I would think that an API is a great way to get the data in the airports database out into other sites and apps. It would be even greater if new information/experience with airfields (updated landing fees, etc.) could be supplied back through the API into the database. That way, the database would become even better over time compared to proprietary databases or products such as the info sitting inside SkyDemon.
To be honest, I have not yet used the EuroGA database as I would find it a hassle to go to lookup the data on the website while planning a flight. lt just is not yet a part of my routine.
It sounds like there might be some different viewpoints about the desireability (or need) or not of increasing the reach as mentioned by @Patrick. If the objective is simply to reach and serve the EuroGA community, then the current design would seem to meet that. If there is a wish to reach a wider audience, then the existing framework would need to be adjusted.
There are multiple privately operated environments across Europe that have a similar objective of providing airfield information for pilots. Some are free (EuroGA, edde.de, others?), others have a small fee of some sort (RunwayMap). These are the user-contributed forums. Then there are the commercial outfits such as SkyDemon, ForeFlight, EasyVFR, Garmin Pilot, Rocket Route, AeroPlus etc. They are all slightly different with pros and cons.
The use/application is also different which is reflected in the pros and cons. While the commercial outfits target primarily short-term flight planning for immediate or almost-immediate flights, the airfield databases in the mostly or nearly free environments tend to serve more those who are planning a bit longer term. One expects the commercial outfits to provide reliable and current information, and one pays for it. User-contributed data is as good as it is, depending on the core ingredients mentioned by @Patrick. It has the benefit (and sometimes disadvantage) of including subjective information.
I personally think the idea of a single source Europe-wide is a pipe dream, partly due to the cultural differences across Europe. Whether it happens or not will in the end be decided by users. In the meantime, I for one try to take advantage of (and support in a limited way) all these marvellous initiatives.
I’ve discussed this with a number of people.
I think the best summary of the “EuroGA project” is that it was set up to help (mainly) European pilots “get out and about” while flying safely. It is a unique project, in Europe.
And the airports database was obviously set up to bring more people to EuroGA; to help expand the whole project.
It is not clear how this API proposal would help with the above. Even a R/O API approach would still require a contributor to register on EuroGA. That is the real (and mostly unspoken) “cultural” issue within those pilot communities which have their own domestic forums and databases and tend to be loyal to those, and the narrative on the other domestic forums made that clear. For example one of the main contributors to eddh has recently posted here – paraphrasing – that he won’t contribute to the EuroGA database as well as the German one. I am sure he is far from the only one. Practically, people are not going to post reports on multiple sites, too, but the biggest factor is the previously mentioned one of the four pilots on a desert island 
It will take time to change this and clearly the best thing is to focus on the existing EuroGA project and drive it forward.
Others have also commented to me that if someone wants to contribute to a “European project” then why not just join EuroGA? It’s all there. You have a nice forum, moderated to avoid the flame wars and kindergarten stuff which is so common on others, and you have an airport database. And the whole thing is noncommercial! As the saying goes, what is not to like?
Then there is the more serious issue of re-publication of the data. An open API would require the removal of the current fair usage policy. This would be unfair to those who have so generously – and continue to do so into the future – contributed not only text but also photographs to the EuroGA database, who would find their material (on which they will always own the copyright) popping up elsewhere, and “elsewhere” would almost certainly be a commercial site – because that is how almost all other GA forums operate. Most people, having contributed to the EuroGA community project in which they have a lot of trust, would be substantially p1ssed off to see this happen. It is probably no coincidence that the main thrust of the “narrative” posted on the German domestic forum, attacking the EuroGA database, was on our FUP! Disregarding of course that their domestic database does not allow any external use of its data either 
If there is a desire to simply add some great features to the EuroGA airport database, while keeping it within the current EuroGA context (which includes our forum) this can be done by enhancing / expanding the existing code. I would welcome any proposals to do that, provided others contribute the code so I don’t have to spend yet more money and provided the project remains manageable. For code with the appropriate privileges, it is easy to query the database directly.
This is now fully on the general topic of the airport database thread but I still believe there are significant issues with hosting safety-critical data such as runway dimensions. One needs to find reliable sources for that, and all of them will have an FUP and prob99 a total ban. It is not enough to just scrape somebody else’s database. Practically everybody in this game is scraping somebody else’s website already. They can’t scrape the proper source – the AIP – because they are not machine-readable. I used to know a guy who was going to do this and his approach was going to be (this is his language, not mine, so don’t shoot me for it) to employ two Vietnamese slaves, one to read the PDFs and type the stuff into a database, and the other to check the first slave’s work. At perhaps $1/hr, one could get it done for maybe 10k. Then you have ongoing maintenance… Ask anyone who sells, or used to sell, a satnav app; they will tell you they did exactly this with the AIPs. This works if you sell the app for 100/year or so. So this is why everybody is ripping off somebody else’s website.
Eventually somebody is going to complain. That would just bring the project into disrepute and bad data could lead to an accident. Ideally one should just scrape the official/national aviation databases, as indeed someone suggested in the general airports database thread here (not sure if he was joking) but that would finish off our project legally pretty fast
My view is that pilots just need to learn to use the AIP. It has taken 20+ years for the internet to penetrate the airport business with reasonably good quality data, but we are there now, and that is the right way to do it. We don’t need more scraping of other sites, for runway dimensions, customs/immigration PNR/PPR, etc, which produces rapidly decaying data (IF it was ever correct to start with) and needs yet more code which somebody has to maintain, and fix every time some 3rd party interface breaks. All while nobody is getting paid for it. This is for example while we did not use google maps as one of the map options; it’s a moving target. Another factor is that our database is constantly being scraped by others and that generates traffic to the other sites which one ends up scraping, and they will eventually notice and blacklist your IP.
When it comes to locating airports within a radius of one’s location, that is what the map page is for. We could enhance the tooltip functionality to show more data, but it is a challenge to make that work on mobile devices, which make up ~50% of our user base.
In fact making any informative UI work on mobile devices is frustratingly difficult and almost everybody fails to achieve it. This is why all the demos of GA satnav apps at exhibitions are done with the biggest Ipad money can buy
On the specifics of the functionality and the UI, I am sure what we have can be improved on. Basically, the original project specification was to deliver something with a clear UI which is responsive (works on different size clients and different browsers) and which avoids what I call fashionable frameworks (code libraries) which not many people understand, which are almost impossible to debug and which nobody will want to get into 10 years from now. This is now firmly on the topic of the general thread and I am “all ears” to suggestions.
And now we have come full circle to the original thread.
Peter wrote:
Even a R/O API approach would still require a contributor to register on EuroGA.
Why couldn’t a R/O API allow anonymous queries?
Peter wrote:
An open API would require the removal of the current fair usage policy.
No, usage of the API can require respecting the same fair usage policy. We could add requiring (like e.g. Wikipedia does) that the source of the data (that is, EuroGA airports database) and/or the author (the EuroGA database user that made the report) must be shown to the final user along with the report.
Peter wrote:
This would be unfair to those who have so generously (…) contributed (…), who would find their material (…) popping up elsewhere, and “elsewhere” would almost certainly be a commercial site – because that is how almost all other GA forums operate.
I don’t understand why you are so narrowly focused on “forums”. The whole point of a R/O API is to make access easier, and maybe more bandwidth-efficient. I very much doubt that allowing people to query the database through a Telegram bot would be objectionable to the contributors, especially if the bot clearly shows the information comes from the EuroGA airport database and the (user)name of the contributor. After all, the database now is not at all part of the forum. It is a wholly separate website, with different usage mechanics. Their tie is a common “brand”, and source of financing.
Peter wrote:
When it comes to locating airports within a radius of one’s location, that is what the map page is for. We could enhance the tooltip functionality to show more data, but it is a challenge to make that work on mobile devices, which make up ~50% of our user base.
A Telegram bot would do that far more efficiently (bandwidth-wise) and convenient… Like the ones that with one command return the METAR of the 5 closest airports. (I didn’t have plans to add this feature short term to the telegram bot… if it turns out to be easy, or I can use the code of other bots under free/libre/open source licence, I would.)
lionel wrote:
Why couldn’t a R/O API allow anonymous queries?
It could but as stated above, reusing any data posted by EuroGA forum members would violate fair usage policy. I contribute here in the forum as well as in airports database because I want to contribute exactly here, not because I want this info to be everywhere or I have an urge to post it somewhere. This is the place I like and if I can help other pilots who feel the same, I’m ok with it.
Emir wrote:
I contribute here in the forum as well as in airports database because I want to contribute exactly here, not because I want this info to be everywhere or I have an urge to post it somewhere. This is the place I like and if I can help other pilots who feel the same, I’m ok with it.
You beat me to it, @Emir, I was going to say exactly the same. If someone wants to avail of the EuroGA DB, well, then join EuroGA ! Simple, really.
Look, this is a polite discussion between Facebook and Myspace with Myspace asking Facebook to provide data so they don’t lose people to Facebook.
The less polite answer would be “Why on EARTH would we do that? The bigger the community the better for everyone except your commercial interest in keeping your users. So if we helped you, YOU would be better off commercially, but EVERYBODY ELSE loses out because the community actually participating is fragmented”
Why couldn’t a R/O API allow anonymous queries?
It would, of course, but the challenge isn’t getting lots of people to query an airport database.
The challenge, as most human challenges are, is to get people to contribute to it
Peter wrote:
the challenge isn’t getting lots of people to query an airport database.
The whole point in the database is being queried. I fail to see how making that easier hurts contributions to it. One might even think it helps establish the database, and encourages people to contribute to it.
Emir wrote:
I contribute (…) in airports database because I want to contribute exactly here, not because I want this info to be everywhere or I have an urge to post it somewhere.
I’m extremely surprised you – or anybody, really – see(s) a Telegram bot, or “Lionel’s EuroGA airports database query app for iOS/Android” to be “somewhere else” that breaks your/one’s intent as contributor to the database. I deeply see it like e.g. Wikipedia. I contribute to Wikipedia because I want to contribute to Wikipedia. But I’m happy that there are:
What makes the EuroGA airports database special that accessing it by any other way than a generic web browser on https://airports.euroga.org/ is problematic in the least?
I am looking at a telegram bot.
Can all feature requests, including what you would like to see in the tg bot, please go into the main airports database thread.
Lionel’s EuroGA airports database query app for iOS/Android
Does someone really want to write a phone app for the database?? Apps are a lot of work and then they stop working when any one of many things happen.
