This may have already been covered in a separate thread, but is there now a definitive list of 3D photogrammetry cities/regions? I searched for articles from Bing maps but I couldn’t find a solid list of everything available. And I also can’t install World Viewer because the only PC I have is a work PC and it’s hard to install anything (even from the MS Store!)
FWIW I don’t have the Sim yet as I am remodeling my house. Some of the refinance will pay for a PC and Sim Rig good enough to run and get the most out of it (will MSFS support full-motion!?), so for now I’m just geeking out at YouTube videos!
Why did I find this so hard to find? Thanks for sharing! I assume that every city on this list will look a bit more impressive in FS2020? Or is that too much of an expectation?
I just noticed that Sarasota is on there, which is where I live I’m originally from the UK but no cities there
Well the biggest issue here is that Bing Maps is a Microsoft product, so they’re probably not having to pay anything to get access to that data. Until Google produces a high-fidelity flight simulator, Bing Maps will be it.
I do think this technology will spur a new flurry of Bing 3d areas as Microsoft/Asobo/Blackshark.AI start to realize the commercial opportunities this will bring
Not that I can see. And I’m unsure of the process that these companies employ to do this, and cost associated with it. There would have to be an obvious business case and return on investment and I’m not sure FS2020 on its own would be enough
If they spun off a next generation P3D or something similar to Lockheed, then there would be a big commercial attraction to all those use cases. Military, fire, police, utilities. The opportunities are endless. That would be a big argument to invest more in high-fidelity satellite imagery etc, as you can imagine every military organization, law enforcement, energy provider etc in the world could simulate their own back yard and MS/Asobo/Lockheed Martin would have an algorithmic platform already established. It would be a killer money-maker, in theory
Barcelona has some incredible artifacts. It’s amazing how they have not been corrected before the final build. There’s like 5 or 6 skyscrapers (the tallest in the city in the sim) that don’t exist in real life. They are located 1NM to the right on short final 25r. It gives away all the immersion.
Found this interesting article from 2012. I don’t think we’ve seen the end of photorealistic content. Apparently MS has something called the “Global Ortho” program.
I think the above, combined with their 45-degree “birds eye” imagery, is what will be needed, and it looks like they’re expanding that as well based on the below article. It doesn’t have the same coverage as the ortho, but it’s cool to see that it’s in the works. Hopefully this ends up in FS at some point.
It’s definitely interesting. A few years ago, when the Apple app store was getting into full swing and offering app developers ‘the world’ in exchange for a 30% cut of their revenue, I was wondering how they’d apply the concept to something like Flight Sim with its vast community of 3rd party, paid developers. It looks like that idea is now becoming a reality. I really have no idea what the total addressable market is for recreational flight simulators but it’s got to be pretty sizable.
but for anyone else just click on the three dots then 3D Cities:
