Exactly. As I recall early on, that is also why Asobo/Microsoft have stated that this is going to be a ~decade sim, that is constantly evolving. Perhaps in time, some of the evolution will occur at a much faster rate, but for the time, we all need to have patience.
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I am not sure Jorg meant they were using current imagery, just that it streams in real time, which it does.
I recall getting the impression they would update maps to keep them current from the earliest Q&A sessions too, but now I wonder if that was just what I imagined, âWorld Updateâ would mean.
And the more I think of it, I am not sure the most current maps would be ideal. Although, in many and likely most cases they would be.
But a lot of the time you would just be trading old flawed satellite and photogrammetry images for new ones, so the flaws would just be different flaws.
What I really think would be golden is if they ran machine learning on every updated Bing map since their current map released. Learn to detect when things change. Learn when a tile could be replaced with a cloud free image. Learn to prioritize changes and quality to keep maps looking their best and their newest. Learn when the colors best match neighboring tiles.
A patchwork globe comprised of many Bing maps old and new could be quilted together using the same kinds of tools that gave us the current map.
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Cool.
And while I am much better at snark than you, I respect that you can give it back. 
Now best we get back on topic before a mod yells at us.
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The bing map data (and open street data) used in MSFS is a snapshotted version from a few years ago. It may get updated regionally along with each world update. The reason is that thereâs a lot of post processing performed on the data within MSFS itself and your session in MSFS is fed with this post-processed image data. Unfortunately I guess a lot of post-processing is manual correction and therefore itâs not easy to automate in a systematic way.
I wish MSFS could leverage more AI capability on this processing though; however the R&S cost may be more than the cost of manual correction
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Black shark AI is the real issue I think. Their airport generation is poor⊠The default airports look like public housingâŠand they city buildings are just uninteresting and are littered with errors in elevation and material types.
Residential homes and warehouses are pretty good. Non photogrammetry based trees are solid.
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Most residential buildings look like barns !!
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There is a big world outside AustraliaâŠ
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Soon Europe will be blank .Iâm glad I only fly In OZ
Technically, residential building ARE barns⊠for people.
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Doesnât matter, Bing seems fine where i fly in Japan and Europe.
Google will never be a thing in the MSFS AI and i think the sim is great. This is leaps and bounds above older sims when it comes to world visuals.
And maybe Google Flight Simulator is also better.
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Although I can understand that 10+ year old satellite images is not ideal, itâs not the most important thing to fix for Bing IMHO.
The worst part about Bing Maps is all the clouds. Bing doesnât seem to bother taking new images in places where clouds cover the ground. Meaning a lot of places in Flight Simulator has a light green/white shade where it should be grass/forest green.
That doesnât affect only your developing neighbourhood, which might have changed rapidly the last 5 years, but all over the Flight Simulator planet we fly above. It really breaks immersion when you are flying above areas where larger patches of the ground has a weird and not that natural bright green shade.
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It is clear that it is not necessary to post-process the âsatellite imageâ data to display the ground. My PC has no problem processing the current Bing maps as I fly.
I accept that for AI 3D buildings itâd be different. But thatâs not whatâs under discussion here.
There will be edge cases where not only are the latest Bing photos clearest and sharper but they also show changes that arenât reflected in the AI buildings, but thatâs not a problem.
What is under discussion is that the World Map and the flying experience doesnât show most roads and railroads that could be followed for VFR flight plans.
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There are newer, better, Bing Maps. Why doesnât MSFS use them?
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It doesnât? The ground detail is more than sufficient to use VFR Sectional and Terminal Area Charts. The only add-ons I use is the âWe Love VFR Region 1 & 2â for smokestacks and 5G and other antennae.
Agree with PacificSet90456 here, I use real VFR charts (in both physical and electronic form) all the time and also use the We Love VFR addon by PuffinFlight. I constantly find myself looking around outside with TrackIR and referencing charts. Itâs really, really fun.
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I didnât see this question on the q&a section for March 2nd. I invite you to put it there and see how many people will vote for it. Maybe with some pictures to illustrate where you find it especially annoying.
I see in the readme.txt it says if you want to see antenna etc you need to install the pack from marketplace called âUSA - points of interestâ but I could find no such pack.
A search for anything like that only brings up the USA World Update.
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Does Bing Maps need updating?
Yes it does and no doubt it will be, given time.
Having said that, we knew what we were buying. A Microsoft flight sim based on Microsofts Bing Maps and that seems fair enough, Iâm happy with that part of the purchase. We knew what it looked like when we handed over the cash.
I would much prefer it if we all shouted loud about Bugs and Dysfunctional features. An updated Bing Maps is not what the sim needs at the moment IMO.
Imagine if we bought a car which we had admired in the showroom and apon delivery it had several features broken. We would be right to complain. Then imagine if we told the auto salesman that we also didnât like the looks of the car and asked him to fix it.
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