tar1090 is a web page that shows aircraft positions picked up by a radio receiver you own, such as one on a Raspberry Pi. It is for people who already run a plane-decoding program at home and want a better way to view the data.
Has 2 of 7 · Tracks ships ✗
How many people bookmarked its code on GitHub. It shows how popular it is, not how good it is or how well it replaces the app.
How hard it is to start using it. Easy: install it like a normal app, or use it in your browser. Advanced: you run it on your own server, use the command line, or it is a tool for developers.
Its code changed within the last year, so someone is still looking after it.
Does part of the job.
Ordered by how fully it replaces the app, Verified, setup and, when there are enough, people's votes.
readsb is a program that receives aircraft position signals from a cheap radio receiver and decodes them so you can see planes nearby. It is aimed at hobbyists and people who run their own receiver or feed a flight map site.
Has 1 of 7 · No commands needed ✗
How many people bookmarked its code on GitHub. It shows how popular it is, not how good it is or how well it replaces the app.
How hard it is to start using it. Easy: install it like a normal app, or use it in your browser. Advanced: you run it on your own server, use the command line, or it is a tool for developers.
Its code changed within the last year, so someone is still looking after it.
Does part of the job.
Ordered by how fully it replaces the app, Verified, setup and, when there are enough, people's votes.
AIS-catcher is free software that uses a cheap radio receiver to pick up the location signals ships broadcast (called AIS), and shows them on a map in a built-in web page. It is for hobbyists and technical users who want to run their own ship receiver on a computer.
Has 3 of 7 · Tracks planes ✗
How many people bookmarked its code on GitHub. It shows how popular it is, not how good it is or how well it replaces the app.
How hard it is to start using it. Easy: install it like a normal app, or use it in your browser. Advanced: you run it on your own server, use the command line, or it is a tool for developers.
Its code changed within the last year, so someone is still looking after it.
Does part of the job.
Ordered by how fully it replaces the app, Verified, setup and, when there are enough, people's votes.
This is a support library that lets radio-tuning programs talk to many kinds of software-defined radio hardware through one common interface. It is for programmers and software builders, not everyday users.
Has 0 of 7 · No commands needed ✗
How many people bookmarked its code on GitHub. It shows how popular it is, not how good it is or how well it replaces the app.
How hard it is to start using it. Easy: install it like a normal app, or use it in your browser. Advanced: you run it on your own server, use the command line, or it is a tool for developers.
Its code changed within the last year, so someone is still looking after it.
Does part of the job.
Ordered by how fully it replaces the app, Verified, setup and, when there are enough, people's votes.
None of these match. Try another device.
Help me choose
I want to pick an open-source replacement for FlightAware. Below is a list from Open Source Everything (CC BY-SA 4.0), in the order its website shows it. The order is a starting point, not a verdict.
- tar1090: tar1090 is a web page that shows aircraft positions picked up by a radio receiver you own, such as one on a Raspberry Pi. It is for people who already run a plane-decoding program at home and want a better way to view the data. [Advanced setup; Linux; replaces partly; GPL-2.0-or-later; https://github.com/wiedehopf/tar1090]
- readsb: readsb is a program that receives aircraft position signals from a cheap radio receiver and decodes them so you can see planes nearby. It is aimed at hobbyists and people who run their own receiver or feed a flight map site. [Advanced setup; Mac · Linux; replaces partly; GPL-3.0-or-later; https://github.com/wiedehopf/readsb]
- AIS-catcher: AIS-catcher is free software that uses a cheap radio receiver to pick up the location signals ships broadcast (called AIS), and shows them on a map in a built-in web page. It is for hobbyists and technical users who want to run their own ship receiver on a computer. [Advanced setup; Linux; replaces partly; GPL-3.0; https://github.com/jvde-github/AIS-catcher]
- SDR++: This is a support library that lets radio-tuning programs talk to many kinds of software-defined radio hardware through one common interface. It is for programmers and software builders, not everyday users. [Advanced setup; devices not listed; replaces partly; BSL-1.0; https://github.com/pothosware/SoapySDR]
Setup rating: "Easy setup" means you can install it like a normal app, use it in a browser. "Advanced setup" means you must run it on your own server or use the command line, or it is a tool for developers.
Full details: https://opensourceeverything.org/data/groups/flight-tracking.json
Before recommending anything, ask me these three questions (one at a time, in plain words): 1) Which device or devices will I use it on (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iPhone)? 2) How comfortable am I with technical setup: only installing apps from a store, happy to follow a step-by-step guide, or comfortable with servers and the command line? 3) What is my budget: free only, or willing to pay for hosting or support? Then recommend one to three projects from this list only, and for each say why, using how fully it replaces the app, its setup rating, and the devices it runs on. If nothing on the list fits me, say so plainly instead of stretching.
Want an open FlightAware?
Before you build
Read the list of open-source projects at https://opensourceeverything.org/data/groups/flight-tracking.json. Compare it with my project or idea below. Tell me which projects overlap, what I could reuse instead of rewriting, and what mine does that none of them do.
My project or idea:
