Template talk:Infobox Airport

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[edit] Moving coordinates out of the infobox

The current format recommended for entering coordinates is:

| coordinates  = {{coord|49|27|16|N|002|06|46|E|type:airport|display=inline}}

This uses the new {{coord}} template, which has three options for display:

  • display=inline – display the coordinates inline (default) (replaces {{coor dms}})
  • display=title – display the coordinates by the article title (replaces {{coor title dms}})
  • display=inline,title – display the coordinates both inline and at title (replaces {{coor at dms}})

In December it was announced that Wikipedia articles would show up in the Google Earth Geographic Web Layer if they contained "{{coor title d[ms]}}" or "{{coor at d[ms]}}" templates. Additionally, Google supported references to those two templates as well as "{{coor d[ms]}}" if used in an Infobox and assigned to a parameter named either coordinates or coords.

In June it was reported that Wikipedia articles using {{coord}} would also appear, but only if the title keyword is used. The reason given was it "indicates that the coordinates explicitly refer to the location of the title article, rather than another geographic location that may appear in the article text". It also stated that Google Earth would not pick up articles using {{coord}} with "display=inline". Unfortunately, no mention was made whether "display=inline" would work if used in an Infobox, as was the case for "{{coor d[ms]}}" (users later discovered that it did not work). That update stated "at the present time, Google recognizes other Wikipedia templates. However, Wikipedia has deprecated these older templates. You should use {{coord}} instead."

Using {{coord}} with title in {{Infobox Airport}} causes one of the following results:

  • display=inline,title – displays coordinates on right side of article's title area directly above infobox AND again inside the infobox.
  • display=title – displays coordinates above the infobox, but leaves an empty cell inside the infobox (see this example).

Both options also cause the coordinates to use the small font size of the infobox text (which is made even smaller because the title area text uses font-size:85%):

I believe the best solution is to use display=title, since the coordinates will appear directly above the infobox and displaying them again inside the infobox is redundant. However, this should be done in conjunction with moving the {{coord}} template out of the infobox, to eliminate the problems of an empty cell in the infobox and tiny coordinates in the title.

Even ignoring the Google Earth issue, I would still recommend these changes, because they give the airport article a neater look with the new globe icon (which caused the coordinates to occupy two lines in the infobox).

What follows is an abbreviated version of the suggested template code. The results can be seen at Paris Beauvais Tillé Airport.

{{coord|49|27|16|N|002|06|46|E|type:airport|display=title}}
{{Infobox Airport
| name         = Paris Beauvais Tillé Airport
| IATA         = BVA
| ICAO         = LFOB
| type         = Public
| city-served  = [[Paris]]
| coordinates  = <!--listed in title-->
... etc.

Of course, the coordinates parameter could also be left blank or omitted entirely.

See also:

Related discussions:

Any comments? -- Zyxw 07:55, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

I agree with moving the coordinates out of the infobox. It looks better that way. Bwpach 20:36, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
Is it wrong to have the information listed in the Infobox and the title area when using {{coord}} with display=inline,title? I think it looks fine. Keep the coordinates within the infobox. If the text size is an issue, perhaps it can be taken up with as a discussion in the {{coord}} page. papageno 01:58, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Image size

Why is the image size only 200 pixels? Cacophony (talk) 00:42, 19 November 2007 (UTC)

Since {{Infobox Airport}} displays at a width of 220 pixels, the default image width of 200 pixels displays the image with a small border. If you want to use a different image size, there is an image-width parameter available. See Template:Infobox Airport/doc #Airport image for details. -- Zyxw (talk) 10:24, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Coordinates Clarification Sought

I'm just seeking some clarification after some edits of mine were reverted. I was under the impression that we were only attempting to have one set of coordinates per airport article... ie in the infobox not at the top of the page as well?? Or am I following old news? I was informed that the mapitaus template is relevant to all Australian Airport articles?? However from my work on the Australian Airport pages I've only seen it attached to one airport article Perth Airport so I have to ask that if it's only on one Aussie airport why that statement?? Opinions?? MEBpilot (talk) 09:58, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

The Perth Airport article you mentioned used Template:Mapit-AUS-suburbscale, one of the Geolinks templates which display the coordinates at the top of the article (and until recently also displayed direct external links to a select group of mapping web sites). There was a move at one time to remove all the Geolinks templates from the airport articles, since the coordinates could be found in the infobox. For more information, see the comments above in the section titled Moving coordinates out of the infobox. -- Zyxw (talk) 10:24, 22 January 2008 (UTC)
To expand on my comment that the Geolinks templates "until recently also displayed direct external links", the following shows how {{Mapit-AUS-suburbscale|long=115.956071|lat=-31.94335}} previously displayed:
In November 2007, that template (and others) were changed to remove the list of map links. {{Mapit-AUS-suburbscale}} currently generates the following:
This was part of a move to eliminate direct links to mapping web sites, since clicking on the coordinates will display a page linking to the various mapping sites. Not everyone is happy about that, as seen in comments at Template talk: Mapit-AUS-suburbscale #Moving forward and Wikipedia talk: WikiProject Geographical coordinates #Geolinks-cityscale. -- Zyxw (talk) 11:03, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Historical statistics

The statistics section should reflect passenger, cargo and other rather important figures for the past couple of years, not just for the past year. See Tallinn International Airport. Alepik (talk) 19:57, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

The template currently allows for a maximum of four lines under the "Statistics" heading. That was based on articles using the old {{Airport infobox}} templates where editors had manually added the current statistics. However, the user can specify both the header name and the data, allowing for other possibilities as seen in your example at Tallinn Airport. My personal preference is to show only the current statistics in the infobox and place the historical statistics in the body of the article, as can be found in Singapore Changi Airport, Perth Airport and others. -- Zyxw (talk) 10:24, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Postal and area codes

Are they required in the infobox. I really don't think they needed or really serve any purpose. CambridgeBayWeather Have a gorilla 06:05, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

I wanted to have the zip and area codes in to be consistent with the infoboxes for cities. I guess they aren't needed for airport infoboxes. Socal gal at heart (talk) 06:08, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
If the postal and area codes are the same as for the city, that information should be just one click away. If it is different, then it is better displayed within the article itself, probably in the form of listing the airport's full address and/or telephone number. -- Zyxw (talk) 06:26, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] 20 April 2008 template changes

This template was originally designed as a replacement for the multi-template {{Airport infobox}} and therefore designed to have the same appearance as the old-style template. A recent edit on 20 April 2008 made a few minor changes that caused a noticeable change in the infobox.

  1. The table class "infobox bordered vcard" was changed to "infobox vcard". This eliminated the border previously displayed between the rows and columns of the table (see the prior version with borders) and also increased the spacing between table rows due to the elimination of border-collapse: collapse; (defined in MediaWiki:Common.css under .infobox.bordered).
  2. The base font size was changed from 80% to 90%. The effect of the larger font was even more apparent in the section headers, which still used font-size:120%.
  3. The edit also removed {{Template sandbox notice}}. That was originally included to allow the entire template to be copied to or from Template:Infobox Airport/sandbox without editing.

I have made the following changes:

  1. The table remains in the borderless mode since it has been that way for almost a month now without any complaints. However, line-height:160% has been removed from the table style, since it is was there to increase the line-spacing in bordered mode.
  2. The base font size was decreased slightly to 88% (also used by Template:Infobox) to provide a more consistent appearance across different browsers (90% was causing larger text in Internet Explorer than in Firefox). The section headers now use font-size:115% and the footnotes use 90% (previously tried font-size:larger and smaller but this also caused inconsistencies, specifically larger section headers in Firefox than in IE).
  3. The {{Template sandbox notice}} has been restored, along with a comment explaining why it is there.

Prior to the recent change, I didn't see a need for a mass-conversion of the old infoboxes because the appearance was the same. However, if this template retains the borderless design, it might be a good idea to convert the old templates. -- Zyxw (talk) 06:55, 18 May 2008 (UTC)