Bing Maps needs update, NOW!

Forgive me if this is the wrong section, but here goes. I’m totally grateful that Canada has finally been updated in MSFS but am disappointed that my home area (Northeastern Canada) is still 10 years behind in Bing Maps. I’ve been looking to contact Bing himself (lol) but not having any luck. Do any of you know that if it does update, will MSFS update this data also? Thanks :crazy_face:

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Hello @Fenson63,
I’ve moved your topic into General Discussion > Feedback. :+1:

There was a very brief response about this on one of the Q&A’s:

Why do we have outdated Bing Maps?

Jorg - It depends on what do you mean with ‘Bing Maps’. There are 3 things, TIN cities, Areal, DEM data.

3D cities: We are congruent with what they have. There are some cities that we have that are on Flight Sim and not on Bing map and vice versa. There will be a time when Bing will have some cities that we don’t have yet on Flight Sim, and some work will need to be done to those cities to work in MSFS (tree removal/Watermask/Color correction).

On the DEM side, Bing team need is not necessarily the same as ours. Therefore, we are building this new team now on the Flight Sim side. Also, Bing map is 2,5D, we are 3D and some extra work needs to be done.

ref: https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/live-dev-q-a-october-20-2021/466120

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It’s a skill and art to make a simple question look so complicated that you manage to talk and talk and not give an answer anyway. 2,5D, holy Mary…

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sounds more like a politicians’ approach to me, simple questions never seem to get simple answers :crazy_face:

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There are roads around KGSO (Interstate highways) that have been in use for several years, but are still missing from the sim. Oddly enough, if you take the drone to where these roads are supposed to be, there are cars driving around on the dirt where the roads should be.

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Drivers should not use aviation charts for navigation. Pilots should not use street maps for navigation. MSFS is a Flight Simulator, not a driving simulator. If it was a driving simulator, the expectation would be to show accurate roads for automobile navigation. Since MSFS is a Flight Simulator it should contain everything needed to navigate aircraft. VFR charts contain geographic information necessary for VFR navigation. MSFS should contain all the information found on VFR charts so that MSFS VFR pilots can navigate in the MSFS world. If the missing highways you mention are not in the VFR sectional, then that shouldn’t be a problem for pilots. However, I would be more concerned if KGSO was missing a runway in MSFS. If a highway is missing needed to drive to KGSO parking, I would not be concerned.

Accuracy and realism are very important for MSFS. And each of us have our definition and expectation of accuracy and realism. My expectation is that MSFS (or any flight simulator) is accurate and realistic for me to fly from point A to point B. The beautiful scenery in MSFS even though it may not always be 100% accurate adds significantly to my enjoyment and makes MSFS better than other simulators.

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2.5D is a pretty common term in game dev circles - I assume in this case it refers to Bing’s ability to “look like 3D” from very specific angles, which is not sufficient for a flight simulator with six degrees of freedom in movement.

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I thought the answer in this thread was clear. They’re working on it. It isn’t just ‘plug n play’ there is a lot of work to be done to incorporate the bing and other map / topography data into MSFS scenery.
Takes time. I have no problem with any of that.

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I think it will always be a few years old because it’s probably not that important to them. I would say most areas are fine except when someone knows a very well the area. Same thing with happen with land features as well. Lake Mead for example is pretty full compared to what it looks like now. For me I am ok with it being outdated

Several posts removed.
A reminder that the use of streaming maps that are not Bing is not supported in MSFS. Posting of such addons will be removed due to legalities and copyright that is not owned Microsoft.

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Example: I reported the Photogrammetry city of Pensacola, FL (KPNS) where all the bridges have spans missing or the entire bridge is missing.
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The Interstate 10 bridge and the 3 mile bridge from Pensacola to Gulf Breeze is missing spans since release of MSFS and several tickets have been submitted with replies from ZenDesk.
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Even the bridge linking Pensacola to NAS Pensacola (Home of the Navy’s Famous Blue Angels) is missing.
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Even the vehicle traffic flows under the 3 mile bridge, probably due to the missing span flaws.
O well, we gave up on having a fix any time soon… But we will adore our MSFS !

Somebody’s never flown IFR. :thinking:

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I have never used a street map while flying IFR but it’s entirely possible I’ve been doing it wrong all this time.

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(It’s a joke… IFR = I Follow Roads)

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The problem is, the people asking “simple” questions have no idea the complexity behind doing what they are asking to be done. That’s the reason the answer sounds complex.

Updating the data in MSFS from BING maps is NOT simple, takes oodles of time, and is very resource intensive, IOW, it takes a TON of people hours to do the work. You can’t just copy paste BING data into MSFS, you have to search every square inch for clouds and tons of other stuff that will stick out like a sore thumb in MSFS. You have to color match the data (look at all the complaints about the line through Calgary I think it was where different time of day data was used on one half vs the other.). And there’s lots more work that needs to be done. Hence, they can only convert “small” areas at a time. The world is a big place.

Again, as I’ve said in the past, they have a plan, they’re getting a ton done, and they are using their resources as efficiently as they can. They may get to converting BING data… Ultimately, you should ask yourself how important it really is to flying. Accurate airports, I’d agree with that. But, sorry, your hometown street, eh… MY hometown street, yeah, that’s super important… :wink:

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You said it: “It’s not as easy as you think, we’re working on it but it will take a lot of time.”

No sin or tin or whatever cities, DEM, 2,5D… straight answer: not as easy as it seems.

What people want is first of all up to date landscape. A road that’s been there for years but is not in the sim, a whole neighborhood that has been there for almost a decade etc. Why is Bing stone old? Google or Apple are much more up to date, why is MS that far behind? Sure, because nobody uses MS for that stuff but maybe that has a reason? That’s the question that was asked, not TIN, DEM, 2,5D. Jörg is probably not the right person to ask for Bing Maps but MSFS is something like a new flagship in MS’ marketing. It’s astonishing that they seem to care so little.

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I think you’re either overestimating the importance of MSFS, or underestimating just how big Microsoft is. If you are one of the three big players in the cloud game, and sell by far the most used desktop operating system, a flight sim is not your “flagship”.

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Not everyone flies by “the book” in MSFS. Some of us do it strictly for “entertainment purposes” (after all it’s just a game) with low and slow flights over familiar territory such as our home towns…just sayin’. :upside_down_face:

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We’re talking about the gaming part here obviously.

And??

So, for “entertainment purposes”… Microsoft and Asobo should overbook their resources from other things, using people who have no clue how to work with and manage GIS information, so a few streets are more correct? I’m sorry, I don’t get it.

Obviously, Microsoft does not have an inroad in hand held devices where most of the publicly used commercial GIS product data is used, so, I’m trying to understand why they should invest more there? Do they have a chance against Google Maps?

I don’t know, Microsoft isn’t as big into the GIS game as Google?
And since when is Apple ahead of Bing? What GIS products to they have?