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AGeoP-23

AGeoP-23 special aeronautical chart specification

National geographic and mapping authorities compiling Special Aeronautical Charts under the STANAG 7164 agreement

AGeoP-23 sets the format, geodesy, accuracy and marginalia requirements NATO nations follow to compile Special Aeronautical Charts for low level military navigation, agreed under STANAG 7164.

Edition
A
Published
2018-03

What it is

What AGeoP-23 governs

AGeoP-23 is the NATO Allied Geographic Publication that fixes the format, geodesy, accuracy and marginalia requirements for a Special Aeronautical Chart (SAC). Its own glossary defines a SAC as "a topographic chart with aeronautical information designed to meet military peacetime requirements for low level air navigation" - a specific product for military low level flying, not a general aviation chart. Nations record their agreement to use it in STANAG 7164; AGeoP-23 itself supplies the technical detail the STANAG points to.

Who it addresses

AGeoP-23 speaks throughout to the nation compiling the chart, not to industry in general: "Producing nations will determine the size and number of charts needed to meet their national requirements." A separate national authority supplies the content itself: "SACs will contain aeronautical information, provided by the responsible Air Traffic Service authority, depicted in feet, to support safe low level navigation." Ratifying the agreement does not make a nation a producer. Slovenia's own recorded reservation at promulgation makes the distinction explicit: "The Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Slovenia will use this STANAG as a reference document only, being user, not producer of SAC." Nations can and do ratify with reservations; Germany's and France's recorded reservations vary an obstruction threshold and a chart series and publication cycle respectively.

Format, geodesy and accuracy

Chart size and count are for the producing nation to determine, and "there is no requirement to follow standard sheet lines such as those for series TPC or JOG 1501-AIR" (paragraph 2). A chart "must be no larger than 1100 x 1500mm, the maximum size most large format printing machines can handle" (paragraph 3). Charts are produced on the WGS 84 horizontal datum with mean sea level as the vertical datum (paragraph 4), using a Lambert Conformal Conical projection at 1:500,000 scale and Transverse Mercator at 1:250,000 scale, with the grid, datum and projection detail carried in STANAG 2211 (paragraph 5). Horizontal accuracy requires "90% of planimetric (topographic and aeronautical) features, except those unavoidably displaced by exaggerated symbology, will be plotted as accurately as source information permits" (paragraph 6); vertical accuracy requires spot elevations within 100ft and contours within half the contour interval, with further limits in STANAG 2215 (paragraph 7).

Marginalia and aeronautical information

Every chart carries an identification panel naming its series, sheet and edition, a chart title built to a fixed formula, and a legend compliant with STANAG 3676 for its language content (paragraphs 9 to 13). Aeronautical content, supplied by the responsible Air Traffic Service authority, covers information with a base height at or below 10,000ft AGL by default (paragraph 23) and all known obstructions of 200ft AGL and above (paragraph 25), shown against a fixed colour scheme: blue for navigation and airfield information, red for low level avoidance and restricted airspace, purple or violet for low flying routes, and green for night low level flying (paragraph 28). Because SACs are produced at intervals, the aeronautical information "could be obsolete and should not be considered authoritative" (paragraph 24), and the marginalia must carry a warning to that effect.

Production and exchange format

Charts "will be produced with the most up to date aeronautical information" (paragraph 29), to the quality limits STANAG 2215 sets (paragraph 30). For sharing digital SAC data between NATO nations, commands and partner nations, AGeoP-23 recommends, rather than mandates, specific formats (paragraph 31): NGIF under STANAG 2592 or the legacy DIGEST format for vector data, and ASRP under STANAG 4387 or CADRG under STANAG 7098 for raster data, alongside GeoTIFF. It acknowledges some systems "may require other formats" such as AIXM (paragraph 32).

What it does not cover

AGeoP-23 names no certification body, notified body or audit scheme. Its measurable bars, the planimetric accuracy figure and the elevation tolerances, are checked against the source information a chart was compiled from, not by any external assessor. AGeoP-23 is published by NATO and listed free of charge in the NATO Standardization Document Database. NATO's documents are not sold by ComplyTrain and we host no copies of them.

How we help

AGeoP-23 is an operational and technical standard, not a management system: the work of surveying, compiling and printing a Special Aeronautical Chart happens in a national geographic service's own cartographic production systems, not in software. ComplyTrain helps by giving that organisation a place to hold and control the procedure that tells a production team which datum, accuracy figures, marginalia wording and overprint colours apply to a given SAC series, the training record showing a cartographer has been briefed on the STANAG 2215 quality limits, and the evidence, a signed-off production procedure, a review record, a corrective action when a chart's inclusion-criteria statement is found wrong, that a national quality process or a customer would ask to see.

ComplyTrain does not survey terrain, compile a chart, or verify a chart's planimetric accuracy against source imagery. That work stays with a national geographic service's own production and quality-control systems.

Which of AGeoP-23's requirements, and what else the STANAG 7164 agreement brings with it, apply to a given chart-production task is set by the tasking authority and the contract, not by this page. See the standards explorer for what sits alongside AGeoP-23, and talk to us about the evidence trail behind it.

Standards it references

Questions

Is AGeoP-23 mandatory?

Not by itself. Nations commit to it by ratifying STANAG 7164, and a nation can ratify with reservations, as Germany, France and Slovenia each did at promulgation. Whether a given chart-production task has to follow AGeoP-23 comes down to the tasking authority or contract that assigns the work, not the existence of the publication.

What is the difference between AGeoP-23 and STANAG 7164?

STANAG 7164 is the agreement: the record of nations agreeing to use the AGeoP-23 specification for Special Aeronautical Charts. AGeoP-23 is the Allied Publication that actually contains the format, geodesy, accuracy and marginalia requirements.

Who produces Special Aeronautical Charts?

AGeoP-23 addresses "producing nations" rather than industry generally, and not every nation that ratifies STANAG 7164 produces charts; some, like Slovenia, use the publication as a reference only. The aeronautical content on a SAC comes from the responsible national Air Traffic Service authority, separately from whoever compiles the chart itself.

Can ComplyTrain get us AGeoP-23 certified?

No such certification exists. AGeoP-23 names no certification body, notified body or accredited scheme; its only measurable requirements are technical accuracy figures, checked against the source information a chart was compiled from, not through a certification scheme.

Where can I get a copy of AGeoP-23?

From the NATO Standardization Document Database, which lists it free of charge. NATO's documents are not sold by ComplyTrain and we do not host copies of them.