What I find interesting is the fact that taxiway data is available on OpenStreeMap.
Most airports on OSM have taxiway names already. For example KBWI
You can clearly see the taxiway names are marked, and yet in the sim they are randomly generated. (On the topic of KBWI, How is it despite having 3D scanned imagery the airport is missing 15-33L and 4-22 is still there. It seems the latest Bing imagery for the airport is from 2012…)
Agree with Doni tho. Being able edit existing airports would be a welcome feature too. My home airport desperately needs some TLC…
It gets even better. In EDDH for example is a detailed runway with taxiways, correct signs and markings, but the controller tells you total ■■■■■■■■, when giving you taxi instructions!
Okay, most of the buildings are questionable too and sometimes you have lights in the middle of the taxiway, but other than that, I dont get why they didnt get EDDH right, when they had the correct taxiway numbers!
Why they are not using the OSM data? Because they are using exclusively Bing Maps!
Just an update for you all this is the response I received from MSFS support-crossing my fingers it won’t cost extra:
Thank you for contacting Microsoft Flight Simulator support.
We are planning to have discreet World Updates that focus on a specific region of Earth. The current plan is to do this every 2-3 months.
In order to really celebrate that particular part of the planet we are updating, we are also planning on creating some new hand-crafted airports, some new POIs and we will also attempt to provide some more activities … like landing challenges.
We are very excited about this as it will – over time - spotlight all regions of Earth, which we hope will bring focus to areas that might not be a current aviation hub.
Just an update for you all I sent in a request and this is the response I received from MSFS support-crossing my fingers it won’t cost extra:
Thank you for contacting Microsoft Flight Simulator support.
We are planning to have discreet World Updates that focus on a specific region of Earth. The current plan is to do this every 2-3 months.
In order to really celebrate that particular part of the planet we are updating, we are also planning on creating some new hand-crafted airports, some new POIs and we will also attempt to provide some more activities … like landing challenges.
We are very excited about this as it will – over time - spotlight all regions of Earth, which we hope will bring focus to areas that might not be a current aviation hub.
Just an update for you all this is the response I received from MSFS support-crossing my fingers it won’t cost extra:
Thank you for contacting Microsoft Flight Simulator support.
We are planning to have discreet World Updates that focus on a specific region of Earth. The current plan is to do this every 2-3 months.
In order to really celebrate that particular part of the planet we are updating, we are also planning on creating some new hand-crafted airports, some new POIs and we will also attempt to provide some more activities … like landing challenges.
We are very excited about this as it will – over time - spotlight all regions of Earth, which we hope will bring focus to areas that might not be a current aviation hub.
yea they give that same response to everyone that asks about airports.
at best it sounds like a small handful of airports may get an upgrade every 2-3 months, but it doesn’t actually say they will get more accurate regarding taxiways, etc. in one of the recent interviews they point out that “hand crafted” mainly pertains to the building details (colors, etc)
This would certainly be nice - y’all have no idea how confused I was about how airline pilots manage to find their way around until I realized it was a design issue
For sure. I’ve heard so many complaints from new simmers who have been trying to learn how to taxi and navigate on the ground… They pull up charts that others have shown them and try to match the taxiway names to what ATC says, but it’s not accurate of course.
Update: I made changes to the OP to clarify and add more information. I also combined the issue of taxiway signs being too small with the inaccurate naming. Thanks!
And to add to @BremyG post above, this also should be in the “wishlist” section.
Having taxiways match charts. But first, let’s get the runways correct in MSFS! (most are, some aren’t)
It was my understanding that there’s a lot of “generic” and eventually will be updated as time goes by (by Aboso and 3rd party). Taxiways should be correct on the hand detailed airports - I’ve only checked a few.
At my local airport, MSFS shows a taxiway that does not exist. There is a road there but it’s for going to the tower (which does not exist in MSFS)… MSFS turned that entire area into a GA taxi/parking area.
Taxiway signs being incorrect and too small are my top 2 gripes with the game. How the heck are they going to have a partnership series with Vatsim without having accurate taxiway markets?
