It would appear that the latest bing satellite imagery is now live in both sims? if so, this is great news and also confirmation that “things” are happening behind the curtains,
can anyone confirm around your area? Parking lots are ideal for this.
Bing maps:
2020:
2024:
I have also noticed this, some things are improved in my area which didn’t exist before. This looks promising if that’s the case!
Whatever satellite imagery Bing has live is what MSFS use.
There is a boundary across England where one side is Spring with green fields, and the other is late summer with harvested fields.
Pilot’s dictum.
Never use farmland as a Visual Reference.
What dissapointed me was Bing didn’t bring us a White Christmas.
I do not believe that is true Cleverer. In any case not for my location. It is now the same, but a few weeks back most certainly not.
That is not correct. MSFS was always behind the current Bing maps aerial imagery. The building i could see on Bing maps was not apparent in MSFS. I think MSFS needs color correction for Bing maps, that must be why…
i think you are correct, msfs doesnt feed directly from bing
they take what they call a “snapshot”, essentially making a copy, and then stream it from their own msfs servers, most likely to apply some processing magic of their own, and they used to be way outdated, in my area they were from like 2013 or something…
now its up to date, i would very much like to know if it is global
correct. they remap the bing images to the MSFS coordinate system, postprocess, maybe fix some tiling, and have a “hard” copy on the MSFS servers. great to see that they have a refresh
@TOLOWTERRAIN723 What am I missing something that indicates a Bing update? While there appear to be fewer PG trees in 2024, the same cars and trailers seem to be parked in the exactly same places in all three screen shots.
The first screenshot is a current view of Bing.
The second and third screenshots show the same current image from Bing in each of the simulators.
Previously, what was on Bing would be different when that same location is viewed in each sim.
All three being the same is indicating that each sim and Bing are all presenting the same, updated imagery.
I still have the other one’s in Phoenix. Still no;
Bank One Ball Park
ASU Stadium
Cardnals Stadium
Talking Stick Casino etc
If true, they’re cherry-picking certain areas, its most definitely not global…case in point:
Keep in mind, I only have 2020, not 2024.
This project was done about 10 years ago IRL, as it is today on Bing:
In the sim, MSFS2020, as of Feb 2nd 2025:
Its not only still in progress, it has actual photogrammetry capturing it as it was getting built 5+ years before the sim even existed.
but photogrammetry areas are a different deal, they will take much longer to update since they need to fly an airplane over the area
I was wondering why the LA area looked worse
Fair enough, and when I do turn PG off it reveals newer sat data underneath. However, whats the point of not playing with PG if I have the hardware to do it just for new data. It either looks like ■■■■ with generic buildings and slightly updated bing data, or half-decent PG with data longggg before the sim existed.
Anyway, you’re still wrong in thinking this is a global update and matching bing as you see it now, it definitely isn’t. The sat data around that area was still outdated somewhat, and looking at projects around my area the sat data still looks 2029-2020 era with PG off. With PG on, its easily 10+.
It’s been a 12 story building for at least 8 years.
My mistake! Cardinals stadium and sun devils stadium are there but they are flat.
I could give a rats derriere about parking lots. Someone needs to fix the missing roads and bridges! Go to KGSO and drone out to the checkered water tower. The sim knows that there are supposed to be roads there - there are cars driving through the grass and even in the air and over the trees where one particular on-ramp to NC Hwy 68 is supposed to be. Those roads have been their for over a decade, and show up on Bing Maps, so why can’t they be represented in the sim correctly?
Bing Maps:
In the Sim - note the cars driving over the trees in the second shot:
I believe the roads are coming from OSM data, not the aerials. That’s updated a lot more often, but I don’t know how often it’s ingested into the sim.
the cars are probably on the road of an underlying satellite image, underneath the photogrammetry, which this topic is not really about
@NixonRedgrave Thanks. I get it now.
