Names of Airports

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Do we keep airport names aligned with FS9

Yes , lets stick with the FS9 names
19
86%
No, let's change it every time the name changes in real life
3
14%
 
Total votes: 22

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Names of Airports

Post by Quantum » Thu Dec 14, 2006 12:43 pm

For the sake of everyone's sanity are we going to keep airports named as they are in FS9 or are we going to change the database every time a government, local junta or town council decides they fancy a name change. At least if we stick to FS9 names we stand a chance of finding them in the database.
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Post by DanKH » Thu Dec 14, 2006 3:30 pm

There should be no doubt of this.

Of cause the FlyNET airports DB should match the airports in FS9, if there are others in FSX, FlyNETs DB should be a merge of these two.

Only when the SAME airport in FS9 and FSX should happen to have different ICAO codes action should be taken. (this has happen from fs2002 to fs2004 on a couple of Asian airports to the best of my knowledge)

There is obviously no sane reason to have the airports in FlyNET to match real life, as we are not flying real life (remember?)
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Post by CAPFlyer » Thu Dec 14, 2006 4:59 pm

John, if I had mod power, I would be locking this thread. The NAME of the airport is irrelevant. The ICAO is all that matters. You can get to an airport in FS via the ICAO, so as long as the ICAO is correct to what's in the sim, why does it matter? The Briefing Document, the Booking Page, and everything else important to the pilot is based off of ICAO, so that is and will remain the controlling factor. Everything else can be changed without any major backing.

Not only that, but here's the other thing - most of the name changes I've been accepting are because the original database name was incorrect (it was the city name not the airport name). That is being rectified as people submit the correct names into the database.
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Post by DanKH » Thu Dec 14, 2006 5:36 pm

:wink: hmm. I guess you voted "No".... :?: :lol:
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Post by CAPFlyer » Thu Dec 14, 2006 5:40 pm

Actually I didn't vote. Again, because the issue is up to the Database Admins and Konny and the decision was made by the 4 of us as to what would be approved and what wouldn't be.
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Post by Quantum » Thu Dec 14, 2006 5:45 pm

Chris,

This is posted under the New features & ideas forum so I don't understand why you would want to lock it. If the name was irrelevant then it wouldn't matter and I wouldn't have raised the topic. In FS it's nice to be able to confirm that the airport name that you are flying to matches the airport name that FlyNET says you are flying to. It also makes it easier when viewing certain pages at FlyNET :-

On the book page flight you choose your destination by airport name
On the airport database you look up the airport by country and airport name
When you buy a ticket you look up by country and airport name
On the Flightplan page 'Show flights from' is listed alphabetically by....... you guessed it : airport name

Konny HAS made certain things easier by adding extra hyperlinks on many of the pages but it still isn't foolproof. I just thought it was logical to align the data between FS and FlyNET.

Ho hum, happy days.

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Post by DanKH » Thu Dec 14, 2006 5:45 pm

Oh we're not worthy master.....

So this BETA period where good suggestions etc. should be taken into consideration, is overruled in this case, as the 4 of you have already decided what to do and what not....

You sure are a role model for all Administrators.......


I'll get my coat....
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Post by CAPFlyer » Thu Dec 14, 2006 6:03 pm

Okay, if you want it to be a complete idea, then explain how we (the DB Admins) are supposed to verify what FS says? Are we supposed to only list what the default FS9 shows? What about airports whose names have changed between FS9 and FSX? What about airports that are widely available as freeware addons and havenew names? What about charting services which list the airport under its current name and not under what's in FS?

What you're asking the DB Admins to do is that each time we go to approve an airport is boot up FS9 and FSX, see what they say for the airport name and then confirm that the name is the same as what is submitted. I personally will not do that because it then severely limits my ability to confirm the airport name. Why? Because I have over 300 addon sceneries in my FS, so many of the airport names aren't the default because the defaults is out of date and I have no real way of checking which are default and which aren't. What about when I have a few minutes at work to check? How am I to confirm within FS that the airport name is correct?

I have no problem with people making suggestions about the client or how the website is setup. I have a problem with people telling the DB Admins how to administrate the database for this exact reason. Our job is not as simple as people make it out to be. We have to use readily available methods to confirm data and FS isn't readily available since there are so many things that are different between each installation of FS.
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BFuller

Post by BFuller » Thu Dec 14, 2006 6:43 pm

Everything should be based off of ICAO. The Name field should be descriptive only.

AK_Dave

Post by AK_Dave » Thu Dec 14, 2006 6:49 pm

I agree. Base everything off of ICAO. Align with FS9 ICAO database. Change the client to have people select an airport by ICAO, not name. We can always go to airnav.com to look up the ICAO of an airport if we don't know it.

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Post by Quantum » Thu Dec 14, 2006 7:37 pm

Chris,

Don't get me wrong, the ICAO IS the important reference but until the website places that importance FIRST for searches etc then changing names of airports away from the current FS9 descriptor just confuses. You could have EGAC (Belfast City/George Best Airport), EGNV (Tees-side/Durham Tees) etc etc but whilst the web is still utilising searches with names first then I stand with my suggestion. If I want to buy a ticket to EGAC I'd look under Belfast and find it. If someone decides they are going to change it to George Best then I won't, without trawling through the list. As long as people KNOW what the rule is it should stop people changing a name to it's new obscure identity. Stand by for airport name changes in Chile and I'm sure some African countries airports have the name in chalk on the terminal building so it can be changed easily. :lol:

Anyway, it's just a suggestion, if Konny and the DB's have decided already and aren't open to suggestions then tell us WHAT the rule is and get a mod to remove this thread if you wish.

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John
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Post by CAPFlyer » Fri Dec 15, 2006 4:34 am

John, I posted the rule as decided upon in the thread about Palma - Name changes are okay, ICAO will only be changed if it's been changed in the current default version of FS or there is a widely used freeware scenery available that changes the ICAO.
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Post by Quantum » Fri Dec 15, 2006 11:32 am

Thank-you Chris,

You made it soooooo easy for me to find the info............. :roll:

I don't see anything specific that mentions a rule about airport names. Maybe FlyNET should come to a compromise and show city/name. Here in Europe we have holiday flights that fly to easily the easily recogniseable airports of 'Palma' and 'Malaga', not 'Son Sant Joan' or 'Pablo Ruiz Picaso'. Depending whose database you look at an airport could have two or even three different names so maybe all aliases should be on the database? All I can say Chris is you've opened a can of worms and you don't want to put the lid back on it . I'd always thought some of the airport names were odd and needed a great deal of searching to find them and now I know why. I remember in the early days at FlyNET I was trying to find KBOS in the airport database. It wasn't under Boston nor Logan but I eventually found it under 'General Edward Lawrence Logan International'. How many times do you guys over the pond go in to a travel broker and ask "I'd like to buy a ticket to 'General Edward Lawrence Logan International' please" ? I bet you ask for a ticket to Boston or a ticket to Boston-Logan. Common sense should prevail and the WIDELY recogniseable name should be used. If you want or need the airport name to confirm it then add it after it's widely recognised name.

Anyway, this is not for me to decide how things should or should not be done nor any other individual for that matter. FlyNET serves a community so the community should have some sort of input.

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Post by DanKH » Fri Dec 15, 2006 2:23 pm

I'm totally behind you on this John.

My preferences will always be either the ICAO or IATA code, and the airport could for that sake be anything, eg. Heavens Gate, Halvordur, or even...Chris ??

But as the whole site depends on the names instead of the codes, I totally agree that it should be the common know name that is used.....(what that ever might be...)
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Post by CAPFlyer » Fri Dec 15, 2006 7:04 pm

John, sorry, but I didn't open that can of worms - You did.

All 3 DB Admins have been approving airport name changes for months and no one complained until you. We've approved at least 100 airport name changes in the last couple of months and I have no desire to go back through and try to re-edit every one of them. I understand the issue with the ICAOs, but again, you're asking a lot of the DB Admins for something that isn't really that big of an issue.

Konny has already said he is going to change the search options to give more options for finding routes, so let's focus on trying to get that done faster than having to make multiple edits to the database.
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