Data is everywhere. Wouldn’t it be nice if someone went to the trouble of gathering it together and making it easy to interact with?
That is what AJ Poirier has done with AV8MAPS.com.
“I’m a member of a number of Facebook Groups and when I see a mention of someone flying into an airport for lunch somewhere, I add it to my restaurants map,” said AJ, who lives in Bradenton, Florida.
The Airport Based Restaurants map includes 398 on-airport restaurants and 528 within one-and-one-half miles of an airport.
The Vacation Rentals & Hotels Map includes 128 hotels and 106 rental properties on or adjacent to airports. And the Camping with your Plane Map includes 366 airports, public and private, that allow camping on site.
AJ started the restaurants map in 2021 to help drive traffic to his real estate listings website. While AJ is no longer a realtor, he will continue to maintain the maps.
AV8MAPS.com accepts suggestions of locations not already included as well as donations.
For more information: AV8MAPS.com
If this could become an iPhone/iPad app it could be awesome!
Good news is I think we are getting closer to a usable database of Restaurants and Hotels. I applaud AV8MAPS.com for their steps forward! From others who early attempts on Facebook and thread-based sites like Beechtalk.com; which are not designed for such and don’t work out so well. They become obsolete quickly and not very searchable. Plus have no standards of what someone thinks is “close” or not.
I would love to see some definitions (actual distances from FBO?) as some of the places “at the airport” seem like a car ride away: example “Don Laughlin’s Riverside Resort Hotel and Casino (KIFP)”.
The hardest problem is the frequency which some of these places come and good. Only crowd-sourcing really works.
So best of luck as the site matures! I think you are on a good path, much better than any other similar site I have seen.
Thanks Flying B. I appreciate the feedback. I know I have designated <1.5 miles for off airport-based restaurants, but you make a good point that I don’t have any distances for the hotels and vacation rentals, and the camping locations that you cannot directly pitch your tent under your wing. I will take note of that and see about adding this info as I update and gather new locations.
Thanks once again for your feedback. Have a great rest of your week. Av8maps.com
I have taken your advice and added a new line to each map pin for all my off-airport restaurants and added the mileage away from the airport. I have teamed up with Airport Courtesy Car.com so pilots can use that resource to find courtesy cars.
I have been busy and have added nationwide maps for finding an AME, aviation services businesses, Flight Schools and Instructors as well as Seaplane Bases and Seaplane accessible restaurants. As of today, I just started a Fly-In & Events nationwide map.