Posted on 01/12/2005 4:53:39 AM PST by snopercod
NGA Invites Public Comment on Proposal to Remove Aeronautical Information from Public Sale and Distribution
Bethesda, Md, Dec 3, 2004 -- The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) announced November 18, 2004, it is considering withdrawing its Flight Information Publications (FLIP), Digital Aeronautical Flight Information File (DAFIF), and Navigation Planning Charts from public sale and distribution. NGA has proposed to implement the changes on October 1, 2005.
Today, NGA invites public comment on the proposed action through June 30, 2005. Comments may be returned to: aero.ocr@nga.mil or mailed to:
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Mail Stop D-111, Attn: Public Release of Aeronautical Products 4600 Sangamore Road Bethesda, MD 20816-5003
If the proposed change in policy is adopted, FLIP, DAFIF, and navigation planning charts will be available only through the Department of Defense (DOD) distribution system. U.S. Federal and State government agencies and authorized government contractors will not be affected by this action.
The Agency is considering this action principally because increased numbers of foreign source providers are claiming intellectual property rights or are forewarning
NGA that they intend to copyright their source. NGA relies on foreign data obtained through bi-lateral geospatial information sharing agreements and through direct purchase from private foreign companies. This foreign produced source is merged and integrated with NGA produced data to create and maintain the aeronautical data and products in question.
NGA and its predecessor organizations (NIMA and DMA) have published DOD’s flight information products since the late 1940s to support the worldwide missions of DOD aircraft and have made some products available to the public since 1973. The publications are sold to the public through the auspices of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
NGA is a national intelligence and combat support agency whose mission is to provide timely, relevant, and accurate geospatial intelligence in support of national security. Geospatial intelligence is the exploitation and analysis of imagery and geospatial information to describe, assess, and visually depict physical features and geographically referenced activity on the earth.
Headquartered in Bethesda, MD., NGA has major facilities in Washington DC, Northern Virginia, and St. Louis, MO. Areas with NGA support teams worldwide.
Office of Corporate Relations Public Affairs 4600 Sangamore Road Bethesda, MD 20816-5003
MEDIA RELEASE: NGA-04-11 CONTACT: Dave Burpee (301) 227-7385 Jim Mohan (314) 263-4142
What affect will this have on general aviation?
Good idea! Why should be advertise to the whole world what and where?
If you read the article it has nothing to do with security.
And, btw, your attitude towards maps and charts was shared by the old Soviet Union.
Who and what does this mean?
"The Agency is considering this action principally because increased numbers of foreign source providers are claiming intellectual property rights or are forewarning "
I spent some time dealing with the soviets and they did not do us any favors.
Damn right. And let's ban those 2005 Road Atlases from Wal-Mart, too.
...and Nautical charts.
...and of course those world globes and wall maps found in classrooms all over the United States.
Hey, if people don't know where they're going, then they have no business going there.
Right On!
Foreigners and lawyers looking to make a fast buck off of the gov't and our legal system? Just a guess.
Hey, if people don't know where they're going, then they have no business going there.
LOL!
I dug out a sectional and regional chart, and they both come from a different (government) source. The most important charts are the airport charts, which have always been done by a private company.
I might note that these charts have been available on-line for some time now, and I have them stored on my laptop these days instead of lugging a 50lb map case around.
Almost none. NOAA does all the GA stuff. There's plenty of aftermarket stuff, too. And my Garmin GNS 530s almost make paper charts obsolete.
Little to no effect. Although me thinks Capt Jepp is smiling somewhere up in the great hangar..............:-0)
More mulla for the hard working Jepp folks at Denver.
My laptop plugs into the aircraft GPS and displays the current location on the screen on a chart which I can adjust the scale on. Putting the mouse on anything, like a radio tower, gives me its frequency (for the ADF) and its height (AGL). Clicking on an airport gives me its tower frequencys and a link to the chart (if I have it in memory).
There are better systems, but I go with what I can afford. I'm flying a Beech Baron and the Collins set-up that does everything I want costs more than my plane.
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