fixm-avro

The fixm-avro library implements FIXM-specific databindings and logic for converting FIXM XML to and from Avro format. It makes use of xml-avro-converter, a generic library for converting XML schemas and data between Avro format.

Motivation
FIXM is an XML standard for the exchange of flight information, developed as part of a collaboration between the Federal Aviation Administration, Eurocontrol, and other international aviation and data standards organizations.

The authors have observed that typical FIXM documents in Avro format are approximately 60% of the size in XML format. This size reduction was comparable to EXI compression of the same XML document. Furthermore, converting XML data into Avro format enables analysts to leverage FIXM data with all the benefits of Avro format and its integration with Apache Hadoop and other data analytics systems. The authors have demonstrated that when FIXM XML documents are converted to Avro and back to XML, both the original XML document and the XML document generated from the Avro data stream are identical, enabling users to store and transport FIXM documents in the format of their choosing, as they can decide whether XML or Avro format is more appropriate for their bandwidth and storage requirements.