feature must be drawn to scale. |
| ReferenceArc_C | Cartographic features for the ReferenceArc feature class. These are ring or arc features representing a constant distance from a navaid. |
| RefuelingPoint_C | Cartographic features for the RefuelingPoint feature class. These are start and end points for air refueling tracks. They are categorized into subtypes based upon the value of Type_Code. |
| RefuelingTrack_C | Cartographic features for the RefuelingTrack feature class. It describes air refuel tracks. It is categorized into subtypes based upon the value of Type_Code. |
| Service_C | Cartographic features for the Service feature class. It is a feature class representing all types of services furnished to variously, pilots, flights, aircraft operators, and other personnel and institutions concerned with flight operations. |
| SpecialNavStation_C | Cartographic features for the SpecialNavStation feature class. It is a land-based station of a special navigation system. |
| SpotHeight_C | Cartographic features for the SpotHeight feature class. These are point features indicating ground or surface elevation. |
| TAA_C | Cartographic features for the TAA feature class. Terminal Arrival Area or Altitude (TAA) is the lowest altitude that provides a minimum clearance of 300 meters (or about 1000 feet) above all objects located in an arc of a circle defined by a 46 kilometers (25 nautical miles) radius centered on the Initial Approach Fix (IAF), or where there is no IAF on the Intermediate Approach Fix (IF), delimited by straight lines joining the extremity of the arc to the IF. The combined TAAs associated with an approach procedure shall account for an area of 360 degrees around the IF. It is a specification from ICAO Annex 15. |
| Unit_C | Cartographic features for the Unit feature class. This is a generic term referring to all types of services as units. This includes particularly Air Traffic Management (ATM) Units but also units that are not express verbs included in ATM such as SAR, MET, COM, and so on. |