AeroScenery Beta Releases

A thread for AeroScenery beta releases, to keep the pinned thread somewhat clean.

There's a beta release of AeroScenery available here, which includes 10 new orthophoto sources.

This took longer than expected, but the good news is that I've coded a generic orthophoto provider that can handle almost any tiled image source.

Please read the notes below before trying it out. Thanks.

If you've tested a new orthophoto source, including running GeoConvert, and tested that it aligns correctly with an airport runway, please post here.

https://github.com/nickhod/aeroscenery/releases/download/1.1.1-beta/aeroscenery-1.1.1-beta.zip

Release Notes

- This is beta quality. There will be bugs. Use a previous release if you're in the middle of a project with AeroScenery.

- This release is a zip, you can keep your existing AeroScenery install and run this from the folder

- This release will read and write to your existing settings and AeroScenery database

- If you want to run older AeroScenery releases, you need to set the "Image Source" back to Google or Bing in this beta release before closing the app. Failure to do so will prevent older AeroScenery from starting.

- The new orhotphoto providers have had minimal testing. I've checked that it's generating a stitched image for the correct area. There may be issues with coordinates and therefore alignment

- For the above reason, don't use this release to start a scenery project with a new orthophoto provider until you've tested it with a small area

- The best way to test is to install an FSCloudPort airport for a new area. Generate a some scenery around that area and check that everything is aligned

- The settings for these new orthophoto sources are hardcoded in this release. I need to figure out a new config section for these with the possibility of an auto-update. I decided to deal with this later and get a release out.

pmb , could you confirm if this is fixed for you?

https://github.com/nickhod/aeroscenery/issues/7

Testing Reports

ArcGIS: Possible issue with coordinates. Generated tiles not where they should be.

USGS: Issues with USGS failing to serve some tiles causing missing patches

Quote from IZ0JUB

I had a quick look at it and my observations are that selecting the "Map Type" view is restricted to GE and Bing and not the complete list available to download. This has the obvious problem of not seeing what you intend to download. Is it at all possible to add the other providers to the map view please?

Sadly not possible as the map viewer component that I use (GMap.NET) is limited to a few sources.

What I can do is give links to the web viewers for the additional sources, e.g. Linz would link to this

https://data.linz.govt.nz/set/4702-nz-aerial-imagery/

At least it would save people searching for them.

Edit: ArcGIS is available for the map component so I'll add that.

Quote from Unlikely Spider

Are we able to augment the default scenery, such as the US SW, seamlessly now with one of these sources?

Up to zoom level 16 or 2m per pixel with USGS.

The limitation here is USGS itself, which (AFAIK) only provides image tile services to that resolution. Anything higher requires manual download.

I'm looking at ways to semi-automate this, but there's no quick fix as it'll have to work quite differently to the normal AeroScenery process of download > stitch > GeoConvert.

ArcGIS, for the USA, appears to use USGS to zoom level 16, then switches or Bing or other sources as you zoom further.

Quote from pmb

Would it be possible, to have further releases as .zip files instead of installers in general? As far as I recall, the previous version was an .msi which installed straight into c: without asking. Not a big deal, but I would prefer this, also for potentially moving AeroScenery to another drive post installation. What do the scenery pros think?

Yeah, I'll provide both in future.

Personally I always like installers as I forget where I put zipped utilities.

Quote from IZ0JUB

I removed the old cloud covered tile and checked the scenery view in location in FS 2 just to make certain it was the correct one. To my surprise and horror the missing area is further south over Milford Haven not Fishguard Harbour?

Totally possible that coordinates aren't right, I'll look into it.

I'm very much crowdsourcing the testing on this as I just don't have time to go through each one

I'll update the post at the top with testing results as people try different sources.

Edit: In the stitched tiles directory for that tile, you'll see various aero files. You can check whether the coordinates in these are where you believe they should be.