TAXIWAY DEFINITION PROPERTIES

This page lists the different elements and attributes required to generate properly formed XML for taxiways into airports. The information on this page is used along with the information for creating an Airport - since approaches are specifically for airports - which can be found here:

The different taxiway elements would go inside of the <Airport> element, and you can (and normally would) define multiple taxiways in a single airport. It is very important to note that these elements must go in the following order:

 

1) List all your Taxiway Points

2) Define the Taxiway Parking

3) Define any Taxi Names

4) list all the Taxiway Paths

 

The image below shows an example:

 

 

<TaxiwayPoint />

This element is used to add a point to the taxiway network for routing on the ground within an <Airport> element. Since the network will contain many taxiway points (and possibly parking spots), each of these locations need to have an "index" that uniquely identifies a point when building the network.

 

When defining a taxiway point, there are two ways to specify the position:

  • The first is to use a lat/lon pair that will give the exact coordinate
  • the second is to use a biasX/biasZ pair that specifies the displacement of the point from the airport reference point

 

Note that this is a self-closing element and has the following attributes:

 

Attribute Description Type Required
index Identifier index assigned to this taxiway point inside of an airport. This identifier must be unique for all <TaxiwayPoint> and <TaxiwayParking> locations. Values must be between 0 and 3999. Integer Yes
type Taxiway point type. The *_NO_DRAW options indicate that the taxiway points should not be drawn (as is the case for grass or gravel taxiways, for example).

Enum:

  1. NORMAL
  2. HOLD_SHORT
  3. ILS_HOLD_SHORT
  4. HOLD_SHORT_NO_DRAW
  5. ILS_HOLD_SHORT_NO_DRAW
  
orientation The orientation of a HOLD_SHORT.

Enum:

  1. FORWARD
  2. REVERSE
 No
lat Latitude of the airport reference point, in degrees between -90.0° and 90.0°

Float

Yes

(only if biasX and biasY are not used)
lon Longitude of the airport reference point, in degrees between -180.0° and 180.0° Float

Yes

(only if biasX and biasY are not used)
biasX Bias from airport reference along the longitudinal axis in meters.

Float

Yes

(only if lat and lon are not used)
biasZ Bias from airport reference along the latitudinal axis in meters. Float

Yes

(only if lat and lon are not used)

 

 

<TaxiwayParking />

This element is used to add a parking spot to the taxiway network. Taxiway parking spots can have preferred airline designations. Since the network will contain many taxiway points and parking spots, each of these locations need to have an "index" that uniquely identifies a point when building the network.

 

When defining a taxiway parking spot, there are two ways to specify the position:

  • The first is to use a lat/lon pair that will give the exact coordinate
  • the second is to use a biasX/biasZ pair that specifies the displacement of the point from the airport reference point

 

The size of a parking spot required for an aircraft is taken from the wingspan of the aircraft recorded in the Aircraft Configuration Files. The wingspan is converted to meters and rounded up.

 

This element may contain the sub-elements <Coloration /> and <Material />, and has the following attributes:

 

Attribute Description Type Required
index Identifier index assigned to this taxiway parking spot inside of an airport. This identifier must be unique for all <TaxiwayPoint> and <TaxiwayParking> locations. Values must be between 0 and 3999. Integer Yes
type Taxiway parking type.

Enum:

  1. NONE
  2. DOCK_GA
  3. FUEL
  4. GATE_HEAVY
  5. GATE_MEDIUM
  6. GATE_SMALL
  7. RAMP_CARGO
  8. RAMP_GA
  9. RAMP_GA_LARGE
  10. RAMP_GA_MEDIUM
  11. RAMP_GA_SMALL
  12. RAMP_MIL_CARGO
  13. RAMP_MIL_COMBAT
  14. VEHICLE
  15. RAMP_GA_EXTRA
  16. GATE_EXTRA
 Yes
name Taxiway parking name.

Enum:

  1. DOCK
  2. E_PARKING
  3. GATE
  4. GATE_A
  5. GATE_B
  6. GATE_C
  7. GATE_D
  8. GATE_E
  9. GATE_F
  10. GATE_G
  11. GATE_H
  12. GATE_I
  13. GATE_J
  14. GATE_K
  15. GATE_L
  16. GATE_M
  17. GATE_N
  18. GATE_O
  19. GATE_P
  20. GATE_Q
  21. GATE_R
  22. GATE_S
  23. GATE_T
  24. GATE_U
  25. GATE_V
  26. GATE_W
  27. GATE_X
  28. GATE_Y
  29. GATE_Z
  30. NE_PARKING
  31. NONE
  32. N_PARKING
  33. NW_PARKING
  34. PARKING
  35. SE_PARKING
  36. S_PARKING
  37. SW_PARKING
  38. W_PARKING
 Yes
number Number of this spot (goes with given name),from 0 to 3999 Integer Yes
suffix Suffix to be added to the taxiway parking name and number.

Enum:

  1. GATE_A
  2. GATE_B
  3. GATE_C
  4. GATE_D
  5. GATE_E
  6. GATE_F
  7. GATE_G
  8. GATE_H
  9. GATE_I
  10. GATE_J
  11. GATE_K
  12. GATE_L
  13. GATE_M
  14. GATE_N
  15. GATE_O
  16. GATE_P
  17. GATE_Q
  18. GATE_R
  19. GATE_S
  20. GATE_T
  21. GATE_U
  22. GATE_V
  23. GATE_W
  24. GATE_X
  25. GATE_Y
  26. GATE_Z
  27. NONE
 No
radius The parking spot radius, in meters. Float Yes
heading The parking spot heading - oriented from the North - from -360.0° to 360.0°.

Float

 Yes
lat Latitude of the airport reference point, in degrees between -90.0° and 90.0°

Float

Yes

(only if biasX and biasY are not used)
lon Longitude of the airport reference point, in degrees between -180.0° and 180.0° Float

Yes

(only if biasX and biasY are not used)
biasX Bias from airport reference along the longitudinal axis in meters.

Float

Yes

(only if lat and lon are not used)
biasZ Bias from airport reference along the latitudinal axis in meters. Float

Yes

(only if lat and lon are not used)
numberMarking Enable (TRUE) or disable (FALSE) number markings for the taxiway parking point. Bool No
numberBiasX Bias from parking spot reference along the longitudinal axis in meters. Float No
numberBiasZ Bias from parking spot reference along the latitudinal axis in meters. Float No
numberHeading The parking spot number heading, from -360.0° to 360.0°. Float No
airlineCodes This is a comma separated list of airline codes that can use this parking spot. This text should match the strings entered for the atc_parking_codes entry in the aircraft configuration file. To maintain compatibility, the ICAO code for airlines should be used. String list No
pushBack

The behavior of "parking pushback" is to push back the aircraft either one wingspan radius, or to the first taxiway node (whichever comes first), do a 180° turn, and then proceed along the taxiways. There is no control over which way the aircraft will turn the 180°, but if the pushback of one radius is too far, entering a taxiway node closer to the parking area will shorten the pushback distance.

IMPORTANT! This is a legacy setting and has no effect on the behaviour of aircraft in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Enum:

  1. NONE
  2. BOTH
  3. LEFT
  4. RIGHT
 No
teeOffset1 Stopping points for aircraft, in meters, from the center of the parking spot. Value is between 0.1 to 50.0 Float No
teeOffset2
teeOffset3
teeOffset4

 

 

<TaxiwayPath>

This element can be used to add a taxiway path to the taxiway system for an airport. This element may contain the sub-elements <Coloration /> and <Material />, but if it has no sub-elements it can be self-closing. The element has the following attributes:

 

Attribute Description Type Required
type Taxiway path type.

Enum:

  1. PARKING
  2. RUNWAY
  3. PATH
  4. CLOSED
  5. TAXI
  6. VEHICLE
  7. ROAD
 Yes
start Index number of taxiway point or parking space to start from. Value from 0 to 3999. Integer Yes
end Index number of taxiway point or parking space to end on. Value from 0 to 3999. Integer Yes
width Width, in meters, of the taxiway path. Float Yes
weightLimit The maximum weight for the taxiway path, in pounds. Float Yes
surface The surface material type to use.

Enum:

  1. ASPHALT
  2. BITUMINOUS
  3. BRICK
  4. CLAY
  5. CEMENT
  6. CONCRETE
  7. CORAL
  8. DIRT
  9. GRASS
  10. GRAVEL
  11. ICE
  12. MACADAM
  13. OIL_TREATED
  14. PLANKS
  15. SAND
  16. SHALE
  17. SNOW
  18. STEEL_MATS
  19. TARMAC
  20. UNKNOWN
  21. WATER
 Yes
drawSurface Whether to draw the taxiway surface (TRUE) or not (FALSE)

Bool

Yes
drawDetail Set to TRUE to draw the taxiway detail (such as a bump map, for example), or FALSE otherwise. Bool

Yes
centerLine Whether the taxiway path has a center line (TRUE) or not (FALSE). The default is FALSE. Bool

No
centerLineLighted Whether the taxiway path center line is lit (TRUE) or not (FALSE). The default is FALSE. Bool

No
leftEdge

The left edge type.

String:

  1. NONE
  2. SOLID
  3. DASHED
  4. SOLID_DASHED
 No
leftEdgeLighted Whether the taxiway path left edge line is lit (TRUE) or not (FALSE). The default is FALSE. Bool No
rightEdge The right edge type.

String:

  1. NONE
  2. SOLID
  3. DASHED
  4. SOLID_DASHED
 No
rightEdgeLighted Whether the taxiway path right edge line is lit (TRUE) or not (FALSE). The default is FALSE. Bool No
number

Number of the runway the path is being added to. Note that you do not suffix the designator onto this value, but instead define it separately in the designator attribute.

IMPORTANT! Only include this attribute if the type attribute is RUNWAY.

Integer:

  1. 1 - 36

 

or Enum:

  1. EAST
  2. NORTH
  3. NORTHEAST
  4. NORTHWEST
  5. SOUTH
  6. SOUTHEAST
  7. SOUTHWEST
  8. WEST
 No
designator

Designator of the runway the path is being added to.

IMPORTANT! Only include this attribute if the type attribute is RUNWAY.

Enum:

  1. NONE
  2. C
  3. CENTER
  4. L
  5. LEFT
  6. R
  7. RIGHT
  8. W
  9. WATER
  10. A
  11. B
  12. E
  13. N
  14. NE
  15. NW
  16. S
  17. SE
  18. SW
  19. W
 No
name

This is the name index as defined by the <TaxiName /> element.

IMPORTANT! Only include this attribute if the type attribute is not RUNWAY.

 Integer No

 

 

<TaxiwaySign />

This element is used to add a taxiway sign to an airport. Note that this is a self-closing element and has the following attributes:

 

Attribute Description Type Required
lat Latitude of the object, in degrees between -90.0° and 90.0°.

Float

 Yes
lon Longitude of the object, in degrees between -180.0° and 180.0°. Float Yes
heading The heading in degrees of the sign. Note that this is the heading of the sign, so the text will face 90° clockwise from this heading. Value is from from 0.0° to 360.0°.

Float

 Yes
label Label string (explained in more detail below)

String

 Yes
justification Whether to right or left justify the text (default is LEFT).

Enum:

  1. LEFT
  2. RIGHT
 No
size The size of the sign (SIZE1 is the smallest and SIZE5 is the largest).

Enum:

  1. SIZE1
  2. SIZE2
  3. SIZE3
  4. SIZE4
  5. SIZE5
  

 

The label attribution is a string comprised of at least one sign-type symbol (a lower case letter) and one or more characters to define the sign contents. A simple example would be "l[G]" which creates a location sign for taxi "Golf". The sign-type symbols are as follows:

 

Sign-type Identifier Description Colours
l Location Yellow text on black
d Direction Black text on yellow
m Mandatory White text on red
i Information Black text on white
r Runway White text on red
u Unknown Black text on white

 

The following characters describe the content of the sign. The characters can be any upper case letter (A-Z), any numerical digit (0-9), or any one of the following special characters:

 

Character Symbol Description
_ or space Space
- Dash
> Right Arrow
< Left Arrow
^ Up Arrow
v Down Arrow
' (apostrophe) Up-right arrow
` (backwards apostrophe) Up-left arrow
/ Back-left arrow
\ Back-right arrow
[ Left border
] Right border
| Vertical Line

 

Here are a couple more examples:

  • l[AE] - This sign indicates to the pilot that they are on taxiway "alpha-echo"
  • l[G]d[F\]m[11R-29L] - This sign will tell a pilot that they are located on taxiway Golf at the intersection with runway 11R/29L and that taxiway Foxtrot is back and to their right

Note the use of brackets in these examples. Brackets create the black outline around the letter on many of the signs, and if you omit the brackets the letter will have no "box" around it. You can also use brackets on direction and runway signs to increase the spacing at either end of the segment.

 

Direction signs are made up of a combination of directional arrows and taxiway and runway designators. Arrows can appear before or after the taxiway or runway designator. All of the following are valid direction signs:

  • d/G
  • dG/
  • d/G/

 

Using these components you can create signs of arbitrary complexity.

 

 

<TaxiName />

This element is used to add a name to a <TaxiwayPath> element in the taxiway network. Note that this is a self-closing element and has the following attributes:

 

Attribute Description Type Required
index The unique index for the name, from 0 to 255.

Integer

 Yes
name The name to be associated with this index, which can have a maximum of 8 characters. String Yes