How to obtain access key for ADSBExchange RapidAPI
How to obtain access key for ADSBExchange RapidAPI
To get an access key so that you can view aircraft in the W3SZ/K1RZ Database Map, follow the instructions below. Please note that if you use this ADSBExchange service, then you should also set up your own ADSB receiver so that you supply them with a feed of planes that are locally visible to you.
1. Create an account by clicking on "Sign Up" button in upper right corner of web page (I have sandwiched this between two red arrows in the image below, to make its location more obvious:
2. On the "Sign Up" page, enter your chosen username, email address, and password and click the "Next" button. The "Next" button will be grayed out until you enter the above information. Once you have done so, it will turn blue and then you can click it.
3. After you click "Next" you will see a page like this:
4. You will then be sent an email like the one shown below to the email address that you provided, with a link to verify your email address.
5. Click that link and you will be taken to a page that looks like this:
6. Type "aircraftscatter" without the quotes into the search box (bracketed with red arrows in the image above), and then click on the blue-colored "aircraftscatter" text that appears as shown below.
7. You will then be taken back to the RapidAPI aircraftscatter web page, the link from which you started. Click on the "Go to Playground" button on the bottom of this page:
8. On the right side of the page that appears, shown below, is a section with the heading "Code Snippets". Contained in the code under that heading is your ADSBExchange RapidAPI Key. Copy this key to a safe place NOW! (the key is also shown on the left side of this page, under the heading "App"
9. Just above the "Code Snippits" heading is a blue button with the text "Subscribe to Test". Click on that button, and a page will pop up like the image below. Click on the blue "Start Free Plan" button under the "Basic $0.00/mo" heading.
10. That will cause the following page to appear. Click the "Subscribe" button:
11. You should then see this pop-up:
12. Click the "Get Started" button and you should see the by now familiar page below:
13. On this page, click the blue "Test Endpoint" button as is shown in the image above. After doing this, the area beneath the "Code Snippets" heading should say "200 OK", as you can see in the image above.
14. If all of the above went well, you are now ready to add the ADSBExchange RapidAPI Key to the W3SZ/K1RZ database map. "Cut and paste" the key (without the quotes) into the textbox labeled "ADSBExchangeRapidXKey" on the "Create New User / Setup" form that you open by clicking the "Info" button located in the lower left corner of the W3SZ/K1RZ Database Map. The key shown in the image below is not a valid key.
Also enter a minimum aircraft altitude (in meters, e.g. 10000) on the same form, in the text box labeled "Minimum Aircraft Altitude (m)".
Then click the "Create an account" button on the "Create New User / Setup" form. This will save the information that you entered. An alert box will pop up showing the information that you entered on the "Create New User / Setup" form. Confirm that the ADSBExchange Key as shown in this alert form is the same as your saved key, and that you have not inadvertently cut off the beginning or ending characters, or inadvertently added spaces to the beginning or the end of the key. You should now be ready to display aircraft on the W3SZ/K1RZ database map. Note that if you previously used the old version of the map without the AC or SH buttons, you will need to type Cntl-F5 in order to load the new code into your browser properly.
If when you hit the "Create an Account" button after entering the ADSBExchangeRapidX Key you get an error message regarding the contents of the Grid, Call, or MyAltitude boxes, then you need to delete entirely the contents of those 3 text boxes and re-enter that information again manually. An example of such an error message appearing in this context is shown in the image below:
13. Finally, please set up a receive station so that you can supply ADSBExchange with aircraft that are detectable at your location. You can find more details on how to do this at this ADSBExchange web page:
If you get an alert box when trying to use the aircraft display function of the W3SZ/K1RZ database map after doing the above, then you have made a mistake which you will need to resolve before you can use the aircraft display function.
