Plain English Meaning

It is the agreement across the aviation industry to put navigation information into aircraft computers using the same rules, so a published procedure flies the same way no matter whose equipment or database is in the cockpit.

Full Definition

The industry-wide effort to ensure that the navigation data loaded into aircraft flight management systems (FMS) and GPS receivers is built, coded, and presented to a common set of rules — most notably ARINC 424, which specifies how waypoints, procedures, airways, and approach paths are stored — so that procedures fly the same way regardless of which avionics manufacturer or database supplier produced the data.