mapbuilder¶

mapbuilder generates map files for the EuroScope plugins Ground Radar (GRP) and TopSky (TS) from aeronautical data.

Instead of maintaining thousands of coordinates by hand, you describe what to draw in templates. mapbuilder takes the geometry from various sources and writes the finished GRpluginMaps.txt, TopSkyMaps.txt, stand definitions and settings files for every display profile. When the data changes with the next AIRAC cycle, you rebuild instead of redrawing.

How it works¶

graph LR
  A["AIXM 5.1<br/>(from ANSPs)"] --> B
  C[GeoJSON] --> B
  G["GeoPackage<br/>(QGIS)"] --> B
  K["KML<br/>(Google Earth)"] --> B
  B["mapbuilder<br/>mapbuilder.toml + templates"] --> P1["GRP maps,<br/>stands, settings"]
  B --> P2["TopSky maps,<br/>areas, settings"]

1. Data sources in mapbuilder.toml load your data: AIXM 5.1 AerodromeMapping datasets, GeoPackage layers, etc.
2. Templates in the maps/ directory describe the maps: plain GRP or TopSky statements, plus Jinja expressions that select, prepare and draw features from the data.
3. Profiles decide which maps go into which files, for example separate day and night setups that share most of their content.

A small example¶

[data.eddm]
type = "aixm51"
source = "dfs:0:EDDM AerodromeMapping:AIXM 5.1.1"

[profiles.TWR]
maps = [{ map = "grplugin", target = "GRPlugin/GRpluginMaps.txt" }]
aliases = []

[runways]

MAP:Taxilanes
AIRPORT:EDDM
FOLDER:Airport Layout
COLOR:taxilane-yellow
{% for line in data.eddm['GuidanceLine'] | feat_join_by('designator') %}
    {{- line | feat_simplify(0.000005) | render_line(line.properties.designator) }}
{% endfor %}

MAP:Taxilanes
AIRPORT:EDDM
FOLDER:Airport Layout
COLOR:taxilane-yellow
// A1
LINE:48.3561234:11.7712345:48.3562345:11.7723456
LINE:48.3562345:11.7723456:48.3563456:11.7734567
// A2
…

One template draws every taxilane of the airport, each labelled with its designator, and stays correct when taxiways are added or renamed in the data.

Features¶

• Official data: reads AIXM 5.1 AerodromeMapping data provided by many ANSPs.
• Your own data: GeoPackage layers and KML files for everything that is not in AIXM, like stand areas, construction sites or local markings.
• One API for both plugins: filters that select, join and simplify features, and renderers for GRP and TopSky, including automatic rendering by geometry type.
• Profiles: build several display setups from the same sources, with per-profile variants where they differ.
• Ready for CI: a GitHub Action that rebuilds the maps of a repository, with caching of downloads.

Where to go next¶