This week I've been looking at the new LINZ LiDAR meshes for Auckland. There are two, both are 1 metre resolution, there's the normal DEM -- Digital Elevation Model which the sims can use, and there's also a DSM -- Digital Surface Model, which is the sort of thing you see in Google Earth where the mesh includes buildings and trees. I know that Ian dislikes this, and the simulator can't really do anything meaningful with it, such as make buildings square-sided, but it's fun to try these things.
Here's a couple of shots of the old Real NZ Supercity with the DSM. I've turned off autogen and set the scenery to the lowest setting, so most of the actually 3d content doesn't show. Apart from the hospital, there are no other 3D objects here, just the DSM -- it certainly adds a lot of detail!
If anyone did a new Auckland, then the DEM -- that is, the proper mesh -- would be a useful addition, but it doesn't include the islands, so that's a bit of a disappointment.
