FLORIDA GEOGRAPHIC DATA LIBRARY DOCUMENTATION
VERSION 2007

TITLE: FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION OBSTRUCTIONS 2008

Geodataset Name:       FAAOBS_MAY08
Geodataset Type:       SHAPEFILE
Geodataset Feature:    Point
Feature Count:         5360
GENERAL DESCRIPTION:
This dataset contains the locations of Federal Aviation Administration known obstructions. The Digital Obstacle File, from which this layer was created, contains only obstruction data for those man-made objects which affect domestic aeronautical charting products and does not purport to indicate the presence of all obstructions which may be encountered. PLEASE NOTE: In the interest of air safety, the Digital Obstacle File depicts both "verified" and "unverified" obstruction data. A verified obstruction is indicated by an "O" in the verification status field of the data. This data has been reviewed by the FAA's National Aeronautical Charting Group (NACG) and most have been assigned an accuracy code, indicating the reliability of its vertical height and horizontal position. An unverified obstruction is indicated by a "U" in the status field of the data. This data is considered unreliable because its position and height have not been verified by NACG. Caution should be exercised by the user of unverified data. This dataset is an update to the layer FAAOBS Version 1995.
DATA SOURCE(S):                    Federal Aviation Administration
SCALE OF ORIGINAL SOURCE MAPS:     N/A
DATE OF AUTOMATION OF SOURCE:      20080504
GEODATASET EXTENT:                 State of Florida

FEATURE ATTRIBUTE TABLES:

Datafile Name: FAAOBS_MAY08.DBF
ITEM NAME WIDTH TYPE N. DECIMAL DEGREES
OBJECTID
4 OID ---
OBSTCL_NM
12 String ---
VER_STAT
10 String ---
COUNTRY
10 String ---
STATE
7 String ---
CITY
22 String ---
LAT_D
9 Number ---
LAT_M
9 Number ---
LAT_S
9 Number ---
LAT_HEMI
10 String ---
LONG_D
9 Number ---
LONG_M
9 Number ---
LONG_S
9 Number ---
LONG_HEMI
11 String ---
OBSTCLTYPE
13 String ---
OBSTCL_CNT
13 String ---
AGL_HT
8 String ---
AMSL_HT
9 String ---
LIGHTING
11 String ---
HORIZ_ACC
11 Number ---
VERT_ACC
10 String ---
MARK_IND
10 String ---
FAA_STUDY
17 String ---
ACTION
9 String ---
ACT_DATE
10 String ---
DATCHKCD
11 String ---
LATITUDE
19 Number 11
LONGITUDE
19 Number 11
USNG_FL_1K
10 String ---
DESCRIPT
15 String ---
FGDLAQDATE
8 Date ---
AUTOID
4 Number ---
SHAPE
4 Geometry ---

FEATURE ATTRIBUTE TABLES CODES AND VALUES:

Item
Item Description
OBJECTID Internal feature number.

OBSTCL_NM NACG NUMBER - All obstacles are assigned a unique number based on state or country. The NACG_NUMBER consists of a two-digit code, a dash, and a six-character number.

VER_STAT Verification Status.
O = Verified

U = Unverified


COUNTRY Country Identifier.

STATE State Identifier.

CITY City Name.

LAT_D Latitude Degrees.

LAT_M Latitude Minutes.

LAT_S Latitude Seconds.

LAT_HEMI Latitude Hemisphere.

LONG_D Longitude Degrees.

LONG_M Longitude Minutes.

LONG_S Longitude Seconds.

LONG_HEMI Longitude Hemisphere.

OBSTCLTYPE Obstacle Type.

OBSTCL_CNT Quantity.

AGL_HT Above Ground Level Height (Feet).

AMSL_HT Above Mean Sea Level Height (Feet).

LIGHTING Type of Lighting.

HORIZ_ACC Horizontal Accuracy.
1 = +-20'

2 = +-50'

3 = +-100'

4 = +-250'

5 = +-500'

6 = +-1000'

7 = +-1/2 NM

8 = +-1 NM

9 = Unknown


VERT_ACC Vertical Accuracy.
A = +-3'

B = +-10'

C = +-20'

D = +-50'

E = +-125'

F = +-250'

G = +-500'

H = +-1000'

I = Unknown


MARK_IND Mark Indicator.
P = Orange or Orange and White Paint

W = White Paint Only

M = Marked

F = Flag Marker

S = Spherical Marker

N = None


FAA_STUDY FAA Study Number.

ACTION Action
A = Add

C = Change

D = Dismantle


ACT_DATE Date of Action.

DATCHKCD Data Integrity code.

LATITUDE Latitude of obstruction.

LONGITUDE Longitude of obstruction.

USNG_FL_1K Facility's 1-kilometer United States National Grid (USNG) address. The USNG is an alpha-numeric reference system based on the UTM coordinate system and is similar to the Military Grid Reference System. Use of the USNG ensures a uniform grid mapping and positional reporting system for search and rescue, emergency planning, response, and recovery. How to Read a United States National Grid (USNG) Spatial Address Website - http://www.fgdc.gov/usng/how-to-read-usng/index_html

DESCRIPT Based on the field OBSTCLTYPE.

FGDLAQDATE The date FGDL acquired the data from the Source.

AUTOID GeoPlan Center feature identification number.

SHAPE Feature geometry.


USER NOTES:
This data is provided 'as is'. GeoPlan relied on the integrity
of the original data layer's topology
This data is provided 'as is' by GeoPlan and is complete to our
knowledge.
GeoPlan relied on the integrity of the attribute information within
the original data.
DIGITAL OBSTACLE FILE 
FOREWORD 
The Digital Obstacle File (DOF) is a listing of verified and unverified obstacles in 
the U.S. with limited coverage of the Pacific, the Caribbean, Canada, Mexico, 
Bahamas of interest to aeronautical information users. The obstacles are assigned 
unique alphanumerical identifiers and are listed in order by NACG Number. The 
DOF digital product is updated every 56 days. Included with the DOF delivery is a
CHANGE LIST reflecting changes that occurred during the eight week period. 
This file is ordered by ascending file number.

SPECIAL NOTICE: 
Important Information on Horizontal and Vertical Datums 
 
The World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS 84) is used as the horizontal datum for 
all DOF data. All obstacle data has been converted to WGS 84 as of November 
19, 2007. 
 
All obstacle data identified with a Julian Date on or after the 71st day of 2001 will
be placed in the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 NAVD88. All 
other elevations in the NACG Digital Obstacle File are in the National Geodetic 
Vertical Datum of 1929.

The data was created to serve as base information for use in GIS systems for 
a variety of planning and analytical purposes.

This data is provided 'as is' and its horizontal positional accuracy
has not been verified by GeoPlan

This data is provided 'as is' and its vertical positional accuracy
has not been verified by GeoPlan

THE DATA INCLUDED IN FGDL ARE 'AS IS' AND SHOULD NOT BE CONSTRUED
AS LEGALLY BINDING. THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA GEOPLAN CENTER SHALL
NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES SUFFERED AS A RESULT OF USING,
MODIFYING, CONTRIBUTING OR DISTRIBUTING THE MATERIALS.

A note about data scale: 

Scale is an important factor in data usage.  Certain scale datasets
are not suitable for some project, analysis, or modeling purposes.
Please be sure you are using the best available data. 

1:24000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the
county level.
1:24000 data should NOT be used for high accuracy base mapping such
as property parcel boundaries.
1:100000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the
multi-county or regional level.
1:125000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the
regional or state level or larger.

Vector datasets with no defined scale or accuracy should be
considered suspect. Make sure you are familiar with your data
before using it for projects or analysis. Every effort has been
made to supply the user with data documentation. For additional
information, see the References section and the Data Source Contact
section of this documentation. For more information regarding
scale and accuracy, see our webpage at:
http://geoplan.ufl.edu/education.html

REFERENCES:
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
Aviation System Standards (AVN)
National Aeronautical Charting Group (NACG)
Digital Aeronautical Information (DAI)
ORS Digital Obstacle File (DOF)

Digital Aeronautical Information CD (DAICD)
Digital Obstacle File
http://naco.faa.gov/index.asp?xml=naco/catalog/charts/digital/daicd

DIGITAL OBSTACLE FILE (DOF) READ ME FILE
http://naco.faa.gov/content/naco/catalog/charts/digital/DOF_README.pdf

DATA LINEAGE SUMMARY:
FOR THE DOF, THE CD-ROM RECEIVED WITH THIS DELIVERY INCLUDES:
1. CD_DOF_README.PDF - This file which provides an
overview of the new ORS formatted Digital Obstacle File (DOF)
package, and the format for the data files included in the package.
2. One file containing digital data within all of the FAA Regions plus some areas of 
Canada, Mexico, Caribbean, Bahamas, the Pacific, and a change list reflecting 
actions taken since the last currency date, in an uncompressed file format.
3. DAI_DATCHK.EXE - A program for checking the data integrity of the
DAI data files.
4. CHKALL_DOF.EXE - A program for checking the data integrity on
all DOF files in the same folder as the program.
5. BROWSE.EXE - A program used to only view ASCII text files.

SPECIAL NOTICE: 
 Important Information on Horizontal and Vertical Datums 
 
 As of July 29, 1992 all geographical coordinates in the NACO 
 Digital Obstruction File have been refined and converted to 
 the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83). The 'Aviation 
 Safety and Capacity Expansion Act of 1990' mandates that all 
 positional data used in the National Airspace System be 
 converted from NAD27 to NAD83. This adjustment is required 
 so that US civil aeronautical charts and databases will be 
 compatible with new navigation systems and equivalent to 
 datums used by the US military and foreign governments. For 
 charting purposes the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83) 
 is considered equivalent to World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS 84).
 
 The North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD88) replaces the 
 National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD 29) as the 
 official civilian vertical datum for surveying and mapping 
 activities in the United States for all federal agencies. All 
 obstacle data identified with a Julian Date on or after "A1071" 
 (the 71st day of 2001, see explanation of Julian Dates below) 
 will be placed in the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 
 (NAVD88). All other elevations in the NACO Digital Obstacle 
 File are in the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929.
Process Date: 20080504

The GeoPlan Center downloaded the Digital Obstacle File for Entire U.S. and Territories (DOF.DAT) from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Aviation System Standards (AVN), National Aeronautical Charting Group (NACG) website (See Below) on June 6th 2008. http://naco.faa.gov/index.asp?xml=naco/catalog/charts/digital/daicd# The original zipfile (DDOF_200803.zip) contained 7 files; BROWSE.EXE, CD_DOF_README.pdf, CD_DOF_README.txt, CHG.DAT, ChkAll_DOF.exe, DAI_DatChk.exe, DOF.DAT The DOF.DAT file was opened using a text editor. Obstacles within the State of Florida were selected and copied to an Excel spreadsheet. Next the records were converted from text to columns via the fixed width method. The width format for data in the digital obstacle file was located in the CD_DOF_README.pdf Next BLANK columns were deleted based on the DOF Format. Next field names were created based on the DOF Format field information as defined in the CD_DOF_README.pdf Next the spreadsheet was saved as a .DBF and re-opened in ArcMap. Next Latitude and Longitude fields were added and populated based on the Geographical Coordinates; Degrees, Minutes, Seconds, found within the table. Next the table was converted to a shapefile using the Latitude and Longitude fields via the Add XY function in ArcMap. Next the newly created shapfiles projection was defined as The World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS 84). The projection is based on the source projection information found in the CD_DOF_README.pdf. Next the shapefile was reprojected from the World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS 84) to the FGDL Albers projection NAD83 HARN. Finally the following fields were added and populated; USNG_FL_1K DESCRIPT FGDLAQDATE AUTOID Process Date: 20080606
Data imported to ArcSDE and exported as a shapefile. Process Date: 20080619
MAP PROJECTION PARAMETERS:

Projection                          ALBERS
Datum                               HPGN
Units                               METERS
Spheroid                            GRS1980
1st Standard Parallel               24  0  0.000
2nd Standard Parallel               31 30  0.000
Central Meridian                   -84 00  0.000
Latitude of Projection's Origin     24  0  0.000
False Easting (meters)              400000.00000
False Northing (meters)             0.00000

DATA SOURCE CONTACT (S):

Name:
Abbr. Name:
Address:


Phone:

Web site:
E-mail:
Contact Person:
         Phone:
        E-mail:
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), National Aeronautical Charting Group (NACG)
FAA/NACG
6500 S. MacArthur Boulevard
Oklahoma City, OK
73169-6901
301-713-2619

http://naco.faa.gov/index.asp?xml=naco/catalog/charts/digital/daicd Terry M. Laydon

FGDL CONTACT:
Name:                   FLORIDA GEOGRAPHIC DATA LIBRARY
Abbr. Name:             FGDL
Address:                Florida Geographic Data Library
                        431 Architecture Building
                        PO Box 115706
                        Gainesville, FL  32611-5706
Web site:               http://www.fgdl.org

Contact FGDL: 

      Technical Support:	        http://www.fgdl.org/fgdlfeed.html
      FGDL Frequently Asked Questions:  http://www.fgdl.org/fgdlfaq.html
      FGDL Mailing Lists:		http://www.fgdl.org/fgdl-l.html
      For FGDL Software:                http://www.fgdl.org/software.html