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Flightradar24 – how it works

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Re: Flightradar24 – how it works

#121

Post by OpenADSB »

robbiet480 wrote: post #89
mtlabs wrote: post #13

If you use macOS you might enjoy my app Max Planes [1]. It displays all the ADS-B data, tracks planes on a MapKit view and allows you to save and replay logs. Also I have an open source Mac app [2] to act a network server for the USB device. It contains a copy of dump1090 with everything statically linked so you don't need to build anything yourself. Just plug in the dongle and launch the app. It is codesigned, sandb…

Very nice ADS-B viewer for macOS! Quickly got it connected to dump1090-mutability once I set the bind host to 0.0.0.0 instead of localhost. I wish planes were differently colored based on certain characteristics, much like OpenADSB on iOS (the best ADS-B app IMHO) EDIT: Also, do you support MLAT?

I am the author of OpenADSB, thanks for the kind words. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any suggestions or feature requests.

For those that don't know, OpenADSB is an iPhone/iPad app that connects to any Virtual Radar Server and dump1090 server. ADSBexchange runs on VRS and dump1090 is the de facto Raspberry Pi ADS-B decoder. OpenADSB is not affiliated with but uses ADSBexchange as the default datasource.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/openadsb/id1178703539 http://openadsbapp.com/

Re: Flightradar24 – how it works

#122

Post by Tepix »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #99
Zhenya wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using their UI, I can't seem to find the "interesting aircraft" tag. Here's what I see: * No data * No ADS-B Emitter Category Information * Light ( 300000 lbs) * High Performance (> 5g acceleration and 400 kts) * Rotorcraft * Glider / sailplane * Lighter-than-air * Parachutist / Skydiver * Ultralight / hang-glider / paraglider * Reserved * Unmanned Aerial Vehicle * Space / Trans-atmospheric vehicle * Surface Vehicle…

Yeah that was actually with adsbexchange ( https://www.adsbexchange.com/currently-airborne-interesting-... ).

That's really interesting, there are two Project Balloons high over the Brasilian Amazon.

Re: Flightradar24 – how it works

#123

Post by antirez »

zeristor wrote: post #84

Someone put ADS-B on a satellite a few years ago, it looks like this has been done more recently as well: https://www.radarbox24.com/blog/space-based-ads-b

AFAIK at least in Europe we are exactly in the process of moving ADS-B receivers in satellites in a large scale fashion to replace the current system based on ground units. I was talking with a control tower worker a few days ago and this is what he said, additionally a few months ago as the author of dump1090 I was approached by the company he mentioned that tried to hire me. So it looks like it's true.

Re: Flightradar24 – how it works

#124

Post by usr1106 »

Lunatic666 wrote: post #108
usr1106 wrote: post #56

In Germany receiving ADS-B used to be illegal (I don't think it has changed, but I did not verify.) In Finland receiving as such is not illegal, but forwarding the information is. In both cases the reasoning is that this information is not directed to the public. Whether anybody has ever been prosecuted I have no idea.

It looks like it was legalized a while ago: https://lawfactory.de/PDF/Funkamateur_2010_03.pdf (in German)

Thanks for this link.

> It looks like it was legalized a while ago

Interesting enough the law has not been changed. The article tells how officials forbade a trader to sell ADS-B receivers to the public. The trader went into court and won. The reasoning of the court was that the law forbids only listening. But because the ADS-B signal is not made audible, but visualized on a PC screen, the law is not applicable.

This was only a medium court. Another one or a higher one might decide differently. Probably you should start lobbying that lawmakers will not "adapt the law to the digital age" when revising it the next time.

In Finnish law the construction is different. All radio communication is considered confidential unless otherwise stated, like e.g. for radio and TV programs. Receiving such confidential information is not criminalized, but sharing it further is.

Re: Flightradar24 – how it works

#125

Post by freeflight »

chrissnell wrote: post #107
coin wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely agree. FR24, along with FlightAware, Radarbox24 and Plane Finder has built a business of monetizing free, crowdsourced data. For FR24 there's been multiple requests by the community to for an API, some willing to pay, but they've refused every time. I don't understand why people are eager to feed into those closed network. ADSB Exchange on the other hand is built with an open premise, runs off donations, a…

There's probably not much stopping FR24 from feeding off of ADSB Exchange. This happens in the weather world, where data from community-managed CWOP weather stations ends up in the hands of commercial weather data services, who normalize the feeds and incorporate them into their forecasting products.

Isn't there some kind of "free to use, but not to commercialize" license the CWOP people could be releasing their data under?

Re: Flightradar24 – how it works

#126

Post by freeflight »

black-tea wrote: post #117
Rebelgecko wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last time I looked closely it was similar in North America and Europe. Asia, Africa, and over the oceans had some pretty big gaps. There's also no delay on the data, although I think Flightradar and Flightaware dropped the 5 minute delay they used to have. Flightradar censors a lot of corporate jets and military/law enforcement aircraft but I don't think Opensky does. In fact one of either Opensky or adsbexchange eve…

> Flightradar censors a lot of corporate jets and military/law enforcement aircraft Yes, this is disappointing. In the past I had seen military planes on there. I even saw fighters practising dogfighting over the North Sea. But more recently I've seen interesting aircraft fly over, such as large four-engine planes at altitude outside of normal commercial flight paths, but they just don't appear on flightradar. It's s…

ADS-B Exchange [0] has a tag for military aircraft, right now it's showing a whole bunch of military aircraft (German, Belgium, Norway, Netherlands, UK, US) over central Europe.

[0] https://global.adsbexchange.com/VirtualRadar/desktop.html

Re: Flightradar24 – how it works

#127

Post by sean-duffy »

santix wrote: post #10

There's also a community-based ADS-B site: https://www.adsbexchange.com/

I use http://360radar.co.uk, which is a small site run by (I think) just one guy, but it has the best coverage hands down for the UK. It's used extensively by military aircraft enthusiasts in the UK as it'll usually show some stuff that isn't on adsbexchange, and provides some nice features such as aerodrome and weather layers in the UI.

Re: Flightradar24 – how it works

#128

Post by black-tea »

freeflight wrote: post #126
black-tea wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Flightradar censors a lot of corporate jets and military/law enforcement aircraft Yes, this is disappointing. In the past I had seen military planes on there. I even saw fighters practising dogfighting over the North Sea. But more recently I've seen interesting aircraft fly over, such as large four-engine planes at altitude outside of normal commercial flight paths, but they just don't appear on flightradar. It's s…

ADS-B Exchange [0] has a tag for military aircraft, right now it's showing a whole bunch of military aircraft (German, Belgium, Norway, Netherlands, UK, US) over central Europe. [0] https://global.adsbexchange.com/VirtualRadar/desktop.html

Cool, that looks much better, thanks.

Re: Flightradar24 – how it works

#129

Post by jnty »

usr1106 wrote: post #56

In Germany receiving ADS-B used to be illegal (I don't think it has changed, but I did not verify.) In Finland receiving as such is not illegal, but forwarding the information is. In both cases the reasoning is that this information is not directed to the public. Whether anybody has ever been prosecuted I have no idea.

It may still be the case in the UK that it's illegal to receive ('intercept') radio communications not intended for your consumption, even if they're broadcast in the clear. It's not an unusual class of law, does make some sort of sense (even if enforcement is very hard!) and it seems like receiving ADS-B would be covered by that.
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