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The Amazing World of Flight Simulator

I know very little about the world of Microsoft Flight Simulator, excepting that its community is large, dedicated and fetishistically accurate. From Wikipedia:

A large community exists for the Microsoft Flight Simulator franchise, partly stemming from the open nature of the simulator structure which allows for numerous modifications to be made. There are also many virtual airlines, where pilots fly their assignments as pilots do in real airlines, as well as world-wide networks for the simulation of air traffic and air traffic control, such as VATSIM and IVAO.

Flight Simulator players (which seems too narrow a term) have, for the last decade (or 15 or 20 years?), been busying themselves rendering the world inside the game. Here’s one example of this as a player documents his trip around in remarkable detail.

I was reminded about Flight Simulator by Richard, who linked to Jon Patch’s blog. Jon’s doing remarkable work building Vancouver inside the game. Consider these amazing versions of Canada Place and the Lions Gate Bridge.

He also did the downtown core and Vancouver’s International Airport. I mentioned the level of detail–check out The Flying Beaver, a pub and seaplane terminal at the south terminal. I happened to have a photo of the Beaver, and here they are side by side (click for a larger version):

Flying Beaver

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Darren Barefoot is an author, speaker and digital strategist. He’s the co-founder of Capulet Communications, and co-author of “Friends With Benefits: A Social Media Marketing Handbook”.

7 comments

  1. Not anywhere close to this but a scenic heli flight I did in Vegas seemed almost deja vu as had “been there” in Flight Sim. See the post (link on this comment)

  3. Not being into the mechanics of flying, but still appreciating a virtual fly-over, I’ve gotten pretty good at “piloting” in Google Earth. I guess it doesn’t reach the same level of detail that thousands of modeling entheusiasts can create in FS. The last side-by-side comparison got me thinking: does FS model the tides (and bathymetry)?

  4. Darren, thx for the acknowledgement of the strange world of flight simulation. To clarify one point though: with my collaborators we have created scenery for the Vancouver/Fraser Valley/Howe Sound and for the Victoria areas, but I haven’t been involved in Vancouver International Airport, except minor tweaks. That’s coming up with co-developer Bill Womack later this year.

    Andy, FS doesn’t model tides. Bathymetric info is limited to representing shallow water variations, as that will change colouring as viewed from the air:

    Shallow Ocean Water 1: 0-5m
    Shallow Ocean Water 2: 6-15m
    Shallow Ocean Water 3: 16-30m
    Shallow Ocean Water 4: 31-50m
    Medium Depth Ocean Water: 51-80m
    Deep Ocean Water: >80m

    It does use an oblique spheroid real-earth model, models the heavens, weather (in great detail) and population density. It uses the Olsen Land Classification systems for terrain representation. And there are some really obscure details, for example, highway traffic gets busier at rush hour.

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