Newbie fascinated by high-resolution topography & GIS, but totally ignorant. Terms like "SRTM data", "SRTM 3 arc.sec", "LOD9" mystify. Haven't a clue where you get the data or the programs to use. Clueless about how MS FS2004 handles terrain & scenery. Is there a textbook or manual or good overview magazine article to explain this stuff? I'm willing to do my homework, but I would sure like some recommendations, both for introductory or overview material, and for thorough, comprehensive manuals or monographs on the subject. I have engineering background and can handle technical stuff, but also wouldn't mind "For Dummies" version to start with.Sorry to bother this erudite forum with so elementary a request. You must get this stuff all the time.

Howdy:try Steve Greenwood's website for various topics around mesh design http://www.fs-traveler.com/welcome.shtml as well as a few handy utilities.Also, I always thought that Christian Stock's Terra Model File Manual (tmf_manual.zip) was very well written and a great overview of the various features of the FS terrain engine.Third, the MS Scenery SDK documents, particularly the Custom Terrain Texture SDK, contain the basic documents and tools provided by the FS design team: http://www.microsoft.com/games/flightsimul...sdk.asp#sceneryHope this gets you started. Cheers,Holger

Thank you, Holger. You provided some excellent leads. I especially enjoy the Terrainmap.com site (linked from FS-Traveler), by one John Childs. Fascinating! I wish I knew more about that fellow. He's a genius, to be keeping up that website on top of doing graduate school and whatever he does to support himself.