The safety and regularity of airport operations are influenced by the landing use around it. In order to preserve safety of instrument landing operations at airports, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has established an imaginary surface called Visual Segment Surface (VSS). Any object, natural or artificial which extends above the surface is considered an obstacle. Obstacles can generate a lot of restrictions, such as the cancellation of the instrument approach procedure. This study aims at developing a methodology for using Geographic Information System (GIS) to support management of obstacles in VSS. As a case study, Campo de Marte Airport, in São Paulo, was selected, in which the existence of obstacles can derail the implementation of instrument approach procedures. Two tools were used, a GIS desktop and a WEBGIS. The GIS application was effective in the analysis of obstacles, even without using a suite of tools for 3D analysis. The application was enough to integrate spatial analysis in two dimensions with a query based on analytical geometry concepts.
GIS; Airport; VSS; Obstacles; Spatial Analysis
