I hope Asobo is reading these forums. They are already using Bing maps for satellite photos, why not use Bing POI database for generating Autogen? It could affect how AI generates a building that has any POI in it. It can then use building blocks that are themed for specific buildings and structures. This would make aready good VFR even more amazing! Think how great it could be for any objects that can be identified this way:
- All the stadiums that now look like creepy oval apartment blocks would look like stadiums
- Gas stations would not be homes (even different color variations can be done for different brands)
- Anything with a “Castle” or “Shloss” can be built with castle-like building blocks - walls and such.
- Hospitals wouild look like hospitals and could have generic helicopter landing pads on the roofs (I’m sure heli pilots would really appreciate that)
- Hotels and motels can look very distinctive as they do in real life
- Anything with a “palace” or “chateau” in the name would look like a palace or at least an old building
- Plazas with shops and restaurants and shopping centres would not look like warehouses
- Power plants would have cooling towers and powerlines etc.
- Amusment parks would look distinctive
- Movie theaters would have glowing ads etc.
- Doctor’s offices or other buisnecces would point out small commercial areas form residential to an AI
- Car dealership would look distinctive (even with badges if MS/Asobo would want to use branding)
- Marinas could have actual docks with boats on the water (covering awful sunken dock and boat shapes), and nearby waters would have racing sailboats. I own a small saiboat so that would be nice
- Racing tracks and open stages would not have apartment blocks instead of spectator’s seating.
- Presence or absence of numerous businesses can tell AI which is residential area, which is commercial and which is industrial, where it doesn’t have that data from elsewhere. Also it can help to nail down how tall the buildings are in the area. A building listing dozens of businesses would be high. A single one - likely one-storey. A Hospital would be high, and not 3-story building like the one next to my home.
- Community centres, skating and hockey rinks, restaurants, car repair shops, ports, factories, concert halls etc. would not look like generic warehouses or residential buildings.
This is just what I could think of while writing this post. I’m sure even more varieties can be done by cross-referencing Bing maps with buidling shapes. This would add so much to VFR that it would look almost real. Seeing a hospital or a power plant as a distinctive building is actually very useful for VFR. They would need more models and building blocks to generate good-looking objects with appropriate shapes, but think how mind-boggingly amazing the world would be!