When I started using MSFS 2020, I was somewhat annoyed that I was seeing something that’s not really there in the real world. I frequently fly from Cobb County airport (KRYY) to Chattanooga (KCHA). On my way there, I kept seeing this very annoying WIND MILL, thinking it’s not really there in the real world, and wondering when they were going to get rid of it. Finally, I saw it again this morning and decided to check and see if it’s really there.
Paying close attention to where this SHOULD be, I found (while flying) that it should be at a place not far up I-75 from where I live - Tellus Science Museum. Well, that sounds POSSIBLE . . . So after landing in Chattanooga, I exited the game and went to Google Earth.
You guessed it . . . Tellus actually DOES have a wind mill at their museum!!
Well for me I have certainly flown over my local area and found odd things - industrial buildings in hollows, dirt racing tracks etc - stuff not usually seen. Then I have googled them and found out a lot more about my area.
I think also we will all have far better knowledge of geography thanks to this sim - where countries are, the type of homes there etc. Even with previous MS sims I have known far more about where cities and states in the USA for example are. We get plenty of American visitors here (scotland) and they have mostly been amazed when I ask where they are from and I can say “oh yes - that’s near XXX isn’t it”
The first thing I learned is how different places look in the air compared to on the ground. I’ve lived in this area my whole life and I’m used to using Google Maps to find addresses, but I rarely ever use Satellite view. When mentally trying to find an address I can picture the maps in my head, but flying over top of the same area is so different. I’m trying to reduce it to lines to figure out where I am
Well I’ve certainly learned something about my area. You see, I farm sheep and pigs and right where the sties are situated someone’s built a massive office block and, what’s more, without my or the local planning committee’s authority.
I haven’t learned anything about where I live, but I’ve learned a lot about the rest of the world.
One thing that always strikes me is the geology, namely, how much the flow of water (including frozen water like glaciers) has shaped the earth, and also plate tectonics and vulcanism.
Around the time that this sim dropped I bumped into a professor named Nick Zenter on Youtube. I allow his lectures to play in the background and go fly over the area’s he talks about in his YT videos. Quite fascinating and he has an excellent delivery. Here is an example I watched before flying the over Washington state area.
Not close to where I live, but I learned something new about the opposite side of Canada this week. There’s a couple of islands belonging to France about 20 km off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador called Saint Pierre and Miquelon. Not the east coast like I’d expect if someone told me this, but the west coast between NL and Nova Scotia.
One thing I really like is to be able to visit a little tin pot country town and be able to find the house i stayed in, being able to identify the pub and the supermarket. And all with AI generated buildings, in a town 99.9999% of simmers will never visit.
