±Recent Visitors

Recent Visitors to Com-Central!

±User Info-big


Welcome Anonymous

Nickname
Password

Membership:
Latest: HighestAce
New Today: 0
New Yesterday: 0
Overall: 6648

People Online:
Members: 0
Visitors: 353
Total: 353
Who Is Where:
 Visitors:
01: Community Forums
02: Community Forums
03: Community Forums
04: Home
05: Community Forums
06: Your Account
07: Community Forums
08: Community Forums
09: Home
10: Community Forums
11: Community Forums
12: Home
13: Community Forums
14: Home
15: Home
16: Community Forums
17: Downloads
18: Home
19: News
20: Downloads
21: Community Forums
22: Home
23: Downloads
24: Community Forums
25: Community Forums
26: Home
27: Photo Gallery
28: Home
29: Your Account
30: Community Forums
31: News
32: Community Forums
33: News
34: Community Forums
35: Community Forums
36: Home
37: Community Forums
38: Community Forums
39: Downloads
40: Community Forums
41: Community Forums
42: Community Forums
43: Downloads
44: Community Forums
45: Community Forums
46: Community Forums
47: Community Forums
48: Community Forums
49: Community Forums
50: Home
51: Community Forums
52: Community Forums
53: Community Forums
54: Community Forums
55: Home
56: Community Forums
57: Home
58: Home
59: News
60: Home
61: Photo Gallery
62: Community Forums
63: Home
64: Home
65: Home
66: Community Forums
67: Community Forums
68: Community Forums
69: Downloads
70: Home
71: Home
72: Community Forums
73: Community Forums
74: Member Screenshots
75: Community Forums
76: Photo Gallery
77: Member Screenshots
78: Member Screenshots
79: Home
80: Community Forums
81: Home
82: Community Forums
83: Home
84: Community Forums
85: Community Forums
86: Community Forums
87: Statistics
88: Community Forums
89: Community Forums
90: Community Forums
91: Downloads
92: Community Forums
93: Community Forums
94: Home
95: Home
96: Photo Gallery
97: Community Forums
98: Downloads
99: Community Forums
100: Community Forums
101: Home
102: Community Forums
103: Community Forums
104: Community Forums
105: News
106: Photo Gallery
107: Community Forums
108: Home
109: Downloads
110: Community Forums
111: Community Forums
112: Community Forums
113: Community Forums
114: Downloads
115: Community Forums
116: Community Forums
117: Community Forums
118: News
119: Home
120: Community Forums
121: Downloads
122: Community Forums
123: Community Forums
124: Photo Gallery
125: Downloads
126: News Archive
127: Community Forums
128: Photo Gallery
129: Community Forums
130: Community Forums
131: Member Screenshots
132: Community Forums
133: Home
134: Community Forums
135: Community Forums
136: Community Forums
137: Home
138: Community Forums
139: Community Forums
140: Community Forums
141: Community Forums
142: Community Forums
143: Downloads
144: Community Forums
145: Community Forums
146: Community Forums
147: Downloads
148: Home
149: Community Forums
150: Community Forums
151: Community Forums
152: Community Forums
153: Home
154: Community Forums
155: Home
156: Community Forums
157: Community Forums
158: Community Forums
159: Community Forums
160: Downloads
161: Member Screenshots
162: Home
163: Photo Gallery
164: Downloads
165: Photo Gallery
166: Community Forums
167: Home
168: Community Forums
169: Member Screenshots
170: Community Forums
171: Home
172: Home
173: Community Forums
174: Community Forums
175: Community Forums
176: Downloads
177: Community Forums
178: Community Forums
179: Home
180: Community Forums
181: Photo Gallery
182: Community Forums
183: Community Forums
184: Home
185: Home
186: Community Forums
187: Community Forums
188: Community Forums
189: Home
190: Home
191: Photo Gallery
192: Member Screenshots
193: Community Forums
194: Member Screenshots
195: News Archive
196: Statistics
197: Downloads
198: Community Forums
199: Home
200: Community Forums
201: Community Forums
202: Community Forums
203: Community Forums
204: Photo Gallery
205: Member Screenshots
206: Statistics
207: Home
208: Community Forums
209: Photo Gallery
210: Home
211: Home
212: Community Forums
213: Community Forums
214: Community Forums
215: Community Forums
216: Photo Gallery
217: Community Forums
218: Downloads
219: Community Forums
220: Community Forums
221: Your Account
222: Community Forums
223: Community Forums
224: Community Forums
225: Downloads
226: Home
227: Home
228: Downloads
229: Member Screenshots
230: Community Forums
231: Your Account
232: Home
233: Community Forums
234: Home
235: Community Forums
236: Photo Gallery
237: Community Forums
238: News Archive
239: Community Forums
240: Home
241: Photo Gallery
242: Home
243: Community Forums
244: Community Forums
245: Community Forums
246: Community Forums
247: Community Forums
248: Your Account
249: Photo Gallery
250: Downloads
251: Home
252: Community Forums
253: Community Forums
254: News
255: Community Forums
256: Community Forums
257: Community Forums
258: Community Forums
259: Member Screenshots
260: Member Screenshots
261: Downloads
262: Member Screenshots
263: Community Forums
264: Community Forums
265: Home
266: Member Screenshots
267: Community Forums
268: Home
269: Community Forums
270: Photo Gallery
271: Community Forums
272: Home
273: Home
274: Photo Gallery
275: Community Forums
276: Community Forums
277: Community Forums
278: Home
279: Community Forums
280: Downloads
281: News
282: Downloads
283: Community Forums
284: Downloads
285: Member Screenshots
286: Community Forums
287: Community Forums
288: Home
289: Your Account
290: Community Forums
291: Home
292: Community Forums
293: Community Forums
294: Community Forums
295: Home
296: Downloads
297: Home
298: Photo Gallery
299: Your Account
300: Community Forums
301: Community Forums
302: Home
303: Member Screenshots
304: Downloads
305: Community Forums
306: Community Forums
307: Community Forums
308: Downloads
309: Home
310: Member Screenshots
311: Community Forums
312: Photo Gallery
313: Community Forums
314: Downloads
315: LinkToUs
316: Community Forums
317: News Archive
318: Community Forums
319: Home
320: Community Forums
321: Home
322: Community Forums
323: Community Forums
324: Community Forums
325: Community Forums
326: Home
327: Home
328: News
329: Home
330: Home
331: Home
332: Community Forums
333: Community Forums
334: Home
335: Home
336: Downloads
337: Photo Gallery
338: Community Forums
339: Downloads
340: Community Forums
341: Photo Gallery
342: Community Forums
343: Photo Gallery
344: Member Screenshots
345: Home
346: Community Forums
347: Home
348: Community Forums
349: Community Forums
350: Treasury
351: Community Forums
352: Member Screenshots
353: Home

Staff Online:

No staff members are online!
"TileProxy" project - Prettttty slick!!!!! :: Archived
A forum for Microsoft's Flight Simulator X
Post new topic    Revive this topic    Printer Friendly Page     Forum Index ›  FSX

Topic Archived View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
JG300-Stoopy
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 5840
Location: Group W bench
PostPosted: Tue May 01, 2007 10:16 am
Post subject: "TileProxy" project - Prettttty slick!!!!!

"TileProxy" is a very interesting freeware development spearheaded and entirely due to the efforts of one very sharp dude who's figured out a way to attach a proxy service to a well-known provider of satellite images used in a very popular program which shall go unnamed but is similar to G**gleEarth.....the purpose of doing so is to use the G**gleEarth "tiles" as replacement for the scenery texture tiles (i.e., graphics) in FSX in real-time as you fly along.

Say WHAT???? Yes....exactly......instead of seeing generic scenery ground and building textures as you putter along, your system is actually connected with G**gleEarth and fetching/displaying the actual, real, hi-def satelltie images (where available) on the terrain instead. So, now, you really CAN fly over your house, if it shows up in the "other" globe/sat image utility. Sounds pretty far out, huh?

This is just now kicking off, there was an old thread with some very breathtaking screenshots and I can't find it now, but here's where you can keep in the loop on the goings-on and get some more info....quite exciting and I aim to try it out as soon as I get home!!!

http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=121&topic_id=394558&mode=full

Caveat is, from reading about it, it sounds like it does take a slightly higher amount of tech skill to set up, and you need BANDWIDTH baby, (hence why the author and users seem to prefer the sat image provider name doesn't get 'seen' by search 'bots on the web and blow the cover for now, although there isn't anything underhanded about this) but otherwise sounds like a good direction for flight sims to take in the future!

Ahh....here's a set of screenies the author made about 6 months back, flying over Hawaii and using the 'tool' to bring in the photoreal sat images as replacement textures....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/71882461%40N00/sets/72157594407535533

And the original thread from when he first came up with the idear...

http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=123&topic_id=32711&mode=full

And another short "testimonial" thread that's just started out, too....

http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=121&topic_id=394802&mode=full

_________________
"Once your reputation is ruined, you can live quite freely."
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website Photo Gallery
Shadow_Bshwackr
Janitor

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 21, 2005
Posts: 7019
Location: Central Illinois, USA
PostPosted: Tue May 01, 2007 10:46 am
Post subject: Re: "TileProxy" project - Prettttty slick!!!!!

Yep, I seen that project too and like you, think this IS the future! Obviously, the more bandwidth you have the better and I bet the minimum required is stiff as well.

Still, this should be fun to experiment with and as with all technologies, it's a matter of time before the 'bugs' gets worked out and/or more people get bigger NET connections.

As little as 5 years ago, most (I would say 90% or better) of the people had dial up connections. I bet that ratio is considerably lower now days. Wink
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website Photo Gallery
JG300-Stoopy
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 5840
Location: Group W bench
PostPosted: Sun May 06, 2007 3:25 pm
Post subject: Re: "TileProxy" project - Prettttty slick!!!!!

It is indeed, very very cool - with some caveats - it's not for the faint of heart or the non-technical, as it takes some HTTP proxy awareness to get working as well as some other configuration elements. It's capable of using data feeds from various sources whihc must be configured by the user so the author doesn't possibly get in trouble. Also, it extends flight loading (scenery load particularly) times very considerably - 5 minutes for the progress indicator to get to 100% is NOT an exaggeration. Lastly the tiles are memory-intensive and need to be swapped in and out to a fair degree, resulting on some temporary oddities that can be seen in some of the below pix. But getting past that, it's quite simply the most awesome "feature" I've ever seen when it's all done and loaded and flying.

Oh yeah - also, to give the new tiles ample time to load, you don't want to go real fast (i.e., no jets) or you'll get ahead of the scenery, just like in some of those popular globe-viewer apps. So, low and slow is the way to go, which is fine by me.... Wink

First stop was Nazca, Peru.....notice the artifact of the real airport runway in the terrain tile with the FSX airport scenery superimpsed over it. You see a lot of this, in this case the runway heading is off a bit......



Obviously, the satellite images on some tiles were taken on different days and light conditions, yielding a large patchwork effect as expected - no big really.....



Looking back at the town of Nazca, a scenery tile has gone temporarily AWOL yielding the psychedelic effect you see - it'll load back up when we return to the airport....



But the scenery detail can be INCREDIBLE and here we're heading NW to the Nazca plains toward the infamous Nazca Lines.....





Note, way off the coastline, you'll see some large white tile patches - another artifact of the sat image feed, which you also see in the (cough) common "global image viewer" utilities out there.....white tiles indicating no sat image for that area, since there's little of interest.



...and here they are right on queue, we're about 9,000 feet up (5 or 6,000 AGL) and it makes for some great scenery investigation!





It may be hard to recognize the semi-famous "bird" image on the ground there (you gotta look hard and use your imagination) but it almost looks like the ancients were actually trying to pay homage to the mighty Super Decathlon, the wing and fuselage proportions look about right, guess they got invaded by the Conquistadors before they could get around to finishing the tail surfaces....thanks a pantload, Francisco Pizarro!!!!!



Paid a visit to an old hometown of Willits CA up north in Mendocino county - really wanted to do this because this is where I began taking flight lessons when we lived there. The airport (O18) is on top of a hill overlooking the town and makes for great flying.



That football field down there is at the High School and I spent many an hour down there from playing "Pop Warner" football in the seventh grade up through the early high school years.....pretty damn slick to fly over the very field that has much blood sweat and tears in it.....GO WILLITS WOLVERINES, HOO YAHH!!!!!!!!!!



When I was taking flying lessons, we did our spin training over the fields in the background, I have a pretty good memory of looking DOWN at the cows through the windshield while the airspeed gauge was windng up.... instructor later admitted we went a lot deeper into the spin than he planned...



And here's the local middle school (green field beneath fuselage), and right under my main landing gear tire is/was our old house.....



There she be, Willits CA......



Another example of the real airport runway artifact underlying the FSX scenery - pretty accurate I'd say. I bet scenery designers would love this tool for getting their airport sceneries balls-on accurate!



And lastly, puttered around another old hometown, the bustling metropolis of Mentone CA. The scenery here is interesting in that the atmospheric haze of So Cal has a definite influence on the color of the satellite images. But the mountains and foothills look AMAZING!

Looking NE toward Mentone/Yucaipa and Mount San Bernardino in the background....



NW toward San Bernardino/Rialto and Mt. Baldy back there.....



San Timeteo Canyon foothills......



Looking North toward Devore and the pass through the mountains that leads to the High Desert....Man, I tell ya I see some nice leasiurely x-countries in the immediate future!!!



Hopefully nothing drastic will happen with usage rights etc on the various sat image data feeds, and from what I hear, those who are interested but have neither the tech skills or interest in engaging in what is really "experimental" beta-level stuff right now may have something positive to look forward to in the months ahead! Either way, this is definitely the future and it's way way cool!


_________________
"Once your reputation is ruined, you can live quite freely."
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website Photo Gallery
JG300-Stoopy
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 5840
Location: Group W bench
PostPosted: Sun May 06, 2007 6:34 pm
Post subject: Re: "TileProxy" project - Prettttty slick!!!!!

Can't help it - more shots, this time from San Diego and points immediately north......pretending I have my dream job, being one of those guys that tows banners up and down the beaches.....




















_________________
"Once your reputation is ruined, you can live quite freely."
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website Photo Gallery
JG300-fr8ycat
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Mar 13, 2005
Posts: 1528
Location: Los Angeles
PostPosted: Mon May 07, 2007 3:23 am
Post subject: Re: "TileProxy" project - Prettttty slick!!!!!

Wow, this looks awesome. Would love to give it a try in my area and refly my Solo Cross Country in the R22.

_________________
Back to top
View user's profile MSN Messenger Photo Gallery
JG300_Hunt
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Mar 08, 2006
Posts: 750
Location: WA State
PostPosted: Mon May 07, 2007 5:12 am
Post subject: Re: "TileProxy" project - Prettttty slick!!!!!

AWESOME pics Stoop! Very very jealous! Would love if this tool was interactive with FS9, however with FSX the way of the future, I doubt an interface will be made. Very cool idea there! Can see some amazing screen shot entries being submitted! Wink


_________________
Back to top
View user's profile
JG300-Stoopy
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 5840
Location: Group W bench
PostPosted: Mon May 07, 2007 9:52 am
Post subject: Re: "TileProxy" project - Prettttty slick!!!!!

Glad ya's like it, and it's something to be aware of. It's not always peaches and cream though, as some places have pretty rough sat coverage and so the textures come out worse than default (the Pigsty looks horrible, sorry to say)...so don't get too jealous.

Someday, off in the future, some kind of automatic balancing between sat images and stock terrain tiles (maybe based on a threshhold of available sat image quality) might do the trick. Also, I haven't tried flying in low light conditions but I'm sure it will look impossibly weird with a nighttime black sky and fully-lit ground scenery.

Anyway.....I personally wouldn't submit any screenies to the screenshot contest or anything using this because the experimental nature makes it something of an unfair practice. But, Migod, when it works right it's something else....

The desert is one of my absolute favorite places and I started a multi-leg x-country trip, took this shot on the way to Barstow, with Death Valley coming up next......who can say the desert isn't beautiful?


_________________
"Once your reputation is ruined, you can live quite freely."
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website Photo Gallery
JG300-fr8ycat
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Mar 13, 2005
Posts: 1528
Location: Los Angeles
PostPosted: Mon May 07, 2007 4:13 pm
Post subject: Re: "TileProxy" project - Prettttty slick!!!!!

Since at this point it looks like it might be a little beyond my techy skills.....
if ya get the chance give this a go (my X-Country).

KVNY (Van Nuys) -> KWJF (Gen. Fox Field / Lancaster) -> L70 (Agua Dulce)

A nice mixture of City, Mountain and High Desert, maybe .5 to .75 flight time. Ya might even recognize Santa Clarita Wink

_________________
Back to top
View user's profile MSN Messenger Photo Gallery
JG300-Stoopy
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 5840
Location: Group W bench
PostPosted: Tue May 08, 2007 12:29 am
Post subject: Re: "TileProxy" project - Prettttty slick!!!!!

OOooooo...Santa Clarita (drools)...yup them hills are gonna look mighty fine!

Tell ya what. Just landed at Furnace Creek in Death Valley, lemme find a hose or something on the flightline that has some water (man it's HOT today!!) and then I'm gonna swing west and pop over the mountains to Watsonville, cruise by Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz then head up the coast a short distance and buzz Maverick's before I land at Half Moon Bay airport. Hear the surf is up....

You gotta deal!

_________________
"Once your reputation is ruined, you can live quite freely."
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website Photo Gallery
Shadow_Bshwackr
Janitor

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 21, 2005
Posts: 7019
Location: Central Illinois, USA
PostPosted: Tue May 08, 2007 1:15 am
Post subject: Re: "TileProxy" project - Prettttty slick!!!!!

HOLY COW! That's REALLY incredible! Thanks Stoopy for the review and commentary!
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website Photo Gallery
JG300-Stoopy
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 5840
Location: Group W bench
PostPosted: Tue May 08, 2007 10:28 am
Post subject: Re: "TileProxy" project - Prettttty slick!!!!!

Some shots from my little cross-country journey through the high desert from Barstow/Lenwood (Depue field) to Furnace Creek, Death Valley.....I'll hold off on the trip to Maverick's and do the Santa Clarita thing next.....



You know how some places are described as "the armpit of the world" etc.....well, apparently, Lenwood CA is very close to the nipple....







Entering the valley from the south.....







"The Hills Have Eyes"......



Kinda....salty....down there.....



Setting down at Furnace Creek, FS runway juxtaposed against the real one....



'Bout the only water around is what's in that coiled-up hose over there, and NO SHADE other than under the wings....but that's okay, we escaped and got away to some peace & quiet at last!


_________________
"Once your reputation is ruined, you can live quite freely."
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website Photo Gallery
JG300-fr8ycat
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Mar 13, 2005
Posts: 1528
Location: Los Angeles
PostPosted: Tue May 08, 2007 12:17 pm
Post subject: Re: "TileProxy" project - Prettttty slick!!!!!

Man that's awesome. Shocked

_________________
Back to top
View user's profile MSN Messenger Photo Gallery
JG300-Stoopy
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 5840
Location: Group W bench
PostPosted: Tue May 08, 2007 1:23 pm
Post subject: Re: "TileProxy" project - Prettttty slick!!!!!

Yep, and I hate to make anyone jealous but I also had my TrackIR going so I spent the whole flight just smoothly panning around with my head watching the scenery go by. You can kinda tell in some of the shots like the landing shot, I shifted my head to the right a little bit when looking at the runway so I didn't have the center windshield frame right in front of me. What an absolutely immersive flight experience, not to rub it in but it's one of the best I've ever had.....was sitting bolt upright in the chair to lift my head up a little bit extra to see over the nose on final, greased the ol' Super Deke on the runway and by the time I parked and shut down, I felt like I'd just completed the real thing. Only thing was, I kinda screwed the pooch on the weather selection, there shouldn't be puffy clouds at 5,000 feet over the desert in that season unless rain is coming. Shoulda used real Wx and got some high stratus clouds at 20,000 ft instead, or clear blue skies.

I'm trying to link one flight to the next so I take off from the last place I landed, and just wander to wherever I please and then go from there. Always loved doing that, and it actually helps with the TileProxy concept because the last scenery tiles remain cached on the hard drive and so the next flight loads quicker since it's not all new tiles that have to be fetched. Can definitely see taking several months to do a whole round-the-world flight in the Decathlon, might need to strap a 20 or 30-gallon fuel tank in the backseat to extend her range a bit but it would be one heck of an experience - do the whole globe at ~105 knots a stretch going wherever the wind blows...kind of a "Kung Fu" thing....

Although I feel the need to fire up and get out of there before dusk.....not sure where Charles Manson's old hideout is in relation to that airstrip, and I don't want anything bad to happen to my beloved Super Deke!


_________________
"Once your reputation is ruined, you can live quite freely."
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website Photo Gallery
HF_SlowHand
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Aug 27, 2005
Posts: 767
Location: Meeechigan
PostPosted: Wed May 09, 2007 10:05 am
Post subject: Re: "TileProxy" project - Prettttty slick!!!!!

now they are using google earth for live flight tracking too... watching my fiancees flight from Milan Italy to O Hare via Philly (Flight # USA717)... too kewl these day are! thanks stoopy!

slow

Aeroseek Live Flight Tracker (uses google earth)

_________________
I deny everything
I lie about everything
And everything I deny
Is a lie!
Back to top
View user's profile Send e-mail Visit poster's website
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic    Revive this topic    Printer Friendly Page    Forum Index ›  FSX
Page 1 of 1
All times are GMT - 6 Hours

Archive Revive
Username:
This is an archived topic - your reply will not be appended here.
Instead, a new topic will be generated in the active forum.
The new topic will provide a reference link to this archived topic.