WebDAV-enabled UK IAIP resources
Update: 22-May-2013
Apologies for the interruption in service over the past couple of weeks – it appears that the AipCache application is at present unable to access the Eurocontrol CMS hosting the AIP resources, and until I can investigate further, the App Engine application hosting the service will be disabled. The notes below on usage remain for reference.
This page describes a free facility for accessing various UK IAIP resources via a WebDAV-enabled index.
The primary purpose of the facility is to enable synchronisation of these PDF resources with the GoodReader application for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, although various other WebDAV-compliant applications and services can be used with the facility – details of clients shown to work with the service are listed below, and will be added to from time to time.
Windows Vista/Windows 7 Network Drive
Currently, the service provides indexes for the UK IAIP “Aerodrome Index – Specific” section, which contains charts and details for licensed civil aerodromes in the United Kingdom.
Note: the current UK IAIP AD specific plates total about 170MBytes, and some 3G network proxies do not correctly support the WebDAV protocol, hence it is advisable to sync these plates over a wireless network connected to a good broadband service.
Client Setup – GoodReader
Connect to Servers : Touch [Add] button
Select “Any WebDAV Server”
Use the following settings:
– Readable Title : UK IAIP
– URL-address : http://aipcache.appspot.com
Touch [Add] button.
Select “UK IAIP” in the ‘Connect to Server’ list.
Highlight the ‘EGXX’ folder in the popup list (turns light green)
Touch [Sync] button.
Touch [Proceed] button on popup.
Touch [Download here & Synchronize]
Select “Download only” sync in “Sync Parameters” popup, and touch [Sync] button.
Resources are then downloaded…
Select the “Web Downloads” section:
Select “Connect to Servers” :
Select “Any WebDAV Server”
Use the following settings:
– Readable Title : UK IAIP
– URL-address : http://aipcache.appspot.com
Touch [Add] button.
Select “UK IAIP” in the ‘Connect to Server’ list.
Highlight the ‘EGXX’ folder in the popup list (turns light green)
Touch [Sync] button.
Touch [Proceed] button on popup.
Touch [Download here & Synchronize]
Select “Download only” sync in “Sync Parameters” popup, and touch [Sync] button.
Resources are downloaded…
WebDAV resources can be directly mounted as filesystems under Windows Vista and Windows 7.
From the command-line, type:
net use * http://aipcache.appspot.com
This will allocate a free drive letter to the WebDAV resource tree, which can then be browsed and individual files opened using Windows Explorer in the normal fashion. Note that good network speed and capacity is required in order for the WebDAV filesystem to provide adequate performance.
metutil.wordpress.com 
May 31, 2011 at 9:57 am |
This is of course also possible with Linux.
I’m using Mint LMDE. There’s an option in Nautilus to “Connect to Server”. Choose WebDAV option and add “aipcache.appspot.com” as the Server, then Connect.
I’m sure Nautilus in Ubuntu and other variants probably has the same option.
I also added a Bookmark Name for future use. The server maps without problem.
Nice service, thank you.
July 31, 2011 at 1:52 pm |
Basic query, apologies. Having downloaded the AIP airfield info to an iPad, what’s the easiest way of checking for updated airfield plates?
Great application….
July 31, 2011 at 7:52 pm |
Richard – assuming you are using GoodReader, the client should hopefully detect a size or eTag change of a particular document as reported by the server, and when you re-sync the new item should be downloaded – I have an RSS feed in the works that will report on changes, but in general AIP changes are made as part of the AIRAC cycle – see http://www.ais.org.uk for the cycle dates.
October 8, 2011 at 7:10 pm |
Hi
Got to the end of my IPad install and it is telling me failed response 1.1.403 forbidden and PDF not downloading
October 8, 2011 at 8:36 pm |
Apologies for that – it seems eurocontrol have updated their server to redirect the raw document URLs in the index pages from documents in the ‘pamslight’ hierarchy to the ‘eadbasic’ heirarchy, and doing some referral validation in the redirect, which breaks the links in the WebDAV indexes served by the aipcache app.
Thanks for pointing it out, and I hopefully will have a fix available in the morning. Will flag the problem in the description pages.
Regards,
Ed
October 10, 2011 at 4:16 pm |
Service should be up and running correctly again. Apologies for the delay in sorting the fix, and thanks again for raising the issue.
Ed
January 12, 2012 at 3:50 pm |
Works a real treat.
Thanks for setting this up.
March 10, 2012 at 8:09 pm |
The UK AIP was updated on 8th March. The file system doesn’t appear to have been updated yet. Please can you advise when it will be?
Many thanks
April 10, 2012 at 12:10 pm |
Many thanks from myself (captcrispy) and many others at the flyer forum (flyer.co.uk).
March 13, 2013 at 10:04 am |
This has always worked well in the past, but my attempts to sync today give an error message
Invalid server response HTTP/1.1 404 not found
Using Goodreader 3.19.2 on iPad 3 running iOS 6.1.2
Any suggestions? Mark
March 13, 2013 at 11:00 am |
Hi Mark,
From the webdav index server logs, it looks like the Eurocontrol server – which actually serves you the PDF context, the aipcache site merely providing an index – is having issues this morning: The 404 response is GoodReader reporting it can’t fetch the PDF content from Eurocontrol. That being said, I think whatever is ailing the Eurocontrol server has been resolved, or at least ameliorated, and I’ve just kicked off a fresh sync via GoodReader which is proceeding normally, albiet rather more slowly that is usual. Suggest, in time honoured fashion, you wait a bit and try again. Thanks for the feedback though, much appreciated!
Regards,
Ed
May 20, 2013 at 9:44 pm |
Hello,
installed this as per the instructions but receiving an error:
Invalid Server response HTTP?1.1.503 Service unavailable
Any ideas on this?
Thanks in advance
May 22, 2013 at 10:41 am |
Well, the Invalid Server response 503 went away, however the sync is NOT working, what I’m seeing is the folders and the files on the remote server but when I try to sync, it’s saying:
Invalid Server Response HTTP?1.1.404 Not Found……
May 22, 2013 at 8:44 pm |
Hi – apologies for the interruption in service – as per the blog, it appears the indexing application is now unable to access the Eurocontrol AIP site – until I can investigate further, I have disabled the Google App Engine application hosting the service.
Regards,
Ed