Really great work!

 

 

Kind regards,

Jorik

Awesome work and great continuous progress Tony!

Congratulations - and:

Keep uit comming!

Fantastic really!

And again - so we have it on this page too (and again, and again) : remember, this is a project where many others can (and should!) participate. There are at least two ways:

• either by improving the OSM raw data (which might be easier and open to almost everybody here with a little spare time at hand!)
• or by creating additional "default" buildings for the artwork set used by world2xplane

For each topic, you will find a lot of information (about how to start) on the worl2xplane tutorial page! The more of you help, the more fantastic results this - open and free - project can yield!

Wow! This really is impressive and looks absolutely amazing! You guys are really working hard to pull me over to your camp, aren't you? :ph34r:

 

I see that world2xplane is built on OSM-data. They are good or very good for Europe but (allegedly) not so good (or even poor) for North America (USA and Canda). For FSX and P3D there are payware products that make use OSM for Europe but as of now also make use of USGS NHD data for the USA and GeoBase NHN data for Canada.

 

Any chance to see these data included as a base for world2xplane?

 

 

Any chance to see these data included as a base for world2xplane?

 

It was always a long term goal of mine to be able to use more than just OSM. Whilst OSM is great in Germany and France, it's not so good in the UK, the US, Australia, etc.. 

 

A while ago, before I started working on World2XPlane, I looked at using government data in the UK. However, the data was not only difficult to obtain, it was also severly restricted. The real useful stuff there is expensive and out of reach of most users.

 

The USGS data is available for free AFAIK, but would require much more effort on the user to obtain this data, and configure the application to use it. e.g. If it's a shapefile containing buildings, the user would have to configure the application correctly to parse the shapefile and would require knowledge of GIS applications, formats, etc..

 

One possible option is to actually just create a converter (or use several existing ones) which will turn the data into fake OSM data, which can then be just passed to the app. This wouldn't overcomplicate the app for people who want to use just OSM, but would also allow other data sources to be used.

I see that world2xplane is built on OSM-data. They are good or very good for Europe but (allegedly) not so good (or even poor) for North America (USA and Canda). For FSX and P3D there are payware products that make use OSM for Europe but as of now also make use of USGS NHD data for the USA and GeoBase NHN data for Canada.

Just as a "side" question ... how do you think USGS NHD (Nation Hydrographic Data) or Geogratis NHN (National Hydro Network) is interesting or relevant to world2xplane? I ask, because both of them are about Hydrographic data (mostly rivers) .... which is - until now - definitely nothing which world2xplane deals with. Neither would it be easy, as water in X-Plane is nothing you can change via overlay scenery .... its is an integral part of the base triangle mesh.

 

Hydrohgraphy/Water (coastlines, lakes, rivers) is much more interesting for base mesh products ... like for example my "HD Mesh Scenery v2" ... which uses all (or most) available water features from OSM. Of course ... thats again OSM, and not one of thos mentioned third party sources.

 

Still, I think basing most such work on OSM is a good idea (and a good bet). Why? Because a lot of the conversion work - I mean, converting third party, governmental data to OSM - is already happening as we speak (and is happening since many years). A good example is the US Census Tiger Line data, which formed the basis of the current US OSM data coverage (without that, the US would be much much emptier) ... and there is an endless list of similar projects (ongoing, planned, experimented with). You can find a gigantic overview of such data sources (and their status in OSM) here:

• http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Potential_Datasources

So, I think, its maybe not a primary objective to include "multiple data source" option in world2xplane ... because a lot of data is already coming to OSM. And working with a single source - like OSM - makes thinks much simpler (and also from a data management perspective: its much better for the entire community to have as much data as possible in a single source ...)

 

And finally - as Tony pointed out - with many types of data its still a problem, that its either not even available in 3rd party sources or is very expensive to get (and even then, the licensing is often not "ideal"). The "building footprints" (one of the most important infos for world2xplane at the moment!) are one of those types o data .... its just plain not available for many many regions (or is very expensive, or very restrictively licensed). In those situations, the best option is when the community maps it (like already done in Germany, France etc.) ... of course, that doesn't happens overnight, but neither is the OSM community small (I expect it to be a few magnitudes larger than the entire X-Plane community).

hi all now i can put pictures here, here we go:

 

Working on a house lib.... so far over 300+ models done, here some screens over the ongoing work, (click to enlarge)

   

 

 

thnks tony (again) for World2Xplane!!!!

 

 

 

 

AND, tony managed to add fences, for testing I fastly draw 2 fence types, and here they come:

   

   

Smashing great looking houses here blacky75!

Stunning work!

WOW!

This is simply fantastic work. This will be one of those game changers that took x-plane from good to truly superb.

I've just updated the World-models library.... Added 388 different models & measures from 6x5 to 11x11.

 

I've removed some brightness off the textures, and dirtied them a bit so they look a bit more real. You barely notice it, but at least it doesn't look so 'clean' and new anymore... next bunch of over 500 houses should be up within 1-2 month. I'll have to work fast also on the LIT textures...^^

 

Here my test area...

 

 

AMAZING!

Can't say it any better!

Brilliant work again blacky75!

Thank You very much really for all Your time and effort!

thnx for the nice feedback.. encourages too finish it fast ^^

I've just updated the World-models library.... Added 388 different models & measures from 6x5 to 11x11.

 

I've removed some brightness off the textures, and dirtied them a bit so they look a bit more real. You barely notice it, but at least it doesn't look so 'clean' and new anymore... next bunch of over 500 houses should be up within 1-2 month. I'll have to work fast also on the LIT textures...^^

 

Here my test area...

 

Looks much better now after the latest changes. Astonishing work!

thnx sweoggy. My library will improve, but my technical director and conceptor of World2Xplane (Tony :rolleyes: B) ) wanted me to put them online.. so... more to come in weeks, just takes time :-) I still have to finish the night textures too asap.

 

Keep you informed here ;-)

rendered with 0.3.1.... In belgium around Brussels... Notice the parked cars along the road on 4th pic