Minecraft makes real maps
In 2013 the daily telegraph ran an article regarding Minecraft and how they recreated a map of the U.K. using Ordnance survey data allowing for players to explore the country within Minecraft.
This to me is a very good idea as it can allow children and some adults to get there bearings and learn about their surrounding areas in a fun way.
This real map when it was created covered the whole of the 86487 square miles of the U.K. by using the digital mapping products of the Ordnance Survey library and consisted of 22 billion blocks. Another amazing fact is it only took 2 weeks to create!!
The Terrain was built using a 3D model of the earths surface and a backdrop map product which allowed the extraction of rural surface features.
Players are able to fly around the nation and checkout all the famous and not so famous landmarks. For me this just shows how innovative Minecraft can be.
Present day
Fast forward to 2017 Minecraft makes real maps is now a past tense as they have created the whole earth!! Forget google earth to learn your way around.
For the kid’s checkout the planet edition., I will be doing a review on this edition in the next few days.
Just a fun fact about planet Minecraft; it took 16,20032400 blocks to build the earth which is a perfect addition and compliments the Education edition perfectly. In perfect Minecraft tradition, when you view the Earth from space it is in fact more of a square for the obvious reason which is we build with blocks!
There is also a separate community for the planet edition where players are able to upload their own building projects for reviews and discussion aswell as other players to download the projects to play on them so they can experience and examine other peoples’ building techniques and interpretation of famous landmarks around the world.
I hope this of interest to you and would love to hear about any projects you have in motion at the moment?
Comment below about what your building at the moment and any screen shots you have I will add to the website!
Hello there! Myself, being a former minecrafter, I find this very interesting. And must I say that those are a lot of blocks! I find it interesting that one can build such amazing looking creations. However, I must day that I would love to see some of those photos in more detail. Perhaps you could add something like a “Click To Enlarge” caption that leads to a media file. It’s just a thought though. Anyway, it was a pleasure to read!
hi Peter
Thankyou and yes that’s a great point I will add a click to enlarge for those photos. The site is still a work in progress but I’ve really enjoyed the research and experience of this game.
Darren
I never played Minecraft. Games these days never interested me too much. I miss the glory days of the Amiga 500! But with that said I know first hand how popular and amazing Minecraft is. I have a young nephew who plays it all the time. Blows my mind how much time he spends building unique things with those blocks.
Interesting on the map creation.
aah the Amiga 500 now your talking!!
I do find Minecraft fascinating and really enjoyed researching the map article.
Darren
Hi just to let you know I’ve added the links in to enalrge the photos for you!
Darren
Hi Darren
I’ve always been interested in playing Minecraft. I guess it has to do with my love for structure creation (Civil Engineer here).
I can’t believe they created the whole world; do you mean like actually created an exact replica? or like a bunch of important buildings around?
Thanks,
Luis
HI Luis
I chose this Niche more for my son so I can hand it down when he’s old enough but the more I’ve researched it the more amazed I’ve become.
yes they have created the whole planet !!
I came across it as I was doing a post on an article I came across in a newspaper dated 2013, they had done an exact map of Great Britain using the ordnance survey maps digital data but the more I researched the more I learnt so my post shifted from Britain to the whole world, there is even a website called planet Minecraft, Its developing all the time and now players are uploading their own projects for other players to experience.
thank you for commenting
warmest regards
Darren
Wow that’s really incredible. Who would’ve thought one could do that in a video game. Thanks for your reply.