Starting loads the interactive globe and begins streaming live data — flights, ships, weather, satellites, internet events and more — to your browser.
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This layer is the ground truth beneath the live Aircraft layer: where all those planes are taking off and landing. The points come from OurAirports, a long-running, public-domain community database of airfields worldwide. Rather than plot every grass strip, heliport and balloon launch site, this layer keeps the operational airports — all the large and medium airports plus the smaller fields that carry scheduled service with a real IATA code — which is roughly the world's commercial and regional airport network, on the order of several thousand fields. Brighter points are the major hubs; the dimmer ones are the regional and secondary airports that knit the network together. Spin the globe and the pattern of global aviation appears: dense constellations across Europe and the eastern United States, the long thin chains down coastlines and island groups, the sparse but vital strips that are the only way in and out of remote regions. Click any airport to see its name, IATA and ICAO codes, city and country. Turn on the Aircraft layer at the same time and the static airports and the moving planes tell one story together. It is one of about 30 live layers you can solo on the same interactive Earth.
Data source: OurAirports
From OurAirports (ourairports.com), an open, public-domain dataset of airports, airfields and aerodromes maintained by a community of contributors. It is one of the most widely used free airport datasets and includes IATA/ICAO codes, location, elevation and scheduled-service status.
It shows the operational ones. OurAirports lists tens of thousands of points including private strips, heliports and closed fields; this layer keeps large and medium airports plus smaller fields with scheduled airline service, which is the practical commercial and regional airport network rather than every patch of mown grass.
Brighter points are large (major / international hub) airports; dimmer points are medium and scheduled-service regional airports. Click any point to see its name, IATA and ICAO identifiers, the city it serves and its country.
Yes — switch on the Aircraft layer alongside this one. Airports are static infrastructure and aircraft are live ADS-B positions, so together you can watch traffic flow between the fields on the map.