London Gatwick 2.0

[legoboyvdlp]

Now, now, I know, I know. Gatwick is already one of the nicer airports in FlightGear. But it is not as nice as Kansai, and there are missing taxiways.
So...

[legoboyvdlp]

FWIW, that is taxiway / apron Uniform.

I also am thinking about doing some modelling at Heathrow.

[sanhozay]

I'm passing through Heathslow airport on Saturday (T5 and T2) and I have a 4 hour layover the following Saturday. I'll take some pictures of the terminal buildings.

[legoboyvdlp]

Thanks!
Orthographic ones would be best, especially closeups of doors, windows etc.
Also general photos showing it.
Thanks!

[elgaton]

Just a small nitpick - I've noticed that, in your picture, several lines are not exactly parallel/perpendicular as they should be (see e.g. the white lines around the stands). Now, WED does not offer tools to make two lines parallel/perpendicular to each other, but I've prepared a "quick and dirty" spreadsheet you could use to perform those calculations. Tell me if you're interested so I can clean it up and share it.

Also, a tip for the arrows leading the aircraft into the stands (the ones on the left side, connected to the taxiway). For more precise results, you might want to:

1. draw a single line starting from the taxiway and ending after the parking position (the line in red below);
2. split it (select the line, use Ctrl+E repeatedly and move the created points appropriately, one - "A" - at the end of the arrow, and another - "B" - at the beginning of the stand);
3. mark the segment going from A to B as "invisible" (I've marked it as purple in the picture below: just select "A" and, in the Properties panel of WED, select the "Invisible" line type).

This makes it a little easier (in my opinion) to draw the initial line (although you would still need to align A and B manually).

[legoboyvdlp]

Oh, certainly! I would love that

[legoboyvdlp]

Thanks a lot -- I've aligned the top 3 stands a lot better already.
Not perfect, but a lot better

[laserman]

WED does not offer tools to make two lines parallel/perpendicular to each other,

you can duplicate a line and drag it , keeping its orientation.

[elgaton]

Done (I've recreated the spreadsheet from scratch and left only the most important formulae in it). If you've studied analytical geometry in school, most concepts should sound familiar.

To use it, open it, choose the correct geometrical construction (see below) and fill in the required data. Do not alter the fields having a grey background as they are automatically calculated. Pay attention to the notes on each sheet: some formulae do not work if the line you're considering is vertical. Also, keep in mind that, while WED shows you the GPS coordinates as (lat, lon), the spreadsheet asks you to input and read them as (lon, lat). I did this for ease of coding.

Here's a possible way you can trace the stands (the simplest one that has come to my mind). I'm detailing the process as if I had to create them from scratch, for clarity: in your case, you'll just need to adjust the coordinates of the lines you have already drawn.

1. Draw the taxiway leading to the stands.
   
   If the new taxiway needs to be parallel to another one already drawn on the apron, use the "Line + external point" tool in my spreadsheet. In the "Coordinates of the first line AB" section, input the coordinates of two points on the taxiway that is already present. In the "External point P" section, input the coordinates of a point on the new taxiway (take them from OSM). Finally, take the coordinates of the fourth point "4" marking the end of the new taxiway from OSM and input only its longitude in "Line parallel to AB via P -> long4". The spreadsheet will automatically calculate the correct latitude. Draw the line (roughly) in WED and adjust the coordinates of its points by selecting them, one at a time, and changing the latitude/longitude in the Properties box in the right panel.
   
   
   If the new taxiway needs to be perpendicular to another one, the procedure is the same - just use the "Line perpendicular to AB via P -> long4" box instead.
   
   If the new taxiway is neither parallel nor perpendicular to another line, just draw it in WED and ignore the spreadsheet for now.
2. Split the taxiway using Ctrl+E repeatedly, then place the points where the beginning of the lead-in arrows should be. Make sure the points are indeed on the line. For this purpose, you can use again the "Line + external point" tool. Now, the coordinates of A and B are the two end points of the new taxiway (see below). We choose A as the "external" point (even if it's not external...), take the longitude of the point on the taxiway where the lead-in arrow is and let the spreadsheet calculate its latitude. Repeat until you've placed all "lead-in" points. (I admit it's a bit tedious, but making sure the points are aligned on the taxiway is crucial).
   
   
3. Now, create the first stand. Use the "Line + external point" tool a third time to make it perpendicular to the taxiway.
   
   
4. Using the same "split and check alignment" technique I explained before, create the stand. Again, make sure all points are aligned. Use the two extremes of the stand as "A and P" and "B", respectively. I've also added a "parking" line for aircraft by drawing a small segment that is perpendicular to the stand line, but does not intersect it.
   
   
5. Now comes the fun part - replicating the stand. For this, we'll use the "Translation" tool of my spreadsheet. What it does can be thought of as measuring the distance between two points A and B and moving a third point C in the same direction (from A to B) and by the same distance. So, if A and C are the extremes of the stand and B is the lead-in point of the new stand, D will be automatically placed in the correct position.
   
   
6. Do the same to all the other points of the stand, change the line properties as needed and you should have a perfectly aligned copy of the first stand (that's the magic of maths):
   
   
7. Repeat until all the stands are traced.

I've also added some other tools you might found useful, such as the axial symmetry tool and a middle point calculator (for instance, you can use the first one to make sure that the tip of the lead-in arrows is perfectly symmetrical).

@laserman: thanks, I'll check that out.

[legoboyvdlp]

Nice, detailed response. Thanks!
I'll use it