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FSX Terrain Elevation

B

Bailey Green

Messages
27
Country
southafrica
Hello,

I wonder if somebody could help I am designing an airfield with a curved runway so I am trying to get the shape of the terrain in fsx right so I can model the runway but there is no good DEM so it is not accurate. Is there any other way I can manually edit the shape of the terrain in fsx

Regards
Bailey
 
Hi Bailey:

Tell us a bit more about what you want to achieve, so we can better help you. ;)


In FS AI aircraft require a totally flat surface, so a terrain flatten is typically used at most airfields.; do you plan to use AI aircraft at your airfield ? :scratchch

If so, terrain flatten polygons are the simplest method of making an airfield conform to a specified ground "shape".


If the RWYs, Taxiways and Aprons are within a terrain area not uniformly flat, sloped flattens can be made in between 'flat' areas used by AI aircraft.

And if you genuinely cannot find a decent free terrain DEM / DTM source for your area of interest (even within the SRTM / ASTER GDEM 30 Meter data made available in the last year or so), and you wish to better model the terrain of the real world in the vicinity of your airfield, there are ways to download the Google Maps / Google Earth terrain mesh (usually 76 to 90 Meter DEM quality) using Sketchup's "Geolocate" feature.

The downloaded Google Maps / Google Earth terrain mesh can be customized as desired in that Sketchup 3D modeling application, then one can export that 3D model as a Google Earth KMZ file.

Upon import of the KMZ file into Arno's ModelConverterX, that 3D model can then be output as a sloped terrain flatten BGL for use in FSX / P3D.


Hope this helps with sorting out what you wish to achieve. :)

GaryGB
 
Last edited:
GaryGB said:
Hi Bailey:

Tell us a bit more about what you want to achieve, so we can better help you. ;)


In FS AI aircraft require a totally flat surface, so a terrain flatten is typically used at most airfields.; do you plan to use AI aircraft at your airfield ? :scratchch

If so, terrain flatten polygons are the simplest method of making an airfield conform to a specified ground "shape".


If the RWYs, Taxiways and Aprons are within a terrain area not uniformly flat, sloped flattens can be made in between 'flat' areas used by AI aircraft.

And if you genuinely cannot find a decent free terrain DEM / DTM source for your area of interest (even within the SRTM / ASTER GDEM 30 Meter data made available in the last year or so), and you wish to better model the terrain of the real world in the vicinity of your airfield, there are ways to download the Google Maps / Google Earth terrain mesh (usually 76 to 90 Meter DEM quality) using Sketchup's "Geolocate" feature.

The downloaded Google Maps / Google Earth terrain mesh can be customized as desired in that Sketchup 3D modeling application, then one can export that 3D model as a Google Earth KMZ file.

Upon import of the KMZ file into Arno's ModelConverterX, that 3D model can then be output as a sloped terrain flatten BGL for use in FSX / P3D.


Hope this helps with sorting out what you wish to achieve. :)

GaryGB
Click to expand...
Hello Gary,

Thanks for all your help. I don't really need to have AI aircraft at the airfield as I am just making for myself to get into scenery development.

This is a really newbie question but what is a Sloped Flatten and is there somewhere where I can find some documentation on how I can make one?:)

I will have a look at using Sketchup and I will see what the model looks like.

Regards
Bailey
 
Hi Bailey:

The usual aircraft navigation areas at an FS airport are uniformly 'flat', meaning all terrain grid vertices of flatten polygons have the same Altitude.

Where terrain slopes and/or has variable elevations (like real world terrain) one can represent that more realistically by assigning the variable Altitude of the real world ground or terrain to the terrain grid vertices of flatten polygons, characterizing a flatten as having slopes in the surface (thus a "sloped" flatten" to distinguish it from a 'usual' flatten area in which all terrain grid vertices of flatten polygons have the same Altitude). ;)


IMHO, Google sometimes a faster way to find info than the local Search function at FS Developer forums:

https://www.google.com/#q=site:+www.fsdeveloper.com+sloped+flatten


Notice the keywords submitted in the Google search text entry field. :pushpin:


FYI: The use of Sketchup version-8 32-bit is allowed for either personal or commercial purposes; but use of a Sketchup version subsequent to that (ex: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 etc.) reportedly requires a commercial license for any commercial use.

http://www.oldversion.com/windows/google-sketchup-8-0-16846


PS: If you tell us the Geographic coordinates of your airport area we could possible help you find a a decent free terrain DEM / DTM source for your area of interest, and possibly some aerial imagery as well. :idea:


Hope this helps a bit more ! :)

GaryGB
 
GaryGB said:
Hi Bailey:

The usual aircraft navigation areas at an FS airport are uniformly 'flat', meaning all terrain grid vertices of flatten polygons have the same Altitude.

Where terrain slopes and/or has variable elevations (like real world terrain) one can represent that more realistically by assigning the variable Altitude of the real world ground or terrain to the terrain grid vertices of flatten polygons, characterizing a flatten as having slopes in the surface (thus a "sloped" flatten" to distinguish it from a 'usual' flatten area in which all terrain grid vertices of flatten polygons have the same Altitude). ;)


IMHO, Google sometimes a faster way to find info than the local Search function at FS Developer forums:

https://www.google.com/#q=site:+www.fsdeveloper.com+sloped+flatten


Notice the keywords submitted in the Google search text entry field. :pushpin:


FYI: The use of Sketchup version-8 32-bit is allowed for either personal or commercial purposes; but use of a Sketchup version subsequent to that (ex: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 etc.) reportedly requires a commercial license for any commercial use.

http://www.oldversion.com/windows/google-sketchup-8-0-16846


PS: If you tell us the Geographic coordinates of your airport area we could possible help you find a a decent free terrain DEM / DTM source for your area of interest, and possibly some aerial imagery as well. :idea:


Hope this helps a bit more ! :)

GaryGB
Click to expand...
Hi Gary,

That helps alot.

The Co-ordinates for my airfield are:
Lattitude = -29.766516
Longitude = 30.586698

The Airfield's name is LightFlight, in CatoRidge, South Africa.

Regards
Bailey
 
Bailey Green said:
http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/terrain-elevation.436623/

Hello,

I wonder if somebody could help I am designing an airfield with a curved runway so I am trying to get the shape of the terrain in fsx right so I can model the runway but there is no good DEM so it is not accurate. Is there any other way I can manually edit the shape of the terrain in fsx

Regards
Bailey
Click to expand...

Hi Bailey:

I took a look at the area in Google Earth; IIUC, by "curved" you meant that the RWY has a dome shaped surface with around 10 meters of elevation difference between the North and South end. :pushpin:


Cato Ridge is located within some very scenic terrain which would make a great area for "low-and-slow" bush flying in FS, and IMHO it would merit use of a higher-resolution terrain mesh. ;)


Some links: :idea:

SRTMv3 FS terrain mesh BGLs: 30 Meters between elevation data points (aka 30 Meter DEM / DTM)

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/terrain-elevation-with-photoreal.434931/#post-724511

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/terrain-elevation-with-photoreal.434931/#post-733489



Alternatively, one could license the Stellenbosch ~6 Meters higher-resolution terrain elevation data set to use for creation of a custom terrain mesh:

http://www.innovus.co.za/pages/engl...versity-digital-elevation-model-28sudem29.php

https://plus.google.com/108103975661325804242/posts/b5ARs7tCs6N


Another possible local source of GIS data:

http://www.wgsair.com/what-we-do/terrain-modelling-2/


FYI: Aerial imagery via web-based tile servers for the area is fairly good; consider using SBuilderX for this and compare the several tile servers.

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/sbuilderx.5596/


Hope this info gets you started ! :)

GaryGB
 
Last edited:
GaryGB said:
Hi Bailey:

I took a look at the area in Google Earth; IIUC, by "curved" you meant that the RWY has a dome shaped surface with around 10 meters of elevation difference between the North and South end. :pushpin:


Cato Ridge is located within some very scenic terrain which would make a great area for "low-and-slow" bush flying in FS, and IMHO it would merit use of a higher-resolution terrain mesh. ;)


Some links: :idea:

SRTMv3 FS terrain mesh BGLs: 30 Meters between elevation data points (aka 30 Meter DEM / DTM)

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/terrain-elevation-with-photoreal.434931/#post-724511

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/terrain-elevation-with-photoreal.434931/#post-733489



Alternatively, one could licensed the Stellenbosch ~6 Meters higher-resolution terrain elevation data set to use for creation of a custom terrain mesh:

http://www.innovus.co.za/pages/engl...versity-digital-elevation-model-28sudem29.php

https://plus.google.com/108103975661325804242/posts/b5ARs7tCs6N


Another possible local source of GIS data:

http://www.wgsair.com/what-we-do/terrain-modelling-2/


FYI: Aerial imagery via web-based tile servers for the area is fairly good; consider using SBuilderX for this and compare the several tile servers.

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/sbuilderx.5596/


Hope this info gets you started ! :)

GaryGB
Click to expand...
Hello Gary,

Yes the runway is domed shaped and is lots of fun ( I learn to fly there in real life).

Thank you for all your help, I really appreciate it and I will definitely go and take a look at those links.

Regards
Bailey
 
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