Catalog metadata

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Revision as of 15:26, 3 October 2014 by Johan G (talk | contribs) (+ First section first section describing the purpose of this; + Links to related content; + How to add them. *Caveat* I have not tested this myself !)
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Tags with catalog metadata can be added to aircraft to help searching and filtering them, for example in future versions of the aircraft center, so that a user can quicker find the aircraft of interest.

Supported Tags

Note  Please do not extend this list without discussion and agreement.

The tags are translation / search keys, not human-readable strings. Any additions or changes mean updated translation files. The catalog-generator script will reject aircraft with non-standard tags!

Tags are designed to be inclusive, not exclusive, to give the broadest range of search results. If multiple tags apply, use them - for example the DC-3 has had multiple civilian and military roles.

Aircraft types

  • ga
  • helicopter
  • fighter
  • interceptor
  • glider - But does this includes the Space Shuttle, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipeOne, as well?
  • spaceship
  • bomber
  • tanker
  • cargo
  • passenger
  • bizjet - Not just for jets, but I can't think of a better term
  • reconnaissance
  • airship
  • balloon
  • trainer - Used in a pilot training role

Manufacturers

Intention here is to provide logical groupings, not to track corporate history - so the MD-80 and MD-11 would get the 'douglas' tag, which will likely translate to 'Douglas / McDonell-Douglas' in the UI. The 717 could get the boeing and douglas tags. Also not supposed to be an exhaustive list, this is so we can search on 'all glass-cockpit Boeing and Airbus aircraft'. It might be worth actively lying in the tags, i.e group all Hawker-Siddley / BAC / Avro aircraft under the Vickers tag.

  • boeing
  • cessna
  • douglas
  • lockheed
  • vickers
  • piper
  • diamond
  • airbus
  • beechcraft
  • mig
  • fokker
  • ilyushin
  • antonov
  • embrarer
  • bombardier
  • saab

Eras

Logical groupings, not historical accuracy - some aircraft are going to have a lot of these, e.g. the B-52. Again the goal is intelligent searches: 'show me all WW2 fighters'. Would like to avoid this getting political too, comments on that are welcome

  • early-pioneers
  • ww1
  • 1920s
  • 1930s
  • golden-age
  • ww2
  • 1950s
  • 1960s
  • 1970s
  • vietnam
  • coldwar
  • korean
  • 1980s
  • 1990s
  • gulfwar1
  • 2000s

Aircraft Features

This could get long, as always trying to focus on tags people might search on - 'show me all the VTOL aircraft' or 'show me all the biplanes'. Some will be very useful in improving the user-experience, if the plane is tagged with seaplane we might be able to force a water start (not for amphibious obviously).

  • prototype
  • experimental - For X1 and similar X-planes
  • ifr - Panel and equipment (radios, lighting) suitable for IFR flight
  • fixed-gear
  • retractable-gear
  • tail-dragger
  • carrier-hook - Do we need a separate tag for carrier-capable?
  • stol - For short-takeoff
  • vtol - For the Harrier, F-35 if it ever works, and the Osprey
  • floats
  • amphibious
  • cannard - Cannard planform
  • delta - Delta planform; Vulcan, Concorde, Space Shuttle
  • variable-geometry - For Tomcats and the like
  • supersonic
  • glass-cockpit
  • refuel - Supports air-to-air refeuling
  • seaplane - Flying boat or float plane
  • etops - ETOPS capable aircraft, presumably implies twin-engined
  • biplane
  • triplane
  • pressurised - Pressurised cabin

FlightGear Features

  • combat - Support this various MP combat / bomb-able options
  • dual-controls - Supports copilot over MP
  • tow - Supports glider towing over MP
  • rembrandt - Supports Rembrandt, obviously

Propulsion

  • piston
  • radial - Radial piston engined
  • diesel
  • jet
  • turboprop
  • 1-engine
  • 2-engine
  • 3-engine
  • 4-engine
  • turbocharged - For pistons with a turbo-charger
  • afterburner
  • rocket
  • electric - For power-assisted gliders, mostly.
  • unpowered - Balloons, etc

Examples

  • B-52 would have: bomber, jet. boeing, coldwar, 1960s, vietnam, 1970s, 1980s, gulfwar1, nato, refuel, retractable-gear, ifr
  • Citation would have: cessna, bizjet, jet, 2-engine, glass-cockpit, ifr, retractable-gear
  • Cub would have: piper, piston, 1-engine, ga, trainer, fixed-gear, 1930s, ww2, tail-dragger

Adding tags to an aircraft

The tags are added to or included into the sim section of the -set.xml file(s) like for example below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>

<PropertyList>

 <sim>

  <tags>
   <tag>passenger</tag>
   <tag>boeing</tag>
   <tag>jet</tag>
   <tag>twin-engine</tag>
   <tag>retractable-gear</tag>
   <tag>etops</tag>
   <tag>glass-cockpit</tag>
   <tag>ifr</tag>
  </tags>

 </sim>

</PropertyList>

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