Wondering if anyone knows the DEM of the Grand Canyon? is it super high res like some new places in the world? or is it still pretty low like it used to?
I donāt think itās changed. Itās not super fantastic looking, but itās hella fun to fly down in a fairly fast plane like a WWII fighter!
Not sure about thatā¦ While speeding through at max possible power in the MB339 I wasnāt able to look close to the details.
I also flew there IRL as a passenger of a Bell Jetranger 206 and it was amazing.
some places now have 1m DEM (I think parts of Hawaii) and itās a complete game changer in terms of low-level flying and immersion. I was hoping the Grand Canyon has gotten that level of treatment but wasnāt sure
Sorry for asking a question out of ignoranceā¦
But what is āDEMā?
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Digital Elevation Model
Basically the terrain mesh resolution and accuracy of detail that sattelite imagery is wrapped over.
Iām guessing they are saving the improved Grand Canyon for 2024. The screenshot they showed of it looks pretty amazing!
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I think in MSFS 2024 they are switching it to TIN which should be a good upgrade from textures on DEM.
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Ah yes youāre right.
Strictly speaking, youāre still right, a TIN is a vector format DEM rather than a rasterized DEM. I think one of the advantages of TIN is that of file size, they can be much smaller as they are made of vector nodes rather than individual pixels.
You get a texture per face with TIN rather than a single texture which needs to be stretched like a film over an irregular surface. This is why TIN should provide a massive improvement in cliff faces and areas where there are a lot of rough/rocky surfaces, whereas texture on DEM gives those nasty stretched surfaces with no detail on cliffs, and smoothes out rocky surfaces and jagged peaks.
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if they can fix those stretched textures on cliffs and mountains iād never complain about anything in MSFS again 
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LOL. Youāll find something Iām sure
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But will they really turn the whole world into TIN? Or just select spots, basically nature POIs? Like grand canyon, specific mountains etc. Or will it be nearly everywhere? That would be sick!
We have no idea. Pessimist says they will have to fly over to get imagery just like the cities while optimist says they will use AI or have some unknown new satellite based imagery they can use for this, and maybe overfly special areas only, such as GC.
Half of me dearly hopes not, as we really donāt want a fully wonky world everywhere.
The other half of me hopes they found a way to do it but make it visually appealing with no glitches.
On past experience I have to say my first half is winning until I see something they want to show!
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Sure, was more of a rhetorical question. Although if I remember correctly, in the EXPO talk they gave it did sound like they are AI generating 3D Landmarks based on 2D imagery, something like that.
I just hope it wont just be a few selected POIs
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But then new imagery is needed for the vertical (and near vertical) faces. Those cannot be produced by satellites or flying over it, they have to be taken horizontally. If they instead use artificial material the vertical faces may look inaccurate but surely better than before.
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If you rewatch the trailer again and pause it where we get to have a good view of the terrain it does look night and day better than what weāve currently got. I canāt wait to see how it all comes together.
This evening Iāve just been flying low and slow through the Swiss alps in the Hype H-160. It was a spectacular flight but the sim is so ruined by those horrible stretched photo textures, as well as terrain morphing. If Asobo have fixed all that Iāll gladly give them all the money they want.
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