About The Default Data
X-Plane airport and navigation data provides global coverage for airports, runways, taxiways, airport surface markings and lighting, NDBs, VORs, ILSs, fixes (intersections), airways and astronomical data.
Refer to the first line of each data file (such as earth_nav.dat) for information about the source and copyright. Data cannot be edited, but overridden. Refer to Navdata for X-Plane 12. For improving airport data, you should go through the scenery gateway.
The airport data includes all runways, and also includes detailed taxiway layouts, lights and markings. If no custom taxiway details are available, then the database will automatically generate a parallel taxiway system alongside each main runway – these are unlikely to be correct, but they will enhance the appearance of ‘unimproved’ airports.
Tips & Tricks
| Title | Updated | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Magnetic Variation | 2 Nov 2021 | |
| Resources for Data Designers | 19 Nov 2015 | This page contains resources to help designers create accurate and efficient airport and navigation data for X-Plane. |
File Formats
| Title | Updated | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Navdata in X-Plane 11 and 12 | 26 Jan 2026 | This document explains the new Nav data format for X-Plane 11. |
| Airport Data (apt.dat) 12.00 File Format Specification | 22 Dec 2023 | |
| Airport Data (apt.dat) 11.00 File Format Specification | 19 Nov 2021 | This document defines core airport data for current version of X-Plane (11.00 and onwards). |
| Astronomical data (astro.dat) File Format Specification | 19 Nov 2015 | This document describes the file format and codes used in X-Plane's astro.dat file, usable with X-Plane version 7.40 onwards. |
Old File Formats
| Title | Updated | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Airway Data (awy.dat) File Format Specification | 22 Mar 2017 | This explains the legacy earth_awy.dat file format for X-Plane version 7.40 – 10.52. |
| Fix Intersection (fix.dat) File Format Specification | 22 Mar 2017 | This explains the legacy earth_fix.dat file format for X-Plane version 7.40 – 10.52. |
| Navigation Data (nav.dat & earth_nav.dat) File Format Specification | 22 Mar 2017 | This explains the legacy nav.dat file format for X-Plane version 8.10 – 10.52. |
| X-Plane nav-aid data file definition (740 version) | 22 Mar 2017 | This explains the legacy nav.dat file format for X-Plane version 7.40 – 8.09. |
| Airport data (apt.dat) 715 version | 22 Mar 2017 | This defines the legacy apt.dat format for X-Plane version 7.15 – 8.06. |
| Airport Data (apt.dat) 10.00 Version | 22 Mar 2017 | This document defines core airport data for X-Plane 10.00. |
| Airport Data (apt.dat) 850 Version | 22 Mar 2017 | This defines the legacy apt.dat format for X-Plane version 8.50. |
| Airport Data (apt.dat) 1050 File Format Specification | 22 Mar 2017 | This defines the legacy apt.dat format for X-Plane version 10.50-10.52. |