The outcomes are remarkable, life-like visuals of anywhere in the world, from cities and little towns to natural wonders and whatever in between. The games capability to render objects and locations is so remarkable that it got us questioning– could we utilize this as a tool for open source investigations? Could the video games AI-generated 3D models be so accurate to assist with geolocation, and if not, could they serve another function?
From what weve seen so far today, the game handles topography actually well, even beating Google Earth Pro (in our viewpoint) in a test contrast. This is because MFS2020 offers higher landscape fidelity than Google Earth Pro, consisting of dynamic lighting, shadow, and climatic effects, developing more natural vistas. (Note: Google Maps integrates some of these functions to develop more life-like vistas of the world than Google Earth Pro, consisting of 3D structures from numerous places in the world. We tend to use Google Earth Pro for jobs like geolocation more typically, however, because the camera is simpler to navigate and place, and because it provides more tools that are helpful for our functions consisting of the capability to import/export KML files)..
For instance, the AI in some cases does not acknowledge structures and simply stops working to render them at all (or puts them in incorrect places), as in the example below from this neighbourhood in Seoul, South Korea:.
The game acknowledged some of the structures functions and rendered them (Source: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020).
Over the past few days, weve explore MFS2020 and visited cities little and big, dispute zones, and even areas of environmental issue to respond to these questions. We found that while the video games 3D designs are not precise adequate to be reputable for geolocation, the way that the video game renders topography, along with its dynamic lighting and weather condition abilities, might assist with background research study by giving investigators a “feel” for the places which they are exploring.
AI World-Building (And Its Limitations).
The aspect of the game that first caught our attention was its capability to render 3D structures: 1.5 billion spread throughout 2 million cities, according to Microsoft. Blackshark.ai has a description on its website which explains how its artificial intelligence algorithm spots and renders structures from satellite imagery, no matter how remote the place.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 (MFS2020) introduced last week, promising players the capability to fly anywhere in the world thanks to the integration of numerous technologies. The game pulls satellite images from Bing Maps, and occupies them with objects (such as structures and trees) utilizing the Microsoft Azure cloud network. The game “knows” whether a things needs to be rendered using an artificial intelligence machine discovering algorithm from Blackshark.ai.
Left: An area in Seoul, South Korea in MFS2020. Note that a few of the buildings have actually failed to render, while others have actually been placed in the middle of roadways. Right: The exact same area in Bing Maps (Source: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020/Bing Maps).
Left: Three domestic towers as they appear in MFS2020. : The shadows in the Bing Map satellite image suggest that they are much taller than in the video game (Source: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020/Bing Maps).
Topography, Lighting, and Weather Effects.
This is likewise obvious with distinct structures like El Helicoide, a building situated in Caracas that was envisioned as a state-of-the-art mall in the 1950s but is now utilized as a prison for political detainees. The game AI recognizes that theres a structure there and attempts to render it, but just handles to appropriately recognize part of the structure:.
After a few experimental flights, however, it ended up being clear that while the AI did a remarkable job at rendering cityscapes in general, it has some essential limitations that make it unreliable as a tool for a task as precise as geolocation.
Even when the game acknowledges a structure and renders it, the outcome is often incorrect. This location in the city of Maiquetia in Venezuela consists of a number of buildings that were rendered to be incorrect heights, three of which are highlighted listed below (for another example of incorrect height making, check out this article from PC Gamer):.
The images listed below were caught from the very same place in western Yemen, which was the website of an airstrike by the Saudi-led Coalition in August 2015. The leading image is the spot as it appears in Google Earth Pro, while the bottom image is from the exact same area and viewpoint as it appears in MFS2020:
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Source: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
Below, you can see a three-shot contrast of Mt. Ararat from the Turkish side. The leading image is the mountain as it appears in Google Earth Pro; the middle image is a photo of the mountain, while the bottom image was recorded in MFS2020.
Similar outcomes are obvious in this vista, recorded at Lake Louise, Alberta:.
Source: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
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Source: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
The video game likewise includes a vibrant weather and time system that enables gamers to change these settings while theyre in the game. Below is an example video of this feature captured in-game near the Alpamayo mountain in Peru:
The video game has rendered a few structures that appear to be basing on the Bing Maps satellite image from this place in Damascus, Syria (Source: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020).
A beautiful, functional Donetsk International Airport in MFS2020. The real airport has been completely damaged (Source: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020).
A re-education camp in Kashgar as it appears in MFS2020 (Source: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020).
The game likewise renders trees. Below is an area of deforested Amazon jungle in Brazil, near the border with Bolivia:.
Source: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
Utilizing this database of Xinjiang re-education camps from the Australian Strategic Police Institute, we found the video games variation of a camp in the city of Kashgar (note the more current image from Google Maps showing more buildings at the site):.
Conclusion.
Source: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
The video game also rendered some buildings near the Kuzminsky firing range, which is a Russian military base used as a staging location for soldiers (note the more current image from Google Maps revealing the base):.
Source: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
The games capability to render places and objects is so outstanding that it got us wondering– could we utilize this as a tool for open source examinations? The aspect of the video game that first caught our attention was its capability to render 3D buildings: 1.5 billion spread throughout 2 million cities, according to Microsoft. As a tool for open source investigations, the game has some potential.
Thanks to Aric Toler for helping out with this post..
Source: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
The game pulls satellite images from Bing Maps, and populates them with objects (such as trees and buildings) using the Microsoft Azure cloud network. The video game “understands” whether a things needs to be rendered utilizing an artificial intelligence device learning algorithm from Blackshark.ai.
The mine as it appears in the video game (Source: Microsoft Flight Simulator).
Keep in mind that the video game has actually rendered the buildings in the power plant despite them being obscured in the satellite image listed below (Source: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020).
Humanitys Worst Aspects, Simulated.
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Future Research.
As a tool for open source investigations, the game has some capacity. The games ability to occupy cities and towns with 3D models is a big part of what makes it enjoyable to play, but as it stands it has extremely minimal capacity to aid in geolocation provided the inaccuracies that we observed.
In this area in northeast Damascus, you can see that the satellite image layer shows debris from buildings that have been shelled. Wherever the video game identified buildings that were still standing, it rendered them:.
The image below programs the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Central Processing Centre, a detention facility in McAllen, Texas where the U.S. government detains undocumented migrants. The facility made headings in 2018 when images appeared in the media revealing the deplorable conditions to which its prisoners– in specific, kids– were subjected.
The Bing Maps satellite image of the Donetsk International Airport shows only light damage at the terminal (it is, in fact, completely destroyed as of today). Because of this, the video game renders the airport as being fully functional, and even occupies it with aircraft at the terminal, cars and trucks in the car park, and ground equipment lorries on the apron:.
And, in Venezuela, the games making of the Las Claritas mine supplies an upsetting take a look at the eco-friendly damage being done to that area:.
Replicating a 1:1 replica of our world with high graphical fidelity and populating it (if imperfectly) with objects is an excellent accomplishment, and a clear stepping stone for future simulation innovations.
Source: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
Because there are locations worldwide that appear pixelated in Bing Maps, we took a look at a number of them to see if they also appeared pixelated in the video game (for a list of pixelated/unclear locations in mapping services, check out this Wikipedia post). We found that the game still rendered some buildings in the two locations that we checked, but it would be fascinating to check out other sites to find out how the video game decides what to render and where.
The game likewise rendered the cooling towers and other buildings inside the Cattenom nuclear power plant in France, even though the satellite image that appears in Bing Maps is both pixelated and obscured by steam clouds:.
In the images below, you can see that while the game rendered some structures inside this army base in Lorient, France, it stopped working to render numerous that show up in this un-pixelated satellite image:.
In Ukraine, we found evidence of ongoing armed dispute in the kind of craters near Savur-Mohyla:.
Other avenues of research worth checking out with MFS2020 are its real-time weather condition and air traffic functions. It would be interesting to check out how the video game renders big thunderstorms or typhoons, for instance.
Just as the video game can render stunning natural vistas and captivating city skylines, it can likewise replicate locations connected with our worst elements as a types. The virtual world of MFS2020 is filled with the designs of the dispute zones and environmental disasters that we have actually created.
