1 - Introduction
SafeSky is a platform focused on enhancing situational awareness in lower airspace. SafeSky operates as a traffic aggregation system that combines positional data from multiple complementary layers to deliver a comprehensive live view of the lower airspace:
- Ground station layer: aggregation of traffic from more than 16,000 ground stations, collecting cooperative signals such as ADS-B, ADS-L, Mode S, FLARM, FANET, OGN Tracker, PilotAware, FlyingNeuron and others.
- Mobile application layer: the SafeSky app is a source of cooperative traffic representing a community of more than 100,000 pilots across 14 aircraft categories.
- Third-party integrations: direct API integrations with external hardware platforms, software solutions, and drone operator systems.
The SafeSky Public REST API provides open access to anonymised traffic data, enabling developers to build content, apps, websites, and other projects that benefit from SafeSky's data integration.
By using this API, you are accepting the SafeSky Data Use Policy.
API Gateway & Endpoint
All API traffic is routed through a single gateway endpoint:
- Base URL:
https://public-api.safesky.app - Swagger UI: public-api.safesky.app/swagger-ui/index.html
Environments
| Environment | Base URL | Traffic viewer |
|---|---|---|
| Production | https://public-api.safesky.app |
live.safesky.app |
| Sandbox | https://sandbox-public-api.safesky.app |
sandbox-live.safesky.app |
Your API key determines which environment your requests are routed to. See Environments & Platform Status for full details.
Available APIs
The Public REST API is organised into three categories:
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
| Stats API | Network-wide statistics about the SafeSky ecosystem |
| Health API | Service availability check |
| Beacon API | Live aircraft position data based on the open ADS-BI protocol |
Introduction to ADS-BI
ADS-BI (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast-Internet) is an open protocol used by SafeSky to exchange aircraft position data.
This protocol is directly derived from the standard aviation ADS-B protocol (Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast): a surveillance technology in which an aircraft determines its position via satellite navigation or other sensors and periodically broadcasts it, enabling it to be tracked.
The major difference from the ADS-B protocol is that ADS-B operates over radio signal frequency at 1090 MHz or 978 MHz, whereas ADS-BI provides the same information as a lightweight internet protocol based on JSON format.
The JSON format is available in two flavours:
- A verbose version, encapsulating all fields in a human-readable format.
- An optimised version as a JSON array, where each element has a precise position in the array.
In its optimised version, a typical message has a size of 150 bytes — which means 1 hour of flight time fits into ~50 KB — making it suitable for low internet conditions.
Best practice: Poll for position updates every 5 seconds to receive relevant updated positions. The API returns aircraft positions as transmitted. If you intend to display animated traffic, it is your responsibility to extrapolate the traffic display from aircraft velocity between two polling cycles.
Support
For assistance or further inquiries, contact support@safesky.app or visit safesky.app.