Hi

Learning MSFS, one big name that comes in mind is "photogrammetry".

Is this a new technique for the way we look at cities or buildings? MSFS comes already with it? Is it something we need to install? 

I am new to MSFS, so I would like to know something about it. 

Thanks.

 

Do you need more information about? You could try  this:

https://pocketmags.com/us/pc-pilot-magazine/microsoft-flight-simulator-the-ultimate-guide

 

 

In addition about your question:

 

Edited May 20, 20215 yr by polosim

It's included in MSFS and you don't have to do anything to activate it. 

Here's some more information: 

https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/316373-microsoft-flight-simulator-players-are-replacing-bing-maps-data-with-googles

"Photogrammetry, if you haven’t heard the word before, is the process of gathering reliable data about the physical world through various forms of photography and electromagnetic imaging. If you have a data set consisting of the same town photographed from different heights at known altitudes, you can use this information to correctly calculate the heights and sizes of objects.

This data set can be retrieved from the cloud and is built using Azure and information gathered via Bing Maps. There are 341 fully modeled cities in Microsoft Flight Simulator, and that’s a significant achievement — a genuine leap forward compared with anything any simulator has tried to do before."

I have been looking into this myself.

This is what I found. I don't know if it fits perfectly with what MSFS is doing, but I found this to being an interesting read.

What is Photogrammetry? | How Photogrammetry is Used Today (takeoffpros.com)

31 minutes ago, harpsi said:

Hi

Learning MSFS, one big name that comes in mind is "photogrammetry".

Is this a new technique for the way we look at cities or buildings? MSFS comes already with it? Is it something we need to install? 

I am new to MSFS, so I would like to know something about it. 

Thanks.

 

Photogrammetry is, in a nutshell, the software 3D reconstruction of buildings or points of interests from 2D imagery (ground and aerial). MFS comes with many buildings so reconstructed. The good is that they become visually true to life, the bad is that they are taxing the computer power quite a bit, specially when there is a high density of them. 

I might add that it has been both praised and heavily critized. IMO it can sometimes work well and add to the immersion of being in the real world. Part of the criticism is both in terms of performance impact, and that it can have a somewhat post-apocalyptic, melted apperance, if not rendered completely. Just have a look at the startup image when the sim is loaded 🙂

I have a decent system, and can deal with cities like Bordeax and Munich. Paris is almost passable in terms of performance. London and NY are both stutterfests. 

Edited May 20, 20215 yr by Cpt_Piett

The easiest way to fly over any of the photogrammetry  is to get FStarter from rksoftware.

Photogrammetry involves taking multiple passes of aerial photography over a city so you get photos from different angles and then reconstructing that to make a realistic 3D image that is true to the real city.

Only a few areas of the world are covered by it, most of them in the US.

In some areas (London when the servers are overloaded for example) the end result is truly awful.

In other areas (the Australian WLD Gold Coast for example) the result is pretty spectacular providing you stay above 500' or so.

An example of Photogrammetry where it is actually working OK  (not how it looks really good until you get low and close):

 

 

 

 

Edited May 20, 20215 yr by Glenn Fitzpatrick

17 minutes ago, Cpt_Piett said:

I might add that it has been both praised and heavily critized. IMO it can sometimes work well and add to the immersion of being in the real world. Part of the criticism is both in terms of performance impact, and that it can have a somewhat post-apocalyptic, melted apperance, if not rendered completely. Just have a look at the startup image when the sim is loaded 🙂

I have a decent system, and can deal with cities like Bordeax and Munich. Paris is almost passable in terms of performance. London and NY are both stutterfests. 

Well, London and New York will always have the same fps problems... 

However, I am starting to build my machine which has almost the same specs as yours: i9-10900K, Kraken Z73, Asus Rog Strix RTX 3090 OC, MSI MEG Z490 ACE and Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 3200 CL16 32GB, amonth other stuff. 😉  

5 minutes ago, Glenn Fitzpatrick said:

Photogrammetry involves taking multiple passes of aerial photography over a city so you get photos from different angles and then reconstructing that to make a realistic 3D image that is true to the real city.

Only a few areas of the world are covered by it, most of them in the US.

In some areas (London when the servers are overloaded for example) the end result is truly awful.

In other areas (the Australian WLD Gold Coast for example) the result is pretty spectacular providing you stay above 500' or so.

An example of Photogrammetry where it is actually working OK :

 

 

 

 

"When the servers are overloaded?" - What does it mean? Do I need internet connection and do I "compete" with other people? Is it a downloadable scenery or a sort of "live" scenery? 

3 minutes ago, harpsi said:

Well, London and New York will always have the same fps problems... 

However, I am starting to build my machine which has almost the same specs as yours: i9-10900K, Kraken Z73, Asus Rog Strix RTX 3090 OC, MSI MEG Z490 ACE and Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 3200 CL16 32GB, amonth other stuff. 😉  

The issues with places like London are related to the servers not coping - having a fantastic machine at your end does not help that much.

It is nothing to do with your internet or your client machine it is to do with the database server at the Microsoft end.

Edited May 20, 20215 yr by Glenn Fitzpatrick

4 minutes ago, Glenn Fitzpatrick said:

The issues with places like London are related to the servers not coping - having a fantastic machine at your end does not help that much.

OK, now I understand that internet connection counts. It is a sort of live scenery. 

1 minute ago, harpsi said:

OK, now I understand that internet connection counts. It is a sort of live scenery. 

 

Yep but the problem areas are at the Microsoft end so super fast internet (or trying to cache the problematic city) does not help.

Most photogrammetry areas are fine. Unfortunately the one or two that look bad are the exact same ones everyone is keen to go and fly around - London Paris etc.

 

4 minutes ago, Glenn Fitzpatrick said:

 

Yep but the problem areas are at the Microsoft end so super fast internet (or trying to cache the problematic city) does not help.

Most photogrammetry areas are fine. Unfortunately the one or two that look bad are the exact same ones everyone is keen to go and fly around - London Paris etc.

 

Well, I don't like to fly big cities at all... No water, no rivers, no mountains, just flats and few monuments. So, no problem at all. 😉

8 minutes ago, Glenn Fitzpatrick said:

The issues with places like London are related to the servers not coping - having a fantastic machine at your end does not help that much.

I agree only partially here. What I agree to is a fantastic machine doesn't really improve it (while a really weak one certainly isn't suggested).

However, you can pre-cache (not the rolling cache but the permanent one) photogrammetry cities. I made a test in the London area and pre-cached a certain  extended region and flew above it with and without the pre-cache activated, and it looked exactly the same.

A glance on the present Paris "title image" shows that even MS has those crumpled buildings, and they certainly don't have a network bottleneck. In my mind, it's a general limitation of the present technology.

Kind regards, Michael

Edited May 20, 20215 yr by pmb