Obstruction Watch
FAA Obstruction Activity Monitor
Monitors FAA obstruction activity near airports and radar sites — proposed OE/AAA cases, built obstacles from the Digital Obstacle File, obstruction NOTAMs, watch areas with alerting, Part 77 and TERPS surfaces, and land-use intelligence on one map.
A crane filed today, a tower determined last month, a structure that is standing but never made the obstacle file — obstruction activity near an airport arrives through several FAA channels on different clocks. Obstruction Watch monitors all of them in one place for the airports and radar sites you care about.
It tracks proposed OE/AAA cases as they are filed and determined, built obstacles from the Digital Obstacle File and its daily changes, and obstruction NOTAMs that confirm a structure is up now. Watch areas raise alerts on new filings, determinations, and expiries, and the map tests every case against Part 77 imaginary surfaces, TERPS protection surfaces, runway approach profiles, and the surrounding airspace.
Capabilities
Every obstruction signal near an airport, on one map
OE/AAA case pipeline
Proposed 7460 filings from the FAA OE/AAA service, with case detail, letters, determinations, and a timeline of filings and status transitions.
Digital Obstacle File
Built obstacles from the DOF cycle base and its daily ADD / change / REMOVE deltas, with obstacle symbology by type and lighting.
Obstruction NOTAMs
NOTAMs that report a structure standing now, joined to the filed case by its study number — the fastest confirmation that a filed crane is up.
Watch areas and alerting
Rings around airports and radar sites with per-user rules on height, filer, structure type, and event kind; alerts for new filings, determinations, expiring determinations, and lead signals.
Airspace surfaces
Part 77 imaginary surfaces, TERPS protection surfaces, runway approach profiles, and Class B/C/D and special-use airspace, drawn with the cases on a deck.gl map.
Land use intelligence
Parcels, zoning, permits, land-use applications, and vacant land around the airport, alongside the obstruction picture.
Architecture
How it works
1 · Ingest
The FAA OE/AAA service, the Digital Obstacle File and its daily changes, NASR radar and runway data, and obstruction NOTAMs are collected on their own cadences — files first, roughly six small service calls a day.
2 · Model
Cases and obstacles are located against airports, radar sites, and protection surfaces; status transitions, expiries, and lead signals become events matched to each watch area.
3 · Deliver
A map, case and statistics views, a timeline and roadmap of expiries, alerts, exports, and a public obstruction API for what is standing near an airport or along a route.
Technical profile
At a glance
- Data inputs
- FAA OE/AAA service, Digital Obstacle File (cycle base and daily changes), obstruction NOTAMs, NASR radar and runway data, airport reference data
- Standards
- 14 CFR Part 77 imaginary surfaces; FAA TERPS protection surfaces
- Core methods
- Case and obstacle geolocation, surface penetration tests, status-transition tracking, event matching per watch area
- Outputs
- Map and case views, statistics, timeline and expiry roadmap, alerts, exports, GeoJSON obstruction API
- Delivery
- Web application at obstructions.cignus.ai and the obstruction API
- Platform
- Helios — Cignus’s AWS-native aviation data and AI platform
- Access
- Role-based, enforced per request at the Helios API layer — not inside the application
FAQ
Common questions
Is Obstruction Watch for navigation?
No. It is a monitoring and analysis tool; the FAA’s publications remain the authority for navigation.
How is it different from GeoSky?
GeoSky evaluates a proposed structure or site against the airspace; Obstruction Watch monitors what is being filed and built around the airports and radar sites you watch.
How is access controlled?
By role, at the API layer. Every request to Helios passes through interceptors that check the caller’s role and scope before any data is returned, so the same rules apply whether the request comes from the application, an API client, or an integration. Nothing is governed inside the application itself.
See Obstruction Watch in action
We will walk through it on data from your airport or airspace and discuss how it fits your operation.