Asobo and MS say that they have a 10-year development plan for FS20. I guess/hope that implies not only marginal improvements  and corrections of errors but also encompasses the evolution of satellite imagery. We shouldn't stay on a static vision of what satellite imagery is, à la Google Earth (my favorite app of all time).

Satellites have become cheap to make and launch and so, much more numerous to map our world. Greater precision and diversity of information and that, day per day ! 

I found that this small promo trailer from Planets Labs, a satellite operator as opposed to Bing which is just a licencee of imagery, shows how FS20 could/should benefit from this new trend of intensive mapping.  Add the predictive ability of AI, shake it well. A powerful cocktail. For instance, did I say seasons or floods or eruptions etc. ?

It is obvious FS20 will not make most of it at release. Now let's  move the tape forward to 2029 …   

 

 

Edited June 10, 20205 yr by Dominique_K

I think it all comes to the project and its purpose.

The offered solutions are very relevant to professional applications / government / military etc. 

I wonder if for an entertainment software, MS would go that far with budget and investment?

*Note that I use entertainment software to avoid using the other word that causes frustration for some 🙂

 

Just now, Claviateur said:

I think it all comes to the project and its purpose.

The offered solutions are very relevant to professional applications / government / military etc. 

I wonder if for an entertainment software, MS would go that far with budget and investment?

*Note that I use entertainment software to avoid using the other word that causes frustration for some 🙂

 

Who said : "We will refine our representation of the Earth, for instance, adding the road or maritime traffic, forest fires or animal migrations, up to be near of having a digital twin."  ? Sebastian Wloch. I thought of that quote when I found the Planet Labs trailer  on my Twitter timeline this morning.

I cannot think that MS has launched the project of a virtual Earth twin without some thoughts that it may open other markets. And that these other markets will also benefit to the simulator in a cyberfeedback loop..  To think that Asobo's work will  only serve a game is, IMHO, ignorance of the stakes or the agenda driven of some to oppose FS20 as a game to P3D as a simulator.

Wloch added "But that will take years". I placed my post in a 10-year perspective.  Today imagery and AI processing are costly, But these costs have been declining and will continue to do so. In the same time the data has and willl improve tremendously in quantity and quality.  Sat imagery coupled with drone imagery could very well a consumers market then.  And as I said in the original post, you add blackshark.ai and you can count that scenery will never be the same. 

 

Edited June 10, 20205 yr by Dominique_K

27 minutes ago, Dominique_K said:

Who said : "We will refine our representation of the Earth, for instance, adding the road or maritime traffic, forest fires or animal migrations, up to be near of having a digital twin."  ? Sebastian Wloch. I thought of that quote when I found the Planet Labs trailer  on my Twitter timeline this morning.

I cannot think that MS has launched the project of a virtual Earth twin without some thoughts that it may open other markets. And that these other markets will also benefit to the simulator in a cyberfeedback loop..  To think that Asobo's work will  only serve a game is, IMHO, ignorance of the stakes or the agenda driven of some to oppose FS20 as a game to P3D as a simulator.

Wloch added "But that will take years". I placed my post in a 10-year perspective.  Today imagery and AI processing are costly, But these costs have been declining and will continue to do so. In the same time the data has and willl improve tremendously in quantity and quality.  Sat imagery coupled with drone imagery could very well a consumers market then.  And as I said in the original post, you add blackshark.ai and you can count that scenery will never be the same. 

 

Yes I heard them saying this and you could be right about the predictions so who knows maybe the investment will go beyond my expectations.

Yet to my knowledge, I supposed the features Mr Wloch mentioned to make MSFS world alive, could be in my opinion implemented with already available data (live or static).

As for imagery, yes it`s expensive for now and MS could reinforce the Bing database or make new agreements or tech for its aerial material. But I suppose the sparkle of the MSFS project was precisely the fact that Asobo did a demo to MS showing they could leverage the in-house data and capability to put on the market a new MSFS title (and I think they will see how it goes).

But who knows, the MSFS world could be an upcoming revolution and will set the standard as for the next gen virtual world for flight simulations, let`s see.

It could be also the world engine tailored for alternative XBox titles, who knows.

I mean gamers who are into open worlds games like GTA or Red Dead Redemption for example, know and enjoy the rich and wide possibilities in their open world titles. So it could that MS / Asobo are aiming to that type of experience and maybe they will take MSFS to a similar level of true lo life open to many possibilities living world. 

But as I always worked in companies where software is developed (however for professional use), I use caution when it comes to projected features and expectations in a software plans. Yet I hope MSFS will have a super happy and profitable future that will exceed my expectations and make MS push the investment to further horizons.

As for now, I am very satisfied and impressed with what Asobo already did.

Edited June 10, 20205 yr by Claviateur

Not all of the imagery in Google, Bing or Apple Maps comes from satellites. A lot of the high zoom photos were taken from aircraft. The low zoom photos when you are several miles above the surface are usually almost always satellite derived, As you zoom in closer, it transitions to airplane-derived aerial photos.

You can often see the transition, because the vegetation or clouds will suddenly change as you zoom down. 

With Google, I’ve even seen two different versions of aerial photos over some large airports. At 10,000 feet AGL, you will see one assortment of aircraft on the ramp, and as you zoom closer, the aircraft will change to a different assortment.

Satellite imagery can be taken at any time, but the companies that specialize in doing commercial aerial photography usually only do it it spring or summer, and any given area may only new photos taken every few years - though there are multiple companies that do this work. 

There was an new aerial photo survey being done in this part of upstate NY last summer - The aircraft (a modified C-182), based itself at our airport for a few days, and I could hear him occasionally checking in with the local controller on the approach control frequency as he was flying overlapping grid patterns at 8000 feet

This applies to urban areas in countries like the USA, Canada or Europe. More remote areas may only have satellite imagery available.

The zoomed imagery on Bing for this area is quite old - from 2014. Google is from 2016. Apple is the newest - from 2019.
 

Unfortunately, at least for my local airport, the layout in MSFS will be wrong if based on current Bing imagery. The taxiways were re-routed in 2018, and the terminal was enlarged in 2019. The aerial photos in Apple Maps are the only ones which show the changes.

Just now, JRBarrett said:

Not all of the imagery in Google, Bing or Apple Maps comes from satellites. 

 

Unfortunately, at least for my local airport, the layout in MSFS will be wrong if based on current Bing imagery. The taxiways were re-routed in 2018, and the terminal was enlarged in 2019. The aerial photos in Apple Maps are the only ones which show the changes.

It is indeed a three fold approach, sat, aircraft/drones and ground vehicles (for photogrammetry)  MS possesses none of these assets BTW. It needs imagery providers.

But you are full in my perspective, Bing portofolio is obsolete (not everywhere though) but these guys of Planet Labs and their competitors offer  daily updates of the imagery for non defense applications. Mass consumption will lower the cost.

Common wisdom says the FS20 is the dawn of new age in flight simulation. For once common wisdom may very well be true because FS sceneries will only be a sub-product of a larger family of products.

We haven't seen nothing yet. Well, I hope to be able to see it, I will be 80 yo at the end of FS20 shelf live 😄 ! 

 

 

Edited June 10, 20205 yr by Dominique_K

Geo technology will certainly evolve and become more affordable and democratic for sure. 

I personally see for example the evolution of Photogrammetry technology to become the norm in aerial representation of landscapes and cityscapes.

Aerial imagery, Photogrammetry, and street views are now produced with 3 different tech but I have the feeling Photogrammetry alone will be used to represent all these at once.

Photogrammetry will certainly become more accessible and affordable and will have much higher resolution levels and details, seamlessly processed and displayed by the hardware of tomorrow and the coverage will become almost as worldwide as the aerial imagery today...

I think we can say that the Photogrammetry will evolve in the next few years to a level that the actual scans such as those in Google Earth or Bing (or in MSFS) will look silly and obsolete in few years from now, just like the old low res videos of the early Youtube look now, for example...

And I suppose world engines for any application will take advantage of this tech as it is a mesh that represents everything on the ground unlike the multiple layers we have now...

Edited June 10, 20205 yr by Claviateur

And I just read a scientific blog about this:

https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/roman-city-rises