* Posts by greenawayr

91 publicly visible posts • joined 19 Nov 2012

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Gamers are replacing Bing Maps objects in Microsoft Flight Simulator with rips from Google Earth

greenawayr

You see, this is the kind of knowledge I lack. I've never flown, I wouldn't know how a real plane (let alone a variety of planes) feels, so like 90% of the flight sim pilots out there, we're just enjoying the game and would probably call ourselves virtual air tourists more than pilots I guess.

I did a bit of X-Plane and would admit, the simulation felt a bit more immersive, but the hassle of building a world that looked anything like the real world really wasn't worth it.

I'm very much there for the eye candy. Once my GPU is upgraded, I'll be picking up a VR headset for this and my racing sims.

I'm definitely a bit rose tinted though, as I only recently got back into PC gaming on the back of this sim. The concept just got me really excited and I think that's the same for a lot of people.

greenawayr

Re: Not just lower quality but appalingly out of date

I would imagine M$ have plans for the UK. Currently the only UK 3D city is bizarrely, Southampton. I would envisage they will do a round of satellite imagery for the UK soon enough and add more 3D cities.

The thing I am surprised about though, is that they added 6 3D cities to Japan in the first world update, but these don't show on Bing Maps yet.

greenawayr

Re: This may not last

Considering the game is just a couple of months old, there's already a very active and audible user base, and Asobo have done a great job in engaging that user base for feedback. It's a learning curve for them, but they're doing a great job communicating and being transparent. Yes, there are issues with the world and the planes, but they know about them and they're on the roadmap.

greenawayr

Re: Bing Maps App

Thanks. Really am just starting out on this flying and video editing lark, but it's fun, albeit time consuming. There's only so many evenings a week you can neglect the wife.

I definitely need to work on my "Like and Subscribe" tagline/plea/YoutTube whoring.

And yes, all ATC around the world ever, are American didn't you know?

I'm sure it's only a matter of time before a 3rd party or keen community modder produces a regionalised ATC. You could of course use VATSIM for a more authentic experience.

It's a bit surprising really as Asobo are a French studio, but obviously M$ have got a market to think about. I imagine that's why there's also hundreds of US cities captured in 3D and only a handful from other countries.

greenawayr

Re: Not just lower quality but appalingly out of date

any model that you can throw into Blender will work. Get it in Blender and then use the msfsexport add in and you should be good to go. Lots of content out there on doing this.

greenawayr

Re: Why?

Asobo have rendered natural landmarks as well, so there's a good job that most of that detail on the rock in the sim is handcrafted. They did the same with Mt Fuji in the recent Japan update.

So it wouldn't be a like for like comparison as one is a photogrammetry model and the other is handcrafted.

greenawayr

Re: I think the key point is that you CAN import from elsewhere

Couple of apps and that's about it. Nothing too complicated.

Because you can only run the scenery locally, I'm pretty sure there's not issue with Google T&C. MSFS has a dev mode and SDK so it's been built for community modding like that.

If you were to try and sell your scenery package full of Google IP then I expect you might have some folks knocking on your door. But mostly people are doing their scenery packages locally then uploading them for others to import for free to their local machine.

greenawayr

Re: Bing Maps App

also, Rennes and Rouen, the first two cities in that sequence, are 3D cities, Paris is not. However, the amount of drawing the GPU needs to do for Paris, plus the night lights and the volumetric clouds, make it a bit heavy for my old 1080.

greenawayr

Re: Bing Maps App

yeah? Looking forward to VR support to help double down on the airsickness.

(also looking forward to cinematic replays so I don't have to fly, record, mess with autopilot etc all at the same time)

greenawayr

Re: Bing Maps App

apologies for the stutter in the video of my link. I'm absolutely due a new GPU. If only there were some nice new shiny ones on the market right now.

greenawayr

Re: Why?

There's also just a whole lot more.

I think around 300 Bing Maps 3D cities.

A few more in google maps

https://list.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_3D_locations_in_Google_Earth

greenawayr

Bing Maps App

You may not have even realised, but there is an app on windows called maps. This is powered, of course, by Bing Maps. Click on the menu in the top right and you'll see an option called 3D cities.

These are the cities that Bing maps has captured photogrammetry imaging for.

Flight simulator is a bit of a mish-mash of techniques. The 3D cities around the world that have been captured are rendered as such in the game. Not tremendous detail, but for the purpose of a flight simulator, really good. Then you have the AI generated content, that detects trees, buildings etc from a flat map and places generic models in their place. These models are geographically representative, so different countries will have different types of building, typical of the area, placed. Again, on the whole, this works great from up high but there are inevitably errors. For example, my hometown of Plymouth has a Lido on the seafront. That lido is a building in the game. Football Stadiums tend to turn into office blocks with a nice patch of green in the middle.

Then the final technique is the rendered model of specific landmarks. Paris and London is a good example of this. The city isn't 3D mapped, but does have many of the iconic buildings represented in very high quality models on the map.

What myself and a number of others have been doing is using the Google data to overlay on the game. This only applies to the local version of the game obviously, but allows you to fix some of these AI generated issues, especially in areas you might fly around regularly. It started off with just landmarks, but is now much easier to do with large areas of the map. You do get a somewhat jarring experience moving from google map data to the game generated landscape though.

It needs to be said, that I think Microsoft expected this, as they provided a publicly available SDK and Dev mode with which to do all this, and it's surprisingly simple. So I don't think too much mud should be slung at Asobo.

And regardless of the mapping issues, it's still one of the most visually stunning sims out there in my opinion. It's a 10 year project and I look forward to watching it grow and develop.

https://youtu.be/vFbmPP8G1UM?t=695

UK political parties fall over themselves to win tech contractor vote by pledging to review IR35

greenawayr

Re: There are an estimated 4.6 million contractors in the UK.

It's a general election. Surely soon and propaganda can work both ways when the parties are vying for votes.

P30 pic pyrotechnics in Paris: That's one Huawei to set the smartphone world alight

greenawayr

Re: 50x optical zoom?

Shirley you mean when trendies are able maintain their eccentric beards with AI powered beard trimmers?

The Chinese are here: Xiaomi to bring phones to the UK next month

greenawayr

Re: If this was five years ago...

I have Xiaomi mi6, bought on release, so about 18 months old. Got the latest MIUI update recently, performs like a new phone and the new UI makes it feel like a new phone.

I'm tempted by the new Mix 3 because I am a phone fidgeter and a slider is as good a feature for a fidgeter as any...oh and no freaking notch!!!!!

I did experience some issues in a previous MIUI release of apps crashing, but within a week they had released anothre update that fixed it so can't complain.

My outlook is that if I'm buying a phone with flagship specs at less than half the price of other flagships, then I can afford to take a risk on support as I can still buy another similar priced model and be quids in, but so far I have nothing but praise for the phone.

Also got Mi Band 2 which is excellent.

The grand-plus iPhone is the new normal – this is no place for paupers

greenawayr

Re: Apple ecosystem

@Dave126

I've read those same reports.

There's no financial background to give credence to them. It's all based around the fact that people who own iPhone will more readily part with their money. That, by no means, makes them rich.

I know lots of iPhone owners, I've been one in the past. Some are in well paid jobs, but spend all their money on these material items, some have plenty of money, some have borrowed to the hilt.

It takes all sorts, but I maintain, that until someone actually does a full asset check on a good sample of iPhone owners, that these "reports" are no less anecdotal than my previous paragraph.

greenawayr

Re: Apple ecosystem

"iOS users have more money and so spend more on apps"

Correction - A fool and his/her money are soon parted.

It's a status symbol.

And given today's world of now, now, now and credit, credit, credit. I'd suggest it is a huge mis-judgement to assume that someone is rich because they own an iPhone, more that they are easily fleeced.

You know how rich people become rich? They don't spend all their money.

Taps running dry for Capita? Southern Water pens 5-year managed service

greenawayr

Lots of water in Cornwall...

...you say, and very few inhabitants. Yet the highest water bills in the country down that way as South West Water customers/prisoners.

Got to keep all the beaches nice for the emmits to come and trash in the summer.

Select few to watch World Cup in 4K high dynamic range colour on BBC iPlayer

greenawayr

22 players, 1 ref, 2 linesman, 2 numpties stood behind the penalty area with a stick getting paid for absolutely nothing and few Russian activists who managed to break through the security to protest about Russia's human rights issues before being marched off the field, never to be seen again.

Xiaomi the way: Hyped Chinese giant begins its battle for Britain

greenawayr

FWIW, bought a Mi 6 about 9 months ago. Nice piece of hardware, that's performed well, not so impressed with the update that cause my phone bluetooth to stop streaming after being interupted by a call or notification and caused a number of apps to crash constantly.Took about 3 weeks for the next update to roll out. Phone was usable during that time, but annoying. They need to get more savvy with their updates though.

I was quite keen on their electric scooter when I was working near home, but then work changed and now it seems unsuitable for the 60 mile trip up the A303.

Overall though, I think you get fantastic bang for your buck from them and whilst being tempted by the new mi 7 when it coes out, I must try and be restrained, as my main argument for buying the phone was that I couldn't justify to myslef, spending £800-1000 on a phone that would probably get replaced in a couple of years, so if I go around buying the new iteration every year...

Surface Hub 2: Microsoft's pricey whiteboard gets a sequel

greenawayr

Re: Microsoft hopes users will leap from their seats and prod the screens with excited fingers

Just entering construction phase of a government agency project where we have project management and Intranet on SharePoint, PowerBI dashboards, BIM models and 3D CAD drawings. Tehy've bought into VR to help the residents of the new construction plan their workspace, and they'll buy into these sorts of displays for meetings...because, well there's lots of meetings, and these things are proven to get execs more excited than powerpoint...FACT!

BlackBerry unveils bold new strategy: Suing the c**p out of Facebook

greenawayr

Re: Enough, already

"None other than Microsoft, buying up all these little corporations that had briliantly executed Things That Work Exceedingly Well With a Stylus"

I'm not one to defend MS, but in fairness, buying up a corporation for millions is a bit different to copying their designs and claiming them as your own.

The guys innovating are making money from their innovations. It's a good reason for a startup to exist if they create something innovative that will earn them millions.

iPhone X 'slump' is real, whisper supply chain moles

greenawayr

Re: Let's face it :), everyone is waiting for...

"Let's face it :), everyone is waiting for an edge to edge iPhone with the fingerprint reader embedded under/within the screen display"

Given the inability of an iPhone owner to NOT crack the screen (my wife dropped hers within 24 hours of me giving it to her, cases and covers were on order but apparently that 24 hour window was still time enough for her to allow it to plummet to a concretey demise), I'd like to see how that works out.

Huawei Honor 8 Pro: Makes iPhone 7 Plus look a bit crap

greenawayr

Re: And still shovelling Android

"if you offered me 5k Euros a month to use Android, I would say no."

So why read articles reviewing a mid-price android device?

Or was it because it mentioned iPhone in the headline and you felt compelled to come and defend your darling?

China's first large passenger jet makes maiden flight

greenawayr

Re: Fly on one - if you have a death wish

Having done Plymouth to London (via the Dawlish train washer) and Beijing to Shanghai on the bullet, I can say with some authority that the Chinese are a tad ahead of us on the old rail infrastructure standards.

Boss swore by 'For Dummies' book about an OS his org didn't run

greenawayr

Re: But the real issue is

£1.25 for an Easter Egg

Whilst I agree that better quality chocolate is generally the way forward...it's £1.25 for a happy kid, once a year.

Really not a big deal right?

Nokia's 3310 revival – what's NEXT? Vote now

greenawayr
FAIL

Wrong Media...not a cassette

But the best media to come along at the wrong time...the MINI-DISC.

This was a rugged high quality media, more rugged than a CD and you could record in analog.

Unfortunately, some dope came along with MP3 and killed it off before it even stood a chance. This was the media that CD's should have been.

Now we're all burdened with old scratched cds.

Zuckerberg thinks he's cyber-Jesus – and publishes a 6,000-word world-saving manifesto

greenawayr

Re: Wasn't he the man...

"I loathe FB and despise the imbeciles who willingly sign their lives over to it. But I don't as a kneejerk reaction despise people because of their wealth"

So you don't hate rich people, but you do hate people create an account on a website???

Roses are red, violets are blue, fake-news-detecting AI is fake news, too

greenawayr

Re: FFS - fake news is nothing new

"They don't like to say it was a difference of a couple of percent and they don't want to talk about what the 28% who didn't vote might have thought."

off track a little, but it surely doesn't matter what the 28% who didn't vote thought?

If they had voted and their votes discarded then fine, but if they don't join in the "democratic" process, their opinion is null and void...in this country anyway!

Anyway, as you were.

HMS Queen Elizabeth is delayed, Ministry of Defence confesses

greenawayr

Re: Whilst MPs bluster and the MOD drags it's heels

I would like to point out, the MOD aren't project managing this. They will have reps on the project board of the Aircraft Carrier Alliance (comprised of BAE, Thales, Babcock, DE&S), so you can't just assume that delays are because it's a public sector job!

Also, have you built a ship before? Quite complicated I gather. A fair few moving parts, a fair few suppliers to rely on delivering their tiny part of it on time, a fair bit of it done outside (weather dependant) etc.

Crack on though, show them the way.

Trump inauguration DDoS protest is 'illegal', warn securobods

greenawayr

Re: 1984

"he main point I would like to make is that, once you have elected someone, for the good of *everyone* it is important to not set out to completely undermine everything they might try and accomplish."

Isn't that what Congress has been doing to Obama for the past 8 years?

(Comment made as someone from the outside looking in)

Lord of the Dance set to deliver high kicks at Trump’s big ball

greenawayr

Re: Hyper-partisans

"As I recall, there were many hyper-partisan republicans who decided the same about Obama and probably would have decided the same about Hillary. There's always going to be zealots who will never be convinced."

However, I doubt those hyper-partisan republicans would claim to be "open-minded", "forward thinking", "tolerant" etc

Trend Micro AV nukes innocent Sharepoint code, admins despair

greenawayr

Having worked with it for 8 years, I can safely say, there's many things SharePoint does badly, but finding data is not one of them.

If you can't find it, you're doing it wrong.

It's also NOT a great place for "Storing" data, it's a great place for working on data.

LG’s V20 may be the phone of the year. So why the fsck can’t you buy it?

greenawayr

Looking to stick to a budget this time around, I've actually just ordered the V20's predeccesor the V10. £300 for what is a very high end piece of tech and is now 12 months released seemed reasonable. It was that or one of the excellent mid-range phones you can get nowadays, but the camera and video functionality made me opt for the V10.

However, to get this I had to go to eBay and get one from one of our lovely friends in Hong Kong. It's bizarre that LG are neglecting the European market in this way.

I'd have liked to get the V20, but like I said, wanted to stick to a budget and that's likely to retail at around twice what I paid for the V10.

Spinal Tap’s bass player sues former French sewer

greenawayr

Re: Best comedy of all time?

"If you don't find it funny, you can lick my love pump. But the funniest of all time? Surely you can't be serious?"

I am...and don't call me Shirley!!!

Microsoft keeps schtum as more battery woes hit Surface sufferers

greenawayr

Re: I have a feeling this all stems from Panos Panay's approach.

Isn't that the case with nearly every device nowadays? Even those with replaceable batteries generally will get replaced by the user after 3-4 years.

*awaits long list of replies starting "I've had my Nokia 3320...."*

greenawayr

@Hans, got a SP2 about 3 years ago, still solid as a rock, boots up in seconds, gives me about 5 hours screen on time still and can't remember a time that it's crashed on me recently.

Really nice piece of kit.

Haven't heard of many issues with the SP4 as far as I can tell either.

Nul points: PM May's post-Brexit EU immigration options

greenawayr

Re: Recount

Economic decision?

Really?

Not a political or social decision as well?

Only an economic decision if that's all you cared about, which judging by your skewed idea of democracy, it is.

Also, why would the higher earners be the more informed ones getting their "bigger" vote? I know plenty of very intelligent people who do more with their life than just pursue coin and plenty of stupid high earners. I mean el reg has a rich history of commentards complaining about the overpaid idiots they work for.

Microsoft axes 2,850 more Windows Phone, sales staff – a week after Justin Timberlake sang on stage for them

greenawayr

Re: Sounds like Windows Phone is borrowed time...

Maybe merging with Surface division if that device ever appears?

Student Loans Company burns £50 million in IT project superfail

greenawayr

Re: How the fec....?

@Pen-y-gors

I guess the complexity in the setup comes from the SLC somehow integrating with the tax office to understand when a student is in work and earning over a certain amount to be able to take repayments out of their paycheck.

Not excusing the shambles, but it's a little more complicated than your standard "hand out dosh, pay back dosh or we'll send da boys around" set up I guess.

YouTube’s 10 years of hits: Global recognition at last for Rick Astley

greenawayr
Coat

Re: OK, I'm shallow and sexist...

Geez, I wonder how many pervy women tuned in to watch 5 minutes of that guy doing his exercises in short shorts.

Reg reader achieves bronze badge, goes directly to jail

greenawayr

Badges???

We don't need no stinkin' badges

El Reg keeps pushing Apple's buttons – its new Magic Keyboard

greenawayr

Re: "So, overall, an improvement."

Wowsers.

My HP keyboard came "free" with the PC, connects first time, inputs the correct characters when asked to, doesn't make my wrists hurt and looks as ugly as the rest of my kit.

I'll give it 20%

Microsoft's HoloLens: Here by 2016, mere three THOUSAND dollar price

greenawayr

Re: Not going to happen

Yeah, I heard EA and Rockstar were short of cash.

Then you get into software houses for professionals, I'm sure they're all skint too.

Seriously, it's not all about the guy sat in his room developing on his own. In time it might not be, but to start with, leave it to the pros with the bankroll.

Worker drones don't need PCs says Microsoft, give 'em phones instead

greenawayr

Not sure it's meant to replace any either the slab or the laptop...yet. It just seems like a convenience. Your phone goes everywhere with you, my slab or work laptop doesn't. At that price it's hardly costing you any more than any other flagship phone on the market and it offers you productivity options that no other phone can offer.

I can totally see the appeal in this, but whether it works in the real world or not is another thing. I've got a few months left on my contract before I need to decide whether to give WP a try having had a few years of Apple and a few years of Android.

GCHQ's exploding doughnut threatens to ooze into innocent field

greenawayr

Re: "in keeping with its surroundings and help minimise the visual impact"

No, it's known as Princess Elizabeth Way and nobody minds too much if it's inhabitants are collateral damage to an attack on the doughnut. Should've built it closer to Hesters Way but I suspect cost of replacing the windows every 5 minutes would have been prohibitive.

Microsoft's big Tuesday reveal: New mobiles and slabs? Win 10 shock?

greenawayr

Re: Surface Pro "3.1"

I'll resolutely defend my trusty Surface Pro 2.

Had it for two years now and runs like new. Only time it's ever crashed on me is when I upgraded to Windows 10, but that was just the once. Yes there are better spec'd things out there now of course, it's the nature of the industry, but in my eyes, something that offers the sort of consistent performance that it has for 2 years and suggests it will do for another 2 years, is a good device. Heck, I've not had a phone last that long. I use mine for development and video editing (docked) and general browsing as well as media playback to a big screen so it gets plenty of use and I don't even have the top spec. i5 and 4GB of RAM serves me well.

I must admit I am tempted to upgrade based on a few things I've heard, but if I did, it would be through my own vanity rather than having had enough of my old device.

Highly rate it.

Microsoft issues first SharePoint 2016 preview

greenawayr

Re: Sharepoint 2016

Been working with various iterations of SharePoint for the past 6 years, in various organisations of varying quality.

I've seen this many times...there's a common theme with each issue, it tends to be the fleshy, squidgy thing. Never thought I'd see such issues from esteemed El Reg commentards though.

Ashley Madison invites red-faced cheats to bolt stable door for free

greenawayr

"Right now I can go hug my little ones whenever I like, put them to bed, make them dinner, play in the garden with them, read to them... so it goes. Access, well, access isn't that."

Based on the content of your post and the complete lack of the obligatory "happily married" comment, I can only assume you're being blackmailed by your wife currently???

Ski MOUNT DOOM or take top coffee to the beach? Your choice

greenawayr

Re: Auckland is a separate world in its own from the rest of NZ

Have to be honest, having spent 4 months travelling the length and bredth of NZ, I could quite happily live there and never want to visit Auckland.

It was nice enough, but it's a city and that's not what NZ is about. I'd much rather look to one of the smaller cities (Tauranga on Bay of Plenty has plenty going for it) and make a compromise in my role than Auckland.

However, if I was going to do it properly I'd just take a real gamble, move to Wanaka and set up a new business (on the assumption I'd not find much SHarePoint work there) and let the wife do something in the tourist trade. Tourism is what NZ does best, so I'd get on board.

However, above all of that, I'd much prefer to move there without the requirement to work and just enjoy seeing the place all over again.

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