presented to: federal architects by: kim w. barnette, ph.d. aeronautical information management...

Presented to: Federal Architects

By: Kim W. Barnette, Ph.D.

Aeronautical Information Management

Federal Aviation Administration

Date: April 11, 2007

Federal AviationAdministrationGeospatial Workshop

Geospatial Best Practices for Architects

Lessons learned – Metadata

2 2Federal AviationAdministration

Aeronautical Information ManagementApril 11, 2007

Outline

• Background on aeronautical data domain• Need for defining metadata• Process employed• Design overview• Lessons learned

– Things that worked– Things that didn’t work

• References



Aeronautical InformationFAA responsible for releasing National Airspace System (NAS) data to our international partners, distributors and automation systems

• Aerodromes• Airspace• NAVAIDS & Fixes

EnRoute Airspace

Airport/Runway Airport/Runway

Procedures

Terminal

Route

• Routes• Procedures• Organizations & Services

Fix

Service



Airports ConceptAerodrome and HeliportAICM: AD_HPAIXM: <Ahp>Defines the airport or heliport and provides general information.

RunwayAICM: RWYAIXM: <Rwy>A runway at an airport.

Runway DirectionAICM: RWY_DIRECTIONAIXM: <Rdn>Defines runway direction, approach lighting and thresholds.

TaxiwayAICM: TWYAIXM: <Twy>Fixed path used by aircraft to travel to and from a runway.

Obstacle at AirportAICM: AD_HP_OBSTACLEAIXM: <Aho>Obstacle at an airport

Airport TimesheetAICM: TIMESHEETAIXM: <Aht>Operating hours of the airport

ApronAICM: APRONAIXM: <Apn>Locations where aircraft park and passengers enter and exit the aircraft.

Continuous

Usage LimitationAICM: AD_HP_USAGEAIXM: <Ahu>Rules describing flights and aircraft that can operate at the airport or heliport.



Services Concept

Working HoursWeekdays 8 to 5 PM

OrganizationAICM: ORG_AUTHAIXM: <Org>Organization authority

AddressAICM: ORG_AUTH_ADDRESSUNIT_ADDRESSAIXM: <Oaa>, <Uas>Address of an organization or unit.

UnitAICM: UNITAIXM: <Uni>Unit within an organization

ServiceAICM: SERVICEAIXM: <Ser>A service provided by a unit.

AssociationAICM: ORG_AUTH_ASSOCUNIT_ASSOCAIXM: <Oas>, <Uac>A parent-child relationship between units or organizations.

FrequencyAICM: FREQUENCYAIXM: <Fqy>Frequency(ies) on which the service is provided

TimesheetAICM: TimetableAIXM: <Ftt>, <Stt>Operating hours for a frequency or service

FAA

Center

Flight Services

ATC



• Data is integrated with other data and loaded into aircraft autopilots and air traffic control systems

Attention: Taxiway P closed!



• Data is also used to produce charts and aeronautical publications



• Data is distributed to the general public via graphical maps on FAA websites



The importance of data about data• Underlying mission to keep the skies and flying

public safe!!!• Critical for data to be timely and accurate• Essential for data specialists to know:

– Who is responsible for the data

– What is the source of the data

– When is the data effective

– Where is the data source

– How was the data captured

• METADATA is the who, what, when, where and how



Process Employed• Our approach to defining a metadata profile

included:– Research

• What data is being exchanged? What is the standard for exchanging data about data?

– Interview• How have other organizations used metadata? What do the data

users want to know about the data?

– Document• What is the best way to convey and describe the metadata profile?

• Developed UML (universal modelling language) class diagrams of proposed models of the metadata profile



Linkage to ISO19115 : 2003 Geographic Information-Metadata

• The structure of the aeronautical metadata profile is based on ISO19115– The International Standardization Organization has defined a

comprehensive metadata standard, ISO 19115: 2003 Geographic Information-Metadata.

• Not intended to be a substitution for ISO 19115 – ISO 19115 was developed by Technical Committee ISO/TC 211,

Geographic information/Geomatics to define general-purpose metadata in the field of geographic information.

• Nor does it completely conform to ISO19115– ISO19115 is applicable to the cataloguing of datasets, clearinghouse

activities, and the full description of datasets, rather than for recurrent messages such as FAA data messages.



Design Overview• Aeronautical data contains information on one or

more features including the properties of and relationships between those features

EnRoute Airspace

Airport/Runway Airport/Runway

Procedures

Terminal

Route

Fix

Service

• In most instances, the metadata for each of these features will differ



The AIXM Metadata Profile

• The profile includes six models:– Metadata for the AIXM message– Metadata for an AIXM feature– Metadata for an AIXM feature timeslice

• A timeslice allows for temporality – able to exchange data on features described at different points in time

– Constraint information– Citation and Responsible Party information– Data Quality information

AIXM – aeronautical information exchange model – international data exchange standard



Lessons Learned• Define a metadata model for each feature within the

data exchange message and a metadata model for the entire message.

• Distinguish our data exchange activities from those discussed in the literature. – Our methodology differs from that discussed in the several

papers on metadata standards and mapping efforts that were part of our literature review.

– Most of those papers described data domains that were more homogeneous in nature and generally had only one data source.



Lessons Learned

• Conduct monthly reviews of the metadata profile with aeronautical information data users and release timely updates– What do they want to know about the data? How will

they use the data and the metadata? • E.g., we are going to update the metadata profile to include

an element indicating the certification level of the information source, i.e., if the supplier is ISO compliant



References

• Metadata Profile white paper available at www.aixm.aero

• Validating the model using tools such as MetaModel Integration Bridge

• Contact Kim Barnette, The CNA Corporation, supporting the Aeronautical Information Management Group– [email protected] – 202-267-9235



Background Slides

• UML (universal modeling language) class diagrams for each model in the metadata profile– The model will be updated to include a few more

suggestions from aeronautical information subject matter experts



Future Updates to Metadata Profile

• Move dataIntegrity from Feature to FeatureTimeSlice– It is a numerical value indicating the integrity of the generated

TimeSlice. A past timeSlice may have one integrity and a future timeSlice may be at another integrity.

• Under Citation – add Process Compliancy - DO200A– Use to indicate the certification level of the information source,

i.e., if the supplier is certified under DO200A criteria, or CHAIN or ISO compliant

• Update FeatureTimeSlice – include positional resolution– Need to be able to store the horizontal resolution

(latitude/longitude) and vertical resolution.



Metadata to include about the AIXM message



Constraint Information Metadata



Metadata to include about an AIXM feature

FeatureMetadata

dataIntegrity : valuecyclicRedundancyCheckFeature : character1noteCRCFeature : character1

<<object>>



Metadata to include about an AIXM feature timeslice



Citation and Responsible Party Information Metadata



Data Quality Information Metadata

presented to: federal architects by: kim w. barnette, ph.d. aeronautical information management...

Documents

unit aixm

airport aicm

unit aicm

service aixm

runway aicm

address aixm

auth aixm

direction aixm