Featured Map for 19 September 2023:
AIP Cambodia

Cambodia isn't at the top of the list for most airline network planners nor frequent fliers, but in the middle of October a new airport will open in the country: Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport, which will replace Siem Reap International Airport. Great Circle maps wouldn't be very useful without good airport data, so curation of airport data is an ongoing project.

When a new airport appears the usual first step is to see if it appears in the AIP (Aeronautical Information Publication) of the country in question. Although the contents of an AIP are defined by ICAO, the specification does not bound either the accuracy or the compleness of the data, and the specification is print-oriented which leads to PDF files which are difficult to import into a database. A further complication is that some countries view accurate airport (aerodrome) information as a profit center and charge exorbinant prices for accurate data, or what they view as accurate data.

Data accuracy is a problem worthy of mention. Additional AIP data from a South American country (the guilty shall remain nameless) which was recently uncovered included an airport midway between Africa and Australia and another airport north of Cuba. Nope. A collection of tools helps to curate data so such errant data is flagged for review even if it temporarily appears in the database.

AIP Cambodia turned out to have what appeared to be good data for 11 airports without constraints on its usage; this information has replaced earlier location data which may have been of lower quality.

Today's Featured Map shows the new data from AIP Cambodia, plus the new airport in Siem Reap-Angkor using data which hopefully will be replaced by AIP data soon after the new airport opens.

References and additional information:

• State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (Cambodia)
• AIP (Aeronautical Informationl Publication) Specimen – ICAO (International Civil Aeronautical Organization)