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 twenty, I have never created an OSM proposal. So, my apologies if I have done something incorrectly.

Problem Statement

No codified means currently exists for mapping fixed base operators, which provide services and products such as maintenance, sales or fuel. (Flight instruction is currently covered by amenity=flight_school.) The tag office=airline is not appropriate as it only encompasses passenger transport. The tag aeroway=fuel is insufficient as it only covers a single service.

No means currently exists for classifying the various types of building=hangar.

No means currently exists for identifying automated surface observing system (ASOS) and automated airport weather station (AWOS) as types of man_made=monitoring_station.

No means currently exists for mapping segmented circles. In a few cases, this has led to the individual blocks being incorrectly mapped as barrier=block.

No means currently exists for mapping wind tetrahedrons or wind tees. The tag aeroway=windsock is not appropriate as an superordinate term as the difference in design between the devices is significant. Similarly, Key:monitoring:wind_direction is not appropriate as it is a subtag of man_made=monitoring_station and monitoring station is intended for a feature that collects data for transmission or storage and does not immediately visually display it.

No means currently exists for distinguishing between control line and radio control aerodromes within sport=model_aerodrome.

Proposal

The tag office=aviation is proposed for fixed-base operators based on a comment on the OSM forums. It is currently in use to an extremely limited extent and is not listed on the wiki.

Create the tag aeroway=segmented_circle.

Create the tag aeroway=wind_indicator and convert aeroway=windsock to wind_indicator=windsock. Also create the tags wind_indicator=tetrahedron and wind_indicator=wind_tee.

Rationale

Segmented circles, tetrahedrons and wind tees have heretofore likely not been included on the OSM wiki as they regarded as somewhat archaic in aviation. Furthermore, they are not used at major commercial airports most likely to be encountered by the average OSM contributor. However, they still remain somewhat common at general aviation airports.

Distinctions between businesses offering maintenance, sales or fuel are generally not made in aviation as it is common for one business to perform multiple roles. (As per Wikipedia: "In common practice, an FBO is the primary provider of support services to general aviation operators at a public-use airport.") Therefore, separate features for each product/service, such as is the case with cars (e.g. shop=car_repair, shop=car, amenity=fuel), are insufficient.

According to page 14-20 of the Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, "a segmented circle consists of the following components: wind direction indicators, landing direction indicators, landing strip indicators, and traffic pattern indicators".

According to the same source, "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]". Therefore, "wind indicator" is suggested as the superordinary term as it encompasses all three types and is felt to sufficiently describe the feature while also not being inconveniently long. Alternatively, if this is felt to be too imprecise, "wind direction indicator" could be substituted. It would not be confused for a non-aeronautical wind vane as it is located in the aeroway top-level tag.

Although, as noted above, wind direction indicators can be considered a component of segmented circles, they are also often used separately from them. Therefore, including them as a subset of segmented circles would be incorrect.

ASOS and AWOS are different types of instrument that perform the same purpose. (This is somewhat akin to PAPI/VASI for aeroway=navigationaid.)

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). Aircraft of one type are not suitable for aerodromes of the other and vice versa. Therefore, distinguishing between the two would be beneficial to individuals looking for the type relevant to them.

Tagging

• aeroway=wind_indicator – replaces aeroway=windsock
  • wind_indicator=tetrahedron – add lit=yes if lit, map as nodes
  • wind_indicator=windsock – add lit=yes if lit, map as nodes
  • wind_indicator=wind_tee – add lit=yes if lit, map as nodes
• aeroway=segmented_circle – as ways
• building=hangar – existing tag not to be changed, but included in list as parent for proper sorting
  • hangar=type:airship – for airship hangars
  • hangar=type:box – for square hangars, often used as contrast with t-hangars
  • hangar=type:circular – for circular hangars, common in Germany
  • hangar=type:hardened – for Hardened aircraft shelters
  • hangar=type:tee – for t-hangars
• 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 – as nodes, areas and relations
  • name=* – the name of the office
  • addr=* – the address of the office
  • opening_hours=* – hours when the office is open
  • phone=* – phone number of the office
  • website=* – website of the office
  • email=* – email address of the office
• 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 building=hangar_home for hangar homes
• Add a mention of leisure=slipway to the documentation on aeroways or key:aeroway to represent a seaplane ramp
• Add mention of seaplane ramps to the documentation of leisure=slipway

Examples

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

Features/Pages affected

aeroway=windsock	sport=model_aerodrome

External discussions

• Aviation Mapping Proposals – OSM Wiki
• Brand proposals – Although not directly applicable to this proposal, are other examples of improvements I have proposed
  • brand=Civil Air Patrol for Civil Air Patrol Squadrons
  • brand=Experimental Aircraft Association for Experimental Aircraft Association Chapters
  • brand=Commemorative Air Force for Commemorative Air Force Squadrons/Wings
• Proposal:Ground-based aviation navigation systems rework – Split from this proposal

Comments

Please comment on the discussion page.