Reference data is that data that describes key aviation concepts like flight, airport, airline, asset and passengers. Examples include airport codes (such as IATA and ICAO), airline codes, aircraft types, flight codes, and many others. Aviation bodies such as ACI, IATA, Eurocontrol/SESAR and others have established information models for their industry. These define the structure and the relationships between the main information items of interest. Modern message standards such as IATA RP 1755 are based on these models. High quality reference data is critical to the integrity of information being exchanged between aviation partners.
Much of the industry reference data resides in multiple places, managed by different organisations. Many organisations provide some reference data e.g. for airline and airport codes. This may be available on the internet for public use. Much of it is not easily accessible. Some is available via files from proprietary sources or in PDF files from regulatory bodies. Data quality is questionable. Reference data often does not have a standard name or definition for the data item itself, nor for its many attributes. Some reference data is external to an airport or airline e.g. country, city, airline and airport codes. Some is internal, such as Gates, Stands and Baggage equipment. Airport operational systems such as AODB often become de facto sources of reference data, placing a burden on the resources that manage these systems. Multiple interfaces are often then required to make these data available to other systems.
The Rockport master reference data repository provides substantial benefits to the Aviation industry. The single central source offers one place to go to obtain the data. Human users can easily view and download the data via web pages. Applications can access the data in real time using the standard APIs. The ACI ACRIS Semantic Model facilitates the Digital Airport. As the reference data is tightly integrated with the ACRIS Semantic Model, in multiple digital formats, it provides further substantial support for the Digital Airport. Robust governance procedures ensure high integrity and consistent information. Furthermore the time, effort and cost incurred by business and IT personnel in obtaining, validating, cleaning and distributing reference data are substantially reduced. Decision making and resource allocation can be significantly improved through high quality information.
To request access to the Rockport RDM repository, please contact us