EZ-Landmark is an FS2002 add-on that places on the screen information
about 170,000 buildings, rivers, towns, etc. throughout the world. It
gives you distance, bearing and name, as the view below of Big Ben and
Westminster Bridge illustrate, (London City package loaded):
The installation could not be easier and once installed you have
several options. The main one is the option to toggle on/off the
EZ-Landmark names. This can be done "on the fly" so that the names
will not get distracting. The next critical option that is much
appreciated is the distance range. If you are in a crowded area
"Tourist-wise", like this image shows (right), then it is nice to
change the maximum range at which an item will show, from 30 nautical
miles down to say 1 mile.
Setup:
After installation, activate EZ-Landmark from the Flight Simulator
menu, choose the Abacus | EZ-Landmark item and click Show landmarks.
Alternatively, you can press Shift+F11 to activate the EZ-Landmark
display.
Options:
Display - you can choose to display a landmark's the name, distance,
magnetic bearing and true bearing.
Landmark Density - you can choose from three different settings to
specify which landmarks are displayed on the screen. You can
individually set a database entry to display at low, medium or high
density.
Show landmarks - you can adjust the visibility to display landmarks
that are from 1 to 30 nautical miles from your aircraft.
Font size - you can choose on of three different display font sizes
for optimum viewing
Add Landmarks - If you would like to add new entries to the database
manually here's how:
Each entry is a single line of text characters
Each line has five fields
The fields are separated by a tab character
These five fields are;
Landmark name - text description
Latitude - in this format CDD MM.mm (e.g. N43 47.29):
C - compass heading may be either 'N' for North or 'S' for South
DD - degrees from 00 to 79
MM.mm - minutes from 0.00 to 59.99
Longitude - in this format: CDD MMM.mm (e.g. W079 14.54):
C - compass heading may be either 'W' for West or 'E' for East
DD - degrees from 00 to 179
MMM - minutes from 00.00 to 59.99
Elevation (in feet) - usually set to the top of the landmark
rather than the ground level of the landmark
Density Code
0=display when Landmark density is set to high, medium and low
1=display when Landmark density is set to medium and low
2=display when Landmark density is set to low
A line starting with the '#' character is a comment line and is
ignored by EZ-Landmark
This looks a little intimidating at first but Abacus may add an Excel
option, which will streamline this process.
There are various different databases available for different memory
requirements but I recommend the full database download to get the
maximum benefit from the program. You do need to read about conflicts
within the databases when you do that.
Without more ado we should take a little tour around the world.
Firstly we are in Paris and we can see how confusing leaving the
setting at 30 miles would be (above, left). Then we can narrow it
down and we can see that tall buildings have their labels at the
correct altitude, this is a handy option and removes clutter. Also
narrowing to 2-3 miles permits us to see parts of Paris as they come
closer. As we get to the city centre, cutting range allows us to pick
out individual buildings such as the Louvre (below, right).
Moving to London, all downtown is well represented; here we see
Westminster Bridge and Big Ben and a number of items in the centre,
but unless we alter the options there are so many things to see in
London that EZ-Landmark would look like this (left, below).
The program failed to name the British Airways "Eye" but note
all the bridges etc., it makes identifying stuff in London a lot of
fun.
Travelling to Vienna, I had no idea where the city sat in relation
to the airport so switched on a 30 nm radius for EZ-Landmark and
found it right away, there was not much to see in Vienna. I suspect
FS2002 has shortchanged this lovely city (right).
Moving to Brussels in Belgium the program informed me that the city
is 5 nm on 240 heading. Nothing much came up in that city either;
scenery designers get busy.
Shooting over to The Netherlands, the suburb community of
Haarlemmermeer is identified near the airport and also the cities of
Zaanstad and Zaandan, near Amsterdam. Not too much to see in
Amsterdam on FS2002 (right).
In Moscow, we have to find the city from Sheremetyevo Airport
initially. Moscow is quite a way from the airport but south so after
proceeding over Chinkinskoje Vodochranilisce we reach downtown. All
round Red Square are names, St Constantine's Tower, the Helen Tower,
the Ivan the Great Tower and the Peter Tower (below, left). Just
at the edge of Red Square is St Basil's Cathedral, and near that the
Red Square Arsenal and Tocsin Tower (below, right).
Over at San Francisco we look at SF from the north over Fisherman's
Wharf towards the Transamerica Pyramid Tower in the downtown area
(below, left). Then we look back from the city towards the Golden
Gate. Seattle is full of details of course, well Microsoft live
there don't they? Next time guys place some more detail in Europe and
Asia as well! Seattle is full of detail and you have to start
decluttering as you get closer. Even at 3 nm range there is so much
detail you have to buzz around in an ultralight or chopper to pick
out all the named buildings (below, right).
Flying north to Vancouver, an area I know better, I can spot some
errors, such as Delta being west of Boundary Bay Airport when it
should be a few miles east. But Richmond and Oak St. Bridge and many
other items are named. As you get to the city center, once again
declutter is needed as there are 20-30 named items here--rivers,
bridges, buildings, piers (below, left). With this program you can
pick almost any area in the world and find your way around and feel
that you have got to know the area.
Overall, though as I first went to install this program, I thought it
might be a bit gimmicky, I am now convinced it is one program I
cannot do without. Certainly as a reviewer it is a great addition to
my ability to review scenery packages around the world. I have to go
online to solve debates over some "errors." Overall most enjoyable
and worth the money. One final picture of a Lago ultralight up near
the peak of Mount Baker (below, right).
Dr John Dale has been flying in Canada for 32 years and currently
flies a Cessna 210 and organizes tours to the Yukon and Alaska in the
summer. Check
http://www.flynorth.com
for details.
The installation could not be easier and once installed you have
several options. The main one is the option to toggle on/off the
EZ-Landmark names. This can be done "on the fly" so that the names
will not get distracting. The next critical option that is much
appreciated is the distance range. If you are in a crowded area
"Tourist-wise", like this image shows (right), then it is nice to
change the maximum range at which an item will show, from 30 nautical
miles down to say 1 mile.
