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About RouteMapper

Free interactive aviation route mapping tool — used by airlines, airports and consultants

RouteMapper is a web-based flight route mapping and visualization tool built for the aviation industry. It lets you plot airline route networks on an interactive map, calculate great circle distances, animate routes, draw range circles and analyze airport connectivity — all from your browser with no software to install.

Whether you're an airline route planner evaluating a new market, an airport commercial team preparing a route development pitch, an aviation consultant building a presentation, RouteMapper gives you a professional-grade tool to visualize flight routes on both Mercator and globe projections.

Open RouteMapper →

Quick Start Guide

Get your first route map plotted in under a minute.

Plotting a single route

  1. Open RouteMapper — the map loads with the route input panel on the left.
  2. In the Routes text box, type an origin-destination pair using IATA or ICAO codes separated by a dash. For example: LHR-JFK
  3. Click Plot to render the route on the map, or Animate to watch it draw across the map.
  4. The route tooltip shows distance, airport details, runway length, and elevation when you hover over a plotted route.

Route input format

Enter one route per line. Routes can be simple pairs or multi-stop sequences:

// Simple origin-destination
LHR-JFK
CDG-NRT

// Multi-stop sequence (plots each leg)
SIN-HKG-NRT-LAX

// With a value (passengers, frequency, etc.)
DXB-LHR 450000
SFO-ICN 180000

// Using ICAO codes
EGLL-KJFK

// Using coordinates
51.47,-0.45-40.64,-73.78

Importing from CSV

  1. Click the CSV button in the route input panel.
  2. Select your CSV file. RouteMapper auto-detects columns for origin, destination, and value.
  3. Review the column mapping and adjust if needed, then click Plot.
  4. All routes from the CSV are plotted on the map. Values can be visualized as thickness, color, or altitude.

Customizing your map

Use the Map Options panel to change the basemap theme, route colors, line width, endpoint markers, and label styles. Toggle route borders, adjust arc height, and switch between Mercator and globe projection. The Advanced Options panel gives access to range circles, population overlays, and live flight tracking.

Key Features

Great Circle Route Mapping Plot accurate great circle paths between any two airports. Routes follow the shortest path over the Earth's surface, correctly rendering polar and trans-Pacific routes.
Thousands of Airports Look up airports by IATA code, ICAO code, or city name. The database includes commercial airports, regional airfields, sea plane bases and heliports worldwide.
Mercator & Globe Projection Switch between a flat Mercator map and a 3D globe view. Both projections render routes with correct great circle geometry.
3D Arc Height In Mercator mode, elevate routes above the map surface with adjustable arc height using Deck.gl rendering. Useful for visualizing route density and avoiding overlap.
Route Animation Animate routes drawing across the map, including 3D arc animation in Mercator mode. Record animations as video for use in presentations.
CSV Import & Batch Plotting Upload a CSV file with origin-destination pairs to plot hundreds of routes at once. Flexible column mapping supports any CSV format.
Route Values & Heatmaps Attach values to routes (passengers, frequency, revenue) and visualize them as line thickness, color gradient, or altitude. Supports multiple value modes.
Network Analytics Analyze route networks by origin airport. View distance statistics, route counts, and connectivity metrics. Set an analytics origin to explore hub-and-spoke patterns.
Range Circles Draw range rings from any airport to show aircraft operating range. Apply wind conditions (calm, mean, or 85th percentile) from ERA5 climatology to see how wind affects range in each direction.
Wind-Adjusted Aircraft Range Model aircraft range using real Eurocontrol performance profiles and 20 years of ERA5 wind climatology. See how jet streams stretch or compress your fleet's reach by month, season, or annually.
Traffic Flow Analysis (OD40) Query U.S. DOT OD40 / DB1C origin-destination survey data. Explore passenger volumes, fares, yields, and itinerary paths for any U.S. airport pair, with connecting traffic and hub flow analysis.
Network Schedule Diff Compare two airline schedule snapshots side by side. Identify new routes, dropped services, frequency changes, and fleet swaps between any two periods. Ideal for tracking competitor network evolution.
Population Density Overlay Toggle GHS population density and built-up volume layers to identify catchment areas and underserved markets near airports.
Multiple Map Themes Choose from light, dark, satellite, and terrain basemaps. Customize route colors, borders, labels, and endpoint markers.
Save, Share & Export Save map configurations to your account. Share maps via URL. Export route data and download animation recordings.

Data Sources & Methodology

Transparency on the datasets, models, and assumptions behind RouteMapper's analytics.

Traffic Flow Data — U.S. DOT OD40 / DB1C

The traffic flows module uses the U.S. Department of Transportation's Origin & Destination Survey (DB1C), published quarterly via the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. DB1C is a 40% sample of all domestic airline coupons sold in the United States, grossed up by a factor of 2.5 to estimate total passenger volumes.

The dataset captures the full itinerary of each ticket — not just individual flight segments — enabling true origin-and-destination analysis. For a passenger flying Boston → Atlanta → Miami, the survey records both the direct leg (ATL–MIA) and the complete itinerary (BOS–ATL–MIA), making it possible to analyze connecting traffic, hub flows, and behind-and-beyond demand.

Key characteristics and caveats:

Sample rate 40% of all coupons (DB1C). Estimated passengers are computed by applying a 2.5× multiplier. The higher sample rate compared to DB1B (10%) provides better coverage of smaller markets and reduces sampling variance.
Coverage U.S. domestic and transborder markets only. The survey captures tickets where at least one segment is on a U.S. carrier or within U.S. territory.
Fare data Fares reflect the average ticket price (total amount divided by coupon segments). Yield is shown in U.S. cents per passenger-mile, pro-rated by segment distance.
Itinerary paths Trip-break logic (TripBk19_7 / TripBk19_8) is applied to identify one-way directional market segments within round-trip tickets. Round-trip itineraries where origin city equals destination city are excluded from connecting traffic analysis.

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation. transtats.bts.gov

Wind-Adjusted Range — ERA5 Climatology

Aircraft range polygons use a physics-based flight profile simulation combined with 20 years of global wind data from the ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis, accessed via the Copernicus Climate Data Store.

Wind data specification:

Source ERA5 monthly-averaged reanalysis on pressure levels (2005–2024), published by ECMWF through the Copernicus Climate Data Store.
Resolution 1.5° × 1.5° global grid (240 × 121 points), re-gridded from the native 0.25° resolution. Five pressure levels: 200, 250, 300, 500, and 700 hPa covering flight altitudes from FL100 to FL390.
Statistics For each grid cell and calendar month: 20-year mean wind (U and V components) and 85th-percentile wind speed. The P85 direction preserves the mean wind direction scaled by the magnitude ratio.
Wind conditions "Calm" plots a standard geometric circle. "Mean" applies the 20-year average wind field. "85th percentile" represents conditions where winds are at or below this strength 85% of the time — a reasonable planning worst case.

Aircraft performance profiles are sourced from the Eurocontrol ATC Performance Database. Each aircraft variant includes climb rates, cruise Mach/TAS, descent profiles, and V-speeds. The range engine simulates a full flight profile (takeoff → climb stages → cruise → descent → approach) with wind applied at the appropriate pressure level for each phase using the triangle of velocities method for proper crosswind handling.

Key assumptions and limitations:

  • Fuel consumption is not explicitly modelled — range is treated as the published OEM range for the aircraft type at the selected configuration.
  • Wind is sampled along the bearing from the origin in 50nm steps, allowing the model to capture jet stream entry/exit transitions.
  • The 85th-percentile direction is a simplification: the mean wind direction is preserved and scaled by the magnitude ratio. In reality, extreme wind events may come from a different direction.
  • Gaussian smoothing (σ=8) is applied to the bearing-resolved range to remove grid-resolution artifacts.
  • Climb and descent phases below FL100 use the 700 hPa wind level; above FL240, the 300 hPa level; cruise uses 250 or 200 hPa depending on aircraft type.

Sources: Copernicus Climate Change Service, ECMWF. cds.climate.copernicus.eu · Eurocontrol ATC Performance Database.

Use Cases

How aviation professionals use RouteMapper.

Airline Route Planning

Visualize proposed route networks, compare seasonal schedules, and evaluate new market opportunities. Import OAG or schedule data via CSV to map your entire network. Use network diff to track competitor changes season-over-season.

Airport Route Development

Build route maps for airline pitches. Show catchment area population, wind-adjusted aircraft range for target fleet types, and OD40 traffic data to demonstrate behind-and-beyond demand feeding your airport.

Aviation Consulting

Create presentation-ready route maps for client deliverables. Layer traffic flows, range analysis, and network diff insights into a single visual. Export maps, data tables, and animation recordings for reports and pitch decks.

Fleet & Network Strategy

Model how aircraft range varies by season and wind conditions. Compare narrowbody vs widebody range envelopes from a hub. Overlay OD40 demand data to identify city pairs within range but currently unserved non-stop.

Connecting Traffic & Hub Analysis

Use the OD40 via/hub query to see which passenger flows connect through a given airport. Identify the strongest behind-and-beyond itineraries feeding a hub, and quantify the traffic at risk if a connecting bank is cut.

Market Research & Benchmarking

Analyze fare levels and yields across U.S. domestic markets. Compare point-to-point vs connecting traffic shares. Track how new entrant carriers are reshaping market economics using historical OD40 data.

Frequently Asked Questions

What airport codes does RouteMapper accept?

RouteMapper accepts IATA codes (e.g. LHR, JFK, NRT), ICAO codes (e.g. EGLL, KJFK, RJTT), and latitude/longitude coordinates. The database covers thousands of airports, airfields, and heliports worldwide.

How are distances calculated?

Distances are calculated using the Vincenty formula on the WGS84 ellipsoid, which gives sub-meter accuracy for geodesic distances. Results are shown in kilometers, nautical miles, or statute miles.

Can I use RouteMapper for commercial purposes?

Yes. RouteMapper is free for personal, educational, and commercial use. If you embed or redistribute the tool, you must include attribution to RouteMapper.com. See the Terms of Use for details.

Do I need an account?

No account is required for mapping routes. Sign in (free) to save and load map configurations across sessions.

What browsers are supported?

RouteMapper works in all modern browsers with WebGL2 support, including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. A desktop browser is recommended for the best experience, though mobile browsers are supported.

Can I export or download my map?

You can share your map via URL (the current state is encoded in the link). Route animations can be recorded and downloaded as video. Full image export is on the roadmap.

Is the data real-time?

The airport database is static and updated periodically. RouteMapper does not display real-time flight tracking data by default, though a live flights overlay is available as an experimental feature. The tool is designed for route planning and visualization, not real-time operations.

What is the OD40 / DB1C traffic data?

The U.S. DOT Origin & Destination Survey (DB1C) is a 40% sample of all domestic airline coupons sold in the United States. RouteMapper processes this data to show estimated passenger volumes, average fares, yields, and full itinerary paths between U.S. airport pairs. The higher sample rate (compared to the 10% DB1B product) provides better coverage of thinner markets and reduces sampling variance. Data is published quarterly with a roughly 6-month lag.

How does the wind-adjusted range model work?

The aircraft range engine simulates a full flight profile (takeoff through climb stages, cruise, descent, and approach) using performance data from the Eurocontrol ATC Performance Database. Wind is applied at each phase using the correct pressure level from a 20-year ERA5 climatology dataset. The triangle of velocities method correctly handles both headwinds/tailwinds and crosswind components. The result is a range polygon showing how far an aircraft type can fly in each direction from a given airport, accounting for prevailing winds by month or annually.

What does the network diff feature do?

Network diff compares two airline schedule snapshots and highlights new routes, dropped routes, frequency changes, and fleet swaps. Upload two CSV schedule files (e.g. winter vs summer, or this year vs last year) and the tool colour-codes changes on the map. This is useful for tracking competitor network evolution, identifying seasonal patterns, and briefing stakeholders on market changes.

What map overlays are available?

RouteMapper offers several data overlays: population density (GHS 2025), built-up volume, rail networks (OpenRailwayMap), oil and gas pipelines (OpenInfraMap), airspace boundaries and navaids (OpenAIP), timezones, satellite imagery, and live aircraft positions (ADS-B). Each can be toggled independently from the Map Options panel.