WXGK /AviationData

@PilotTools

Not-asked but imagined up as being frequent questions:

• What's with the '@'?
  This 'service' is implemented as a robot of sorts on a social network called Twitter. Twitter users are referred to by their usernames with an '@' in front.
• What does it do?
  It's able to respond to queries for certain information that can be highly useful to pilots.
• Where do I find it?
  Documentation will be here for now, until it gets a place of its' own. You can find the Twitter portion itself at www.twitter.com/PilotTools.
• How does it work?
  All of the functionality is built using the Python programming language / Django framework. Several pieces use the GeoDjango extensions to Django (plus PostGIS on PostgreSQL, GDAL, GEOS, PROJ.4 and GeoPY) as libraries. The data comes from a collection of sources - weather from NOAA, and the FAA stuff from their FADDS 56-day updated subscription service. While I'm willing to talk about the tech behind it if you ask, the majority of the code is not intended to be released. Some of the code I use for it, though, is open-sourced, and available from django-weathertracking and python-tweetar

Using @PilotTools

For your privacy, and in order to avoid sending massive amounts of public updates (hopefully someday??) all functionality is implemented via 'Direct Messages', which are a private account-to-account means of communication. For direct messages to work, two things must happen:

• If you do not have a twitter account, sign up. You'll also want to bind your mobile phone number to your account so you can send/receive commands and responses via text messages (neither @PilotTools or Twitter will charge you for SMS messages, but your phone carrier won't be as generous. You're on your own for any costs incurred on your phone bill as a result of using anything I mention here. I think the standard disclaimer is 'Standard text messaging rates may apply')
• First, follow @PilotTools on Twitter (there will be an option on that page to follow when you're logged in)
• Second, the @PilotTools bot must follow you back for any messages to get through. For now, this is my means of access control for the reasons mentioned above. If you don't make special arrangements with me, this part won't happen until I open the service to the public.

Command Reference

To send a request, you send an SMS message to 40404 (Twitter's "phone number") starting with "d PilotTools ..." That tells Twitter you're sending a direct message (d) to @PilotTools.

• METAR
  Returns the current METAR reports for the station(s) passed in. You can request multiple stations at once by putting a comma between then (no space after the comma).
  Example:
  Sent: d PilotTools METAR KLWC
  Received: KLWC 040552Z AUTO 15008KT 10SM CLR 01/M06 A3007 RMK AO2 SLP189 T00061056 10050 20000 400831044 58016 (that's not current, just what I got back when I wrote this page)
• MORSE
  Returns the text you sent translated into morse code using . and - just like you see on your sectional. Useful for NAVAIDs, maybe? It was just a really easy thing to add and surely someone will find it useful.
  Example:
  Sent: d PilotTools MORSE KLWC
  Received: KLWC: -.- .-.. .-- -.-.
• DIST
  Returns the straight-line distance and heading between the two airports provided. This is one of my favorite features.
  Example:
  Sent: d PilotTools DIST KLWC KOSH
  Received: KLWC to KOSH: 422.62nm @ 53.2 deg.
• AWOS
  Returns the phone number (if available) of the requested AWOS.
  Example:
  Sent: d PilotTools AWOS KLWC
  Received: LWC phone: 785-749-1309
• WHATIS
  Returns what type of aircraft the requested N-Number is.
  Example:
  Sent: d PilotTools WHATIS N2912M
  Received: N2912M is a 1977 PIPER PA-28-181
  
• SUN
  Returns the sunrise/sunset and civil twilight times for either today (TD) or tomorrow (TM) This query works entirely in UTC - it will return the current (or next) day according to UTC with the sunrise/sunset values in UTC as well.
  Example:
  Sent: d PilotTools SUN KLWC TD
  Received: KLWC TD: morning civil twilight 12:07 sunrise 12:34, sunset 24:26 evening civil twilight twilight 24:52 (UTC)
  Sent: d PilotTools SUN KLWC TM
  Received: KLWC TM: morning civil twilight 12:06 sunrise 12:32, sunset 24:27 evening civil twilight twilight 24:53 (UTC)
  

This isn't all I have planned. I have TONS more ideas, but feedback and suggestions are always appreciated. On my list is a 'SUGGEST' command so users can propose things when they think of them. And with a 140 char limit, 8 of which are used by the command they'll hopefully be easy to read and very to-the-point (which make the best feature requests.)