recently i've come across this: http://edtruthan.com/tileproxy/tutorial/

it's called TileProxy, and it's basically a "hack" to allow FSX and FS9 to dinamically stream satellite imagery for photoreal scenery coverage pretty much everywhere...

looks awesome, doesn't it 

i was pretty amazed myself, but it has come to my attention, that this clever appproach to scenery has a few drawbacks, that limit it's practical applications in a variety of cases...

first - there's the legal issue... most of the photoreal data is copyrighted - and although M$ does own it's proprietary map service, there are a few other problems involved....

namely - photoreal looks very cool, BUT it's coverage (available under M$ domains) is not as broad as would be desireable... bush-pilots would be left with neglected areas where coverage is of insufficient resolution for an enjoyable ride.... also, seasons cannot be simulated this way, as available sattelite imagery is mostly meant for mapping purposes and only account for a single season setting.... night-time flying also suffers from this - satellite photos are usually taken at daytime

and most obviously - streaming imagery requires a monstrous amount of bandwidth.... and although most of us do have broadband connections, it's not wise to take it as a given that such would be available/viable in all cases....

so this makes photoreal rendering mostly a no-go within the next years, at least... 


but it looks so cool... isn't that a shame? 

it would be, quite a shame indeed, to overlook the potentials of streaming terrain data.....


so i devised a novel approach to this concept -  a "hybrid", if you will... let's see if i can properly convey my ideas....


i propose, instead of streaming hard image information - which is less-than-optimal a solution, for the reasons presented above - we employ other aspects of terrain streaming that can make for a possibly better experience...

stream terrain elevation - the data required for representing the 3d configuration of an area, is but a fraction of that required to actually "paint" it with photoreal textures... this should eliminate the need for users to download srtm packs in order to obtain a proper terrain mesh...

another key factor - stream map VECTOR data - roads, highways, railroads, rivers... this should make it so that pretty much every street in the world is properly represented - so while you still can't "see your own house" - you'll should still be able to fly over your neighborhood satisfyingly 

of course, when no connection is available, whatever is already in cache, or if none, the default library is used as a fallback.... this cache system also culls redundant streaming situations


now, having this vector data at hand, makes the placing of the autogen features and texture-splatting a lot more precise....


now - another VERY RELEVANT feature, which has less to do with streaming maps -
is to develop an IN-GAME interface for USERS to manually edit scenery at a chosen area - then UPLOAD this scenery to a common online library, so when others fly over that area, they may get custom-made scenery created by other users 


this would virtually eliminate the need to download scenery packages, except in cases where highly specific, high-quality scenery is desired - and should provide a far more enjoyable touring/exploring experience for new users, as well as for experienced pilots 


so, wanna make Flight more appealing to everyone - i believe this would be a good way to start 


meanwhile, check this out: http://www.ge-flightsimulator.com/