Proposal:Aviation supplement

Aviation supplement
Proposal status:	Draft (under way)
Proposed by:	Noha307
Draft started:	2026-08-25

Although I have contributed to OpenStreetMap for over two years and a contributor to Wikipedia for over ten, I have never created an OSM proposal. So, my apologies if I have done something incorrectly.

Rationale

office=airline is not appropriate for fixed base operators. (i.e. maintenance, sales or airport services (e.g. fuel))

According to page 14-20 of the Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, "wind direction indicator" is the term used by the Federal Aviation Administration to collectively refer to "wind sock[s], tetrahedron[s], or wind tee[s]".

The layout of model aerodromes is different based on which type of aircraft control is being used. Control line aerodromes are circular, while radio control aerodromes are rectangular (i.e. they resemble miniature versions of full size runways).

The current naming scheme on OpenStreetMap for land-based devices that pilots use to navigate is confusing at best. There currently exists aeroway=navigationaid for visual devices and airmark=beacon for radio devices. Neither of these terms are self-evident that they refer to one category of device or the other. (e.g. radio beacons can be considered navigation aids and rotating beacons at airports are often referred to as beacons) Furthermore, it is not clear why beacon is a subcategory of airmark=* and not simply aeroway=*. Lastly, man_made=beacon, with its similar name, is a further source of potential confusion.

Tagging

• aeroway=lighting – replaces aeroway=navigationaid
• aeroway=radio_beacon – replaces airmark=beacon
• aeroway=wind_indicator – replaces aeroway=windsock
  • wind_indicator=tetrahedron
  • wind_indicator=windsock
  • wind_indicator=wind_tee
• aeroway=segmented_circle
• man_made=monitoring_station – existing tag not to be changed, but included in list as parent for proper sorting
  • monitoring_station=designation:ASOS
  • monitoring_station=designation:AWOS
• office=aviation
• sport=model_aerodrome – existing tag not to be changed, but included in list as parent for proper sorting
  • model_aerodrome:control_line=*
  • model_aerodrome:radio_control=*

To Do:

• I’m not sure how to handle this one as the documentation for man_made=monitoring_station doesn’t have a tag for purpose and seems to focus on the type of phenomena.
• Add surface=emas to aeroway=stopway for engineered materials arrestor system
• Add type=t-hangar to building=hangar for t-hangars
• Add building=hangar_home for hangar homes
• Add a mention of leisure=slipway to the documentation on the Aeroways page to represent a seaplane ramp
• Add mention of seaplane ramps to the documentation of leisure=slipway
• Add brand=Civil Air Patrol and brand=Experimental Aircraft Association and brand=Commemorative Air Force for CAP Squadrons and EAA Chapters and CAF Squadrons

Examples

• Illustration of segmented circle
• Comparison of wind direction indicators
• Control line model aerodrome

Features/Pages affected

aeroway=navigationaid	aeroway=windsock	airmark=beacon

External discussions

• Aviation Mapping Proposals – OSM Wiki

Comments

Please comment on the discussion page.