The Aeroflight Aviation Enthusiasts Cloud
Introduction and Overview
The ‘Aeroflight Cloud’
List of Topics
What is cloud computing?
What is Google Drive?
Introducing the Aeroflight Cloud
What’s on the Aeroflight Cloud?
More about the Aeroflight Cloud
How can I get Involved?
Contributing to the Aeroflight Cloud
Why is this good for Aviation Enthusiasts?
Summary
What is Cloud Computing?
Cloud computing is where photos, files and other data are stored on a remote server connected to the internet, and not locally on a personal computer or tablet. Users are able to retrieve and work on these files by using applications that appear in their web browser.
One of the most popular cloud platforms is Google Drive, which is available for free from a normal Gmail account. An enhanced paid version of this platform, called Google Workspace, (aka GSuite), is being increasingly adopted by businesses large and small across the world - companies such as Airbnb, Airbus, Netflix and Ocado.
What is Google Drive?
Google Drive provides a complete Office Suite which includes:
The current versions of these applications are very similar in capability to the Microsoft Office suite that many people are familiar with - they just work through your web browser and not as stand-alone programmes.
Also available are several other applications including Google Forms, Google Photos, Google Maps and Google Calendar.
Introducing the Aeroflight Cloud
Hosted on Google Drive, the Aeroflight Cloud provides a FREE central repository of aviation-related files that can be collectively worked on by researchers and enthusiasts.
It allows multiple users to simultaneously add, correct and verify information on Google Sheets, Docs and Slides in a controlled manner*. In addition, Google Photos is available for use with illustrations and Google search can be used on all files.
*All files are read-only to normal users. Approved users can also comment and/or edit specific files, folders or any file in the whole cloud. Approval is by the Cloud admin. All changes to files are recorded individually.
What’s on the Aeroflight Cloud?
The available repository files include:
More about the Aeroflight Cloud
See the cloud here: AeroflightCloud
A short history
How can I get involved?
Most of the cloud files are currently only partially populated and should be regarded as “work-in-progress”. The Aeroflight Cloud is a collaborative effort, and the next stage is to add additional data to each file, to make them more complete, and to verify the information.
To this end, you are warmly invited to browse these files and see what you contribute to, and how you can benefit from, the development of this invaluable aviation research tool.
You don’t need Google Chrome to use it, it works fine on IE6+, Edge, Firefox and Safari.
Don’t have a Gmail account? No problem, follow these instructions to get a ‘Google Account’ that recognises your email address.
Contributing to the Aeroflight Cloud
If you like what you see, and would like to contribute, please contact aeroflightcloud@gmail.com to apply for ‘write’ or ‘comment’ access
You will then be able to
Why is this good for Aviation Enthusiasts?
A truly comprehensive, peer-reviewed set of aviation data files.
Once in the cloud, the data can be accessed and used in many ways
The overall aim is to make this repository the go-to resource on the web for aviation data. By sharing data, all aviation enthusiasts will benefit.
Summary