Data Sources & Methodology

Where our data comes from, what it can show, and what it cannot.

Aircraft positions

Positions come from ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast): aircraft broadcast their GPS position, altitude, speed and callsign on 1090 MHz. Ground receivers run by volunteers and organisations pick up these signals. We use the OpenSky Network, which aggregates them. Our servers refresh a regional snapshot every one to a few minutes and share it with all visitors, and every map or board shows the age of the data it is using.

Coverage region

Live data covers South Asia, the Middle East and Central Asia. Outside that region the map is empty.

What ADS-B can and cannot tell us

• It can show where an aircraft is, how high, how fast and which way it is heading.
• It cannot show the airline schedule, origin or destination of a flight, gates, delays against schedule, or cancelled flights.
• Aircraft without ADS-B, or out of range of receivers, do not appear. Military and some private aircraft may be hidden.

Accuracy

Positions are as accurate as the aircraft’s GPS, but a displayed position can be tens of seconds old. We move aircraft smoothly between updates using their speed and heading, which is an estimate. See how accurate is flight tracking.

Arrivals, departures and estimated times

A board marks an aircraft as arriving or departing from its altitude, vertical rate, distance and heading relative to the airport. The estimated time to the airport is distance divided by ground speed, a rough guide only.

Statistics

Statistics are counts of distinct aircraft we observe. For example an airport movement is counted when an aircraft is seen descending or climbing within 40 km of the airport. A route is counted when both a departure and an arrival of the same callsign are observed on the same day. They are not official figures.

Weather

Weather is the latest METAR and TAF from the NOAA Aviation Weather Center, decoded for readability. It is not for operational use.

Airport facts

Airport coordinates, elevation and runways come from the public-domain OurAirports dataset and may contain errors or be out of date.

Corrections

Found a mistake? Contact us.