Reading the Map’s Popups in Plain English

Summary: Every popup on the map is written in plain English with the original aviation message kept under a fold. What each popup shows and how to read it.

Aviation data is written in shorthand. A NOTAM says “RWY 09/27 CLSD DUE WIP”, a SIGMET says “SEV TURB FCST WI N61 W010 SFC/6000FT MOV NE 25KT WKN”, and a METAR says “27012KT 240V300 9999 FEW030”. Everything you click on the Interactive Map says the same thing in plain English, with the original message kept beneath it, folded away, so nothing is hidden from those who read the shorthand.

Aircraft

Click an aircraft. The panel opens with one sentence saying who and what it is, where it is going when the route is known, and what it is doing, then the Listen on frequency, then the rows of detail, each labelled in full and explained on hover. Ground equipment on the feed says what it is instead: Not an aircraft: a tower transponder, fixed ground equipment at an airport. See Reading the Aircraft Info Panel.

Airfields

Click an airfield for four tabs. Freqs lists the airfield’s frequencies; under each one is what the service does and who talks on it, and which band it sits in and how to listen. Weather reads the current report (METAR) in plain words, with visibility in metres, and lays the forecast (TAF) out period by period: “From Thu 18:00Z…”, “Becoming by Fri 01:00Z…”, “30% chance, temporarily…”. Airport gives runways, elevation and daylight times. NOTAMs lists current notices in plain language, with “As issued” under each one.

Airspace

Switch on an airspace layer in the Navigation section and click an area. The popup opens with a sentence saying what that kind of airspace is, then the class with what it means for a flight (Class A is the most restrictive; Class G is uncontrolled), the vertical limits in words, the hours (the AIP writes hours as winter time with summer time in brackets; the popup says so), and for danger and restricted areas the activity, service, contact and authority with the shorthand spelt out.

Weather

The Weather section’s SIGMETs chip draws current significant-weather warnings as coloured areas and decodes each one line by line. Pilot reports shows reports from aircraft that met turbulence or icing; the routine wind-and-temperature reports airliners send at cruise are a separate chip.

If something reads wrongly

Every translation was checked against real messages, but aviation shorthand has corners. If a popup reads oddly or a code has been spelt out wrongly, send the text of the popup through the feedback link; the original message under the fold is the quickest way for us to see what was meant.