Airports in the United States range from small non-towered facilities for general aviation up to large international hubs. Regardless of size, this page will explain how to properly map, name and select stop points for airports and various other places within them, so that Waze users can quickly search and obtain accurate navigation for where they need to be, and so that airports display sensibly on the map.
The main area place
Each airport should be drawn as a single area place, covering all the airport property and including any runways, taxiways, terminal buildings, control towers or other structures. This will ensure visibility on the map.
Names
Use the official name as the primary name of the airport. This name will display on the map. To aid users in searching, add at least one location identifier as an alternate name:
- Most airports with commercial passenger operations in the US are assigned a three-letter identifier by the International Air Transport Association. If the airport has an IATA code, use that as an alternate name.
- If the airport does not have an IATA identifier, but it has a four-letter identifier from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), use both the ICAO identifier and the FAA identifier as alternate names.
- If the airport has neither an IATA nor an ICAO code, use the FAA identifier as the alternate name. All airports in the United States have a FAA location identifier, which are three characters for public-use airports and four characters for private-use airports.
Stop point
The stop point for the airport should be placed as follows:
- If the airport has one terminal accessible by one road, place the stop point at the terminal.
- If the airport has one entrance and multiple terminals or one terminal with multiple traffic levels, place the stop point at a location before any of the individual paths branch from the entrance road.
- If the airport has multiple entrances, place the stop point at a location that is most helpful to the most passengers at the airport.