Published , by TJ Denzer
Published , by TJ Denzer
The sheer amount of data used in the real-world mapping of Microsoft Flight Simulator is vast and massive. The world’s a pretty big place after all and Bing Maps and Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing couldn’t do it all on their own, which is where crowdsourced data comes into play. Unusually, in this instance, it also created quite an interesting sight in the game in the form of a 212-story obelisk of a skyscraper towering over Melbourne, Australia.
Players recently noticed the curious tower in Microsoft Flight Simulator on trips through Melbourne in the game. It’s impossible to miss, being a 212-story tower in the middle of a city where no other structure even comes close in size. Apparently, the reason for this hilariously out-of-place structure comes from a typo. University student Nathan Wright was working on data entry in an app known as OpenStreetMap, in which for a 2-story house, he accidentally entered “212.” The data from OpenStreetMap somehow made its way to Bing Maps where it was used by Asobo Studios in the real-world translation data to Microsoft Flight Simulator.
“I think it’s so funny as it was the first time I was using OpenStreetMap,” said Wright in an email correspondence with The Verge. “I was using it for a university task and had to add data for class. I didn’t think I would have to see it again.”
Indeed, though Wright’s typo has since been fixed in OpenStreetMap, and it may eventually be fixed in Bing Maps and Microsoft Flight Simulator, it will likely go down as one of the funnier experiences to have come out of the early launch of the game. If you’d like, be sure to check out the strange structure before it gets patched out of the game with a fun tutorial video.
Don’t forget to check out our other Microsoft Flight Simulator coverage as well, including our Shacknews review of the game and guides such as how to spawn wherever you want in the world.