DFAFIF airport data problems?

I recently got a tablet PC, HP TC1100, and a little bluetooth GPS receiver to go
with it. Rode in the back seat of an Arrow this afternoon and played for a
couple of hours with the APIC software. Lots of warts on APIC, one of which was
missing airports. I'm in the Minneapolis area and just west of us are Maple
Lake KMGG and Buffalo KCFE. Both have hard surface runways & IAPs. Neither of
these was on the moving map, but there were some weird designators like M19,
4MN9, and M99 that appear to be grass strips that I've never heard of.

Tonight I downloaded NavGPS trial version and -- lo and behold -- same problem.
Same missing and weird airports.

So ... this appears to be a DAFIF problem. I was under the impression that
DAFIF data was pretty good, but this does not seem to be the case. Can anyone
comment or confirm?

In a previous article, said:
missing airports. I'm in the Minneapolis area and just west of us are Maple
Lake KMGG and Buffalo KCFE. Both have hard surface runways & IAPs. Neither of

You're right, KMGG and KCFE are not in the DAFIF data. They are in the
FAA data, however. DAFIF doesn't have airports that aren't of any use to
the US Military. Neither of those airports has a runway over 2800 feet,
which probably isn't long enough to land a F-16.


--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
Make backups before you try something new or interesting or experimental
or radical or if the day has a "y" in it.
-- Chris Hacking

So... all of these moving map programs that use DAFIF data will omit large
numbers of hard surface runways with IAPs ? We are left with only Jeppe$$en?

Bummer!

On 5/1/2005 9:05 PM, Paul Tomblin wrote the following:
In a previous article, said:

missing airports. I'm in the Minneapolis area and just west of us are Maple
Lake KMGG and Buffalo KCFE. Both have hard surface runways & IAPs. Neither of


You're right, KMGG and KCFE are not in the DAFIF data. They are in the
FAA data, however. DAFIF doesn't have airports that aren't of any use to
the US Military. Neither of those airports has a runway over 2800 feet,
which probably isn't long enough to land a F-16.

So... all of these moving map programs that use DAFIF data will omit large
numbers of hard surface runways with IAPs ? We are left with only Jeppe$$en?

Bummer!

On 5/1/2005 9:05 PM, Paul Tomblin wrote the following:
In a previous article, said:

missing airports. I'm in the Minneapolis area and just west of us are Maple
Lake KMGG and Buffalo KCFE. Both have hard surface runways & IAPs. Neither of


You're right, KMGG and KCFE are not in the DAFIF data. They are in the
FAA data, however. DAFIF doesn't have airports that aren't of any use to
the US Military. Neither of those airports has a runway over 2800 feet,
which probably isn't long enough to land a F-16.

So... all of these moving map programs that use DAFIF data will omit large
numbers of hard surface runways with IAPs ? We are left with only Jeppe$$en?

Bummer!

On 5/1/2005 9:05 PM, Paul Tomblin wrote the following:
In a previous article, said:

missing airports. I'm in the Minneapolis area and just west of us are Maple
Lake KMGG and Buffalo KCFE. Both have hard surface runways & IAPs. Neither of


You're right, KMGG and KCFE are not in the DAFIF data. They are in the
FAA data, however. DAFIF doesn't have airports that aren't of any use to
the US Military. Neither of those airports has a runway over 2800 feet,
which probably isn't long enough to land a F-16.

I have NavGPS Pro and both of those airports are right where they are
supposed to be.



Mitty wrote:
I recently got a tablet PC, HP TC1100, and a little bluetooth GPS
receiver to go with it. Rode in the back seat of an Arrow this
afternoon and played for a couple of hours with the APIC software. Lots
of warts on APIC, one of which was missing airports. I'm in the
Minneapolis area and just west of us are Maple Lake KMGG and Buffalo
KCFE. Both have hard surface runways & IAPs. Neither of these was on
the moving map, but there were some weird designators like M19, 4MN9,
and M99 that appear to be grass strips that I've never heard of.

Tonight I downloaded NavGPS trial version and -- lo and behold -- same
problem. Same missing and weird airports.

So ... this appears to be a DAFIF problem. I was under the impression
that DAFIF data was pretty good, but this does not seem to be the case.
Can anyone comment or confirm?

In a previous article, said:
So... all of these moving map programs that use DAFIF data will omit large
numbers of hard surface runways with IAPs ? We are left with only Jeppe$$en?

No, in the US at least you tell the company that's providing the data to
spend the $36 every 56 days and integrate the FAA data as well as the
DAFIF data. That's what I do for the generators at http://navaid.com/,
and that's why I had the data on those airports.

--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not
because they are easy, but because they are hard...." - John F Kennedy

Thanks. I didn't realize that there was a trial download of "Pro" -- I now have
it and think it looks pretty good. Are you using it on a PDA or a tablet? How
do you like it? What others did you look at or try & why did you pick this one?

In general, I am surprised at how immature this type of software seems to be --
at least for tablet computers.

On 5/1/2005 9:55 PM, Newps wrote the following:
I have NavGPS Pro and both of those airports are right where they are
supposed to be.



Mitty wrote:

I recently got a tablet PC, HP TC1100, and a little bluetooth GPS
receiver to go with it. Rode in the back seat of an Arrow this
afternoon and played for a couple of hours with the APIC software.
Lots of warts on APIC, one of which was missing airports. I'm in the
Minneapolis area and just west of us are Maple Lake KMGG and Buffalo
KCFE. Both have hard surface runways & IAPs. Neither of these was on
the moving map, but there were some weird designators like M19, 4MN9,
and M99 that appear to be grass strips that I've never heard of.

Tonight I downloaded NavGPS trial version and -- lo and behold -- same
problem. Same missing and weird airports.

So ... this appears to be a DAFIF problem. I was under the impression
that DAFIF data was pretty good, but this does not seem to be the
case. Can anyone comment or confirm?

Mitty wrote:
Thanks. I didn't realize that there was a trial download of "Pro" -- I
now have it and think it looks pretty good. Are you using it on a PDA
or a tablet?

Dell Axim X50


How do you like it?

I loved it so much I sold my Garmin handheld.


What others did you look at or try &
why did you pick this one?

I looked at all the others I could find. I just deleted Navzilla from
my PDA, that program is a joke compared to NavGPS. I've tried Mountain
Scope also, whose main claim to fame is terrain avoidance. Didn't like
it. I tried 2 or 3 others but can't remember their names right now.
Try them all yourself. When it comes to software for my PDA I realized
a long time ago never buy software that doesn't give you a free trial first.


In general, I am surprised at how immature this type of software seems
to be -- at least for tablet computers.

Never used a tablet but NavGPS is so far ahead of the competition the
others look silly.