The present disclosure relates generally to retrieving and storing information pertaining to parts in a vehicle, such as an aircraft, and more specifically to retrieving and storing data based on locations of aircraft parts in one or more three dimensional models.
Aircraft are modeled and designed using three dimensional (“3D”) computer aided design (“CAD”) software. As a result, virtually every part of the aircraft is defined in 3D, including structure, mechanical systems, electrical systems, and propulsion systems. Within a 3D CAD database, each part may have various attributes associated with it, such as geometry information (e.g., centroid coordinates, shape, and volume), weight information, and vendor information. Many 3D CAD database systems enable a user to use 3D navigation to find data stored within the CAD database that is associated with a part or parts. However, it is not always convenient to store all information associated with aircraft parts in a 3D CAD database or in a format that indexes information in association with 3D locations within an aircraft. Accordingly, aircraft manufacturers (OEM) and/or airlines who own and/or operate aircraft may use multiple database systems that have different formats and that are indexed in different manners to store and deliver information about aircraft parts (e.g., manufacturing data, aircraft maintenance data, aircraft repair data, and/or spare parts data). As a result, aircraft part information stored in one database, such as a maintenance database, may not be accessible to a user using a system interface designed for use with another database, such as a 3D CAD database.