Geoconvert sharing idea

    Geoconversion itself is quite easy with FSET and will no doubt get easier when ipacs updates the tools to do auto inf2tfw, better error diagnostics and maybe add features to make adjacent and overlaid sceneries easier to do.

    So, let's assume that side of the job becomes simple enough that it is no longer an obstacle to 90% of people, which would be handy due to the licencing issues. That leaves just one thing (I think) which is time consuming, and that is water/coast masking. Could there be a way that we can re-use and share these PNG files which geoconvert outputs as an input to the geoconvert process? That way we could co-ordinate sharing the work of creating coastline masks and a handful of us could do the whole of the UK say and store the mask files in a download area.

    Just the musings of a 4am insomniac....

    Spit40

    Hi Phil

    I've turned Geoconvert into a production line and it's now become pretty straightforward. However, as you say, the coastline is the really time-consuming part. I've gone down the route of colouring in the white bits rather than masking them. I find it easier, but I guess it would cause problems with sharing. It also means that I won't see any future improvements made to the Aerofly sea, unless I'm a long way offshore. (I make sure "my" sea extends at least 30 miles out from the coast.)

    I'm currently doing southern England at max resolution (0.25 m & level 15). I've done 50 GB so far, and I would estimate that an area comprising Kent to Cornwall east-west and Thames Valley to the coast north-south will be about 200 GB. I may move on to Wales (200 GB ish) or possibly NE France (again probably a 200 GB chunk).

    Ian

    Quote from Ian C

    Spit40

    Hi Phil

    I've turned Geoconvert into a production line and it's now become pretty straightforward. However, as you say, the coastline is the really time-consuming part. I've gone down the route of colouring in the white bits rather than masking them. I find it easier, but I guess it would cause problems with sharing. It also means that I won't see any future improvements made to the Aerofly sea, unless I'm a long way offshore. (I make sure "my" sea extends at least 30 miles out from the coast.)

    I'm currently doing southern England at max resolution (0.25 m & level 15). I've done 50 GB so far, and I would estimate that an area comprising Kent to Cornwall east-west and Thames Valley to the coast north-south will be about 200 GB. I may move on to Wales (200 GB ish) or possibly NE France (again probably a 200 GB chunk).

    Ian

    Is this insane resolution for VR flying or just to make it as real as it gets? 8|

    Regards,

    Ray

    Geo-conversion is addictive!

    I wish there was good imagery for the Scottish highlands, but not with available sources. So, I looked at the Mach Loop in Wales, and it's not the best either...

    Having said that, I have a massive swath of the Canadian prairies done, and having lived on those prairies for a decade, flying over them this way almost assures my FSX days are over.

    - Kenneth

    Quote from Jetjockey10

    Is this insane resolution for VR flying or just to make it as real as it gets? 8|

    Regards,

    Ray

    Hi Ray

    I always fly in VR - and low and slow (Cessna or glider) - so high res is very important to me. Ideally I'd just float around in a hot air balloon! It troubles me slightly that there's probably not a lot of difference between the results from levels 14 & 15 - but it makes a massive difference to the storage required! Where the source scenery is poorer I may go down to level 14 - but I'm not sure I'd want to geoconvert those areas anyway.

    Ian

    Quote from Ian C

    Spit40

    Hi Phil

    I've turned Geoconvert into a production line and it's now become pretty straightforward. However, as you say, the coastline is the really time-consuming part. I've gone down the route of colouring in the white bits rather than masking them. I find it easier, but I guess it would cause problems with sharing. It also means that I won't see any future improvements made to the Aerofly sea, unless I'm a long way offshore. (I make sure "my" sea extends at least 30 miles out from the coast.)

    I'm currently doing southern England at max resolution (0.25 m & level 15). I've done 50 GB so far, and I would estimate that an area comprising Kent to Cornwall east-west and Thames Valley to the coast north-south will be about 200 GB. I may move on to Wales (200 GB ish) or possibly NE France (again probably a 200 GB chunk).

    Ian

    Yes colouring in avoids ugly chunky transitions. I'll tell you the other idea I had in my head at 4am this morning - create a website where people could very easily enter the minimum data points for an airfield - tower, start/end/width runway 1 etc in whatever is easiest to grab (i.e. not long/lat dec but as it comes off mygeoposition) and the page would generate the TSC file. In addition it would store all the TSC files entered so anyone else could download all the TSC files created for a country/region. If I can grab a few hours over Christmas I'll build it - I'm in the website business.

    Arno has also given me some ScenProc streamlining tips for Ordnance Survey cultivation data, so if we put all these things together we could really start crowdsourcing some high quality scenery.

    Quote from KJKsimmer

    Geo-conversion is addictive!

    I wish there was good imagery for the Scottish highlands, but not with available sources. So, I looked at the Mach Loop in Wales, and it's not the best either...

    Having said that, I have a massive swath of the Canadian prairies done, and having lived on those prairies for a decade, flying over them this way almost assures my FSX days are over.

    - Kenneth

    Hi Kenneth

    I work on the assumption that VirtualEarth quality is the same as Google Earth - i.e. where one's good, the other's also good - but not sure if that's true? Anyway, based on that assumption you're right, the Scottish Highlands aren't great. Parts of Wales are pretty good though (NW and mid). The area where I grew up - Cheshire, Lancashire and the mid Pennines is some of the best in the UK - again based on the Google Earth assumption.

    I have the impression that the Canadian scenery deteriorates rapidly if you go more than a few hundred mikes north of the US border. Have you found that? I'd love to geoconvert some of the remoter parts of Canada if the scenery was good enough.

    Ian

    Crowdsourcing. I like that.

    Hey Phil, can you update your LonLat converter program to include the newest tmc lines and add a box for Level15. This is a real time saver for me. I only started using it about 3 weeks or so ago, but I go for it every time I create a new area.

    Regards,

    Ray

    Quote from Spit40

    Arno has also given me some ScenProc streamlining tips for Ordnance Survey cultivation data, so if we put all these things together we could really start crowdsourcing some high quality scenery.

    Phil, do you now how to talk to ScenProc to get large round tanks generated rather than 1 story flat buildings. We have a ton of petrochemical plants in the SE USA with these large fuel storage tanks. It look a little dorky with each one being a flat square building when cultivating.

    Regards,

    Ray

    Quote from Spit40

    Yes colouring in avoids ugly chunky transitions. I'll tell you the other idea I had in my head at 4am this morning - create a website where people could very easily enter the minimum data points for an airfield - tower, start/end/width runway 1 etc in whatever is easiest to grab (i.e. not long/lat dec but as it comes off mygeoposition) and the page would generate the TSC file. In addition it would store all the TSC files entered so anyone else could download all the TSC files created for a country/region. If I can grab a few hours over Christmas I'll build it - I'm in the website business.

    Arno has also given me some ScenProc streamlining tips for Ordnance Survey cultivation data, so if we put all these things together we could really start crowdsourcing some high quality scenery.

    Sounds great Phil - I look forward to new developments in the New Year!

    Quote from Jetjockey10

    Phil, do you now how to talk to ScenProc to get large round tanks generated rather than 1 story flat buildings. We have a ton of petrochemical plants in the SE USA with these large fuel storage tanks. It look a little dorky with each one being a flat square building when cultivating.

    Regards,

    Ray

    I think we're stuck with square cultivation until IPACS give us more building types. We can only choose

    a) residential or commercial

    b) flat or pitch roof, and

    c) height.

    We can do tricks with KML files to designate certain areas as taller buildings or commercial only, but these are the only options we have for now.

    Level 15 and the new TMC stuff (masks etc) - yes no problem. I'll add it to: