The Global Airport Database (GADB) is a FREE downloadable database of
9300 airports big and small from all around the world. The database is
presented in a simple token delimited format. The database provides detailed
information about the airports listed including:
The Global Airport Database is comprised from a series of tuples. Each tuple contains exactly
16 fields of varying pieces of information. The fields depending on what they represent
are either a text string, integer, floating point or character.
Some fields are of constant length whilst others are of varying length. The fields are
separated from each other by a single colon character ':' acting as a delimiter.
There are no leading or trailing delimiters or white-space.
The following table describes each of the fields, their order and associated value type:
Field
Name
Type
01
ICAO Code
String (3-4 chars, A - Z)
02
IATA Code
String (3 chars, A - Z)
03
Airport Name
String
04
City/Town
String
05
Country
String
06
Latitude Degrees
Integer [0,360]
07
Latitude Minutes
Integer [0,60]
08
Latitude Seconds
Integer [0,60]
09
Latitude Direction
Char (N or S)
10
Longitude Degrees
Integer [0,360]
11
Longitude Minutes
Integer [0,60]
12
Longitude Seconds
Integer [0,60]
13
Longitude Direction
Char (E or W)
14
Altitude
Integer [-99999,+99999] (Altitude in meters from mean sea level)
16
Latitude Decimal Degrees
Floating point [-90,90]
17
Longitude Decimal Degrees
Floating point [-180,180]
As an example, the following tuple taken from the database, depicits the details of the
Melbourne international airport (aka Tullamarine airport):
Note: Some tuples may have missing or otherwise unaviable pieces of data.
In the event the values are not present, given the data type a default value will
be used as follows:
In order to maintain the integrity of The Global Airport Database assistance is needed
from the general public for information about new airports not already listed in the database,
also information in order to fill in missing pieces of data from currently listed airports such
as ICAO/IATA codes, lat-long coordinates and any other details.
Any help correcting or collecting new airport data would be greatly appreciated. For more
information or to suggest a new airport or correction please get in contact via the following
e-mail address: