diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 4a435860c..cb414a521 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -57,6 +57,9 @@ set(CMAKE_OSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET "10.9" CACHE STRING "Minimum OS X deployment ver
 
 project(FlightGear)
 
+# Define SRC_PARENT_DIR as the parent directory of the project source directory
+get_filename_component(SRC_PARENT_DIR ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR} DIRECTORY)
+
 # We have some custom .cmake scripts not in the official distribution.
 set(CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/CMakeModules;${CMAKE_MODULE_PATH}")
 set_property(GLOBAL PROPERTY FIND_LIBRARY_USE_LIB64_PATHS TRUE)
@@ -94,6 +97,9 @@ include( ConfigureCPack )
 # FlightGear base package path
 if (FG_DATA_DIR)
     message(STATUS "Using explicit data directory for base package: ${FG_DATA_DIR}")
+elseif(IS_DIRECTORY "${SRC_PARENT_DIR}/fgdata")
+    set(FG_DATA_DIR "${SRC_PARENT_DIR}/fgdata")
+    message(STATUS "Using data directory for base package: ${FG_DATA_DIR}")
 else()
     set(FG_DATA_DIR "${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/lib/FlightGear" CACHE PATH "Default location where data files are located")
     message(STATUS "Using default data directory for base package:  ${FG_DATA_DIR}")
diff --git a/CMakeModules/Translations.cmake b/CMakeModules/Translations.cmake
index 7dca6c510..49e4c2c2d 100644
--- a/CMakeModules/Translations.cmake
+++ b/CMakeModules/Translations.cmake
@@ -1,15 +1,12 @@
-
-GET_FILENAME_COMPONENT(SRC_PARENT_DIR ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR} PATH)
-SET(FGDATA_SRC_DIR "${SRC_PARENT_DIR}/fgdata")
 set(xlf_file "en_US/FlightGear-Qt.xlf")
 
 if(EXISTS "${TRANSLATIONS_SRC_DIR}/${xlf_file}")
     message(STATUS "Using explicitly defined translations from: ${TRANSLATIONS_SRC_DIR}")
     set(do_translate TRUE)
-elseif(EXISTS "${FGDATA_SRC_DIR}/Translations/${xlf_file}")
-    SET(TRANSLATIONS_SRC_DIR "${FGDATA_SRC_DIR}/Translations")
-    message(STATUS "Found translations dir implicitly: ${TRANSLATIONS_SRC_DIR}")
+elseif(EXISTS "${FG_DATA_DIR}/Translations/${xlf_file}")
+    set(TRANSLATIONS_SRC_DIR "${FG_DATA_DIR}/Translations")
     set(do_translate TRUE)
+    message(STATUS "Found translations dir implicitly: ${TRANSLATIONS_SRC_DIR}")
 else()
     message(STATUS "Couldn't find translations data, will not include translated string in the executable")
     set(do_translate FALSE)