This comment is made just after installing the 1.8.3.0 patch.
Microsoft flight simulator does a reasonable job of modelling buildings but where high detailed 3D graphics are available why are these not used?
If you use 3D mode in Google maps (I assume Bing Maps as well) you can get extremely fine detail for a lot of cities and with a reasonably fast internet it loads very quickly. Why can’t the flight simulator use the same technology where this is available?
Taking Vienna for example if you fly low over the city you would expect to see the spire of Stephansdom dominating the skyline. In fact when you get there it is just a flat shadow.
In contrast the flight simulator embedded in Google Earth (I know that is no way you can compare the primitive flight model of this with the microsoft flight simulator) you can fly over the city and see Stephansdom and many other landmarks in impressive detail.
OK in the Google Earth simulator you can fly through the spire of Stephansdom but then if the spire is not modelled in ms flight sim then you can fly through the empty space anyway.
I am not really expecting a definitive answer but would be interested in other people’s views.
What you’re seeing is the basic difference between modeling from top-down (Bing Maps) vs. 3D (Google). Google has an amazing advantage because of all those cars they’ve dispatched that have taken Street View level perspectives, plus I suspect Google also leverages the thousands of photos taken by Google users of various locations you can find in Maps.
Note - both Google and MS have limited 3D / Photogrammetry information. It’s simply too big a world.
I agree, at some point MS-Asobo must address the basic problem - that they are missing key landmarks, geographic features because of their top-down approach.
However given the number and scope of basic Simulator related issues needing to be addressed, it might be a long time before they get to your request. Or, they leave it to third-party payware to fill the gap. Not the first time that’s happened.
Here is a map someone made, showing all the cities with 3D data in FS 2020. It’s mainly North America and a bunch in Europe.
Although even with 3D data the results are mixed, some rather fly without.
wait 10 years, lockheed martin will buy it, and will use google maps
No, you won’t. Source data is an exact match in MSFS.But you dont have to assume, you can check yourself.
And to question why, microsoft owns bing, so no logical reason to invest to a different imagery data provider
Like Surlier said, Bing is Microsoft application, so that’ that. Providing an application (MSFS) that is dependent on their bing maps puts them at an advantage corporate wise over google maps, that’s a win win for MS. Why give a competitor a platform to increase traffic and demand to their product? Nope. Maybe in the future there will be some plug in or third party app, but I expect MS is not going to allow that.
As far as 3d imaging, not sure many people realize that your “map” app in windows 10 is Bing maps. Type “maps” in the search window to open the app. Once there, you can switch to “aerial” view, and use the “tilt” on the right side to get it at a 45 degree angle and zoom in to see if the area you want to fly is 3d modeled in sim or flat. .
3d models certainly help, but aren’t perfect either. Some will have to be hand drawn / payware. D.C. for example. Odds are it will probable never be 3d mapped due to flight restrictions and national security.
Bottom line, MS owns Bing. The more demand and use they create for that separate product the better for the corporation. Even if someone tries to implement some sort of Google map implementation you can expect serious pushback I expect from MS including banning, cease and desists, and lawsuits.
Thank you all for your responses, they help to put things in perspective for me. I only used Google Maps as an example, assuming that Bing maps would have the same facilities but I now understand from CasualClick that Google has the advantage of the streetview perspective.
Also thanks to SvenZ for the pointer to the map. Based on this I have looked at the 3D view of Southampton, unfortunately my example of Vienna is not in the 3D list.
I still think that the opportunity to get the best flight simulator is lost purely due to commercial limitations.
If you want to see stephansdom in game, check community made sceneries , there is pack for Vienna 
Thank you although the only thing I can find is scenary for Vienna airport. Could you perhaps provide me with a link if there is scenary for the city.
of course no problem , i hope links are allowing here : https://flightsim.to/file/592/vienna-landmark-pack
Thank you I will try that. The link worked fine.