g2xpl - nice places to practice...

[Wizbiscuit]

Hi guys

I have the full registered version of g2xpl, worth every penny is that, the results are stunning, but I am struggling to find some nice places to fly, I am doing lots of visual flying, but do need a few airports about with ILS and already have buildings and such. Now it takes quite some time to download the area's, so rather than take a punt, any places people have already found that are pretty, maybe have some nice hills , nice and green  I would be intersted to hear...

[Simmo W]

Hi Wizi, glad u are enjoying g2xpl! I've got a few videos up in my channel that have nice areas, although previewing in bing or G will help! Places ive downloaded and were great are:

healesville Victoria, near ylil

Switzerland (amaaaaazing)

Milford sound nz

and of course, Phillip island ypad- flat but so green

I'm tempted to try the grand canyon area next, but if norcal comes soon, that'll save me alot of downloading!

One thing I do is try a 5 mile area first, to check how it looks, then go for 40. Make sure u change the ini file to change the custom scenery name, as u download different areas, makes it easier to cull or fix later

[Wizbiscuit]

Wow thats so nice information, have to do the naming bit for sure....

I will check out those areas

[Simmo W]

Wow thats so nice information, have to do the naming bit for sure....

I will check out those areas

forgot to mention most of Tasmania! This is a little one I did of Cradle Mountain.

Hobart comes up well. Actually, anywhere in the world with elevation and good quality imagescomes up well! Even my flatland home of Melbourne looks great with the Big G!

[Wizbiscuit]

Thanks, nice video BTW.

[Shrimpfarmer]

I did a google search for G2xpl and can't find the file anywhere. Is it still available or has it been taken down because of some disagreement with Google or something. ?

[jvaldunciel]

g2xpl was deleted from the www.x-plane.org by Google requirement. But you can try to put in contact with the author. Nickname: Robert2 at the www.x-plane.org forum.

[garrettm30]

I'm surprised that the Google giant would care about such a relatively small community. Could those people who do use it really have an impact on Google's resources? I mean, the percentage of X-Plane users who use g2xpl has to be rather small, and even all of X-Plane users is nearly nothing next to the masses world-wide who access Google Maps daily. I wonder how they even noticed.

[jvaldunciel]

I think it's a images copyright issue. What we made with g2xpl isn't legal. We didn't pay for the right to use this images.

But, imagine 1000 people downloading 2GB(about 1TB  in total) in two hours,from Google maps servers. Everyday during a week or more. I think it gets Google attention. Because lot of people used the g2xpl at the beginning.

[Ben Russell]

Conversly, Online mapping is too important too lose for the sake of being able to make photo terrain for free.

Google needs to show the people that it pays for imagery that it is taking reasonable steps to protect the assets.

Thousands of people ripping stuff off is a problem in a marginal industry.

This isn't music tv or movies with millions of viewers and "shop lifter tax".

Legitimate paying customers for image data sets don't come in walmart volumes. Arguing that your abuse is small doesn't work.

[Shrimpfarmer]

I agree that access to the data by download in this way should not necessarily be free although I praise the abilities and ingenuity of the software authors who made it work.

My initial thoughts were WOW, that would be great but then I realized that it would probably kill all incentive for scenery producers to really push the boundaries in producing new sceneries for us to enjoy.

Let's face it, whilst google maps are amazing, it's quite often you encounter colour mismatches between images, there is no night lighting and there would be no tweaking to ensure that simulator objects are placed accurately.

Supporting hose who produce products for Xplane either for their own enjoyment or as their living is of course essential if the simulator is to continue to develop.

Last but not least I can't afford to be banned by Google, I use them for virtually everything these days  ;D

[Wizbiscuit]

Talk of poor old Google and all that  but are the poeple who produce the scenerys paying for the images? or are they just downloading using something like g2xpl and then reducing the quality (for the sake of size of download) and then tinkering to make it look good?? I am not accusing, I just dont know if Google ever see the buckeroos...

Talking of scenery, I downloaded a few demo's and didnt see much of a improvement, nothing even close to g2xpl and no 3D airports. I see this North Cal is being talked up, anybody finding good scenery, I am happy to pay for the convenance if I am honest, problem with g2xpl is you spend more time downloading than flying, but I am flying the small slow stuff, so tend to be pretty close to the ground.

[garrettm30]

Arguing that your abuse is small doesn't work.

I do agree, and lest I leave the wrong impression from my previous post, I should say that doing something wrong without being noticed doesn't make it right. I'm all for doing what is right even if no one notices. Let's have some integrity.

As for g2xpl, I have no experience with it myself, although I did consider it until a poster made me aware of the legal issues.

My post above was that I'm surprised it was noticed, not that our relatively small number makes it okay. Sorry to mislead.

[Cameron]

Talk of poor old Google and all that  but are the poeple who produce the scenerys paying for the images? or are they just downloading using something like g2xpl and then reducing the quality (for the sake of size of download) and then tinkering to make it look good?? I am not accusing, I just dont know if Google ever see the buckeroos...

I can't speak for everyone here, but given there aren't many payware developers who create orthophoto scenery, I'd have to wonder who you speak of.

In regards to RealScenery, no the imagery is not obtained through Google, and it is legal. It's a very expensive and tedious process.

You could probably answer your own question fairly easy...open up some of the suspect imagery and look for the google watermark. It's all over g2xpl images, though not easily seen in the air.

[Wizbiscuit]

Hehe I didnt mean to point at anyone, was just interested how the scenery is developed, I was guessing that you didnt fly about in a plane taking photos

The new north cal is looking really fine, and I am honestly itching to get rid of g2xpl (as good as it is), because I want to spend more time flying and less time pressing F1 and waiting 30 minutes for it to download the maps...

So I understand you cant give super high rez scenery as it would be to big, but clearly some of the soon to be released stuff is getting better and better.

[Kesomir]

Hehe I didnt mean to point at anyone, was just interested how the scenery is developed, I was guessing that you didnt fly about in a plane taking photos

Surprisingly, I know that some of the scenery comes from exactly this source, although i don't think the devs themselves are taking the photos

[RealScenery]

As Cameron mentioned, RealScenery products do not use any data from Google, nor would I want to. Over large areas, the imagery is a patchwork of varying sources, dates, and scales. Aside from the legal issues, this is not a good data source for quality add-on scenery. This is not to say that you won't find some of the same data in Google that I use, but Google also has a variety of other imagery that they use as well.

If you have not seen this post, I'd recommend reading it with specific attention paid to the example image links at the bottom of the post.

http://forums.x-pilot.com/index.php?topic=655.msg6151#msg6151

[Wizbiscuit]

Yer, that link was of real interest, lots of things I for one never considered.

Well I am sold, soon as NorCal is out I am flashing the plastic.

Thanks for making a post also, nice to see you guys are open enough to share your thoughts.

[juansierra]

KSEZ Sedona, Arizona