Google Map replacement is easy as making toast for breakfast

Well, I finally made the switch to google maps this morning.... apon discovering a Youtube vid I give it a go and was amazed how easy to swap from Bing maps..... So this is just a thumbs up to those that are put off by changing, and all the fiddling entailed.... Well I have some news for you THERE IS NO FIDDLING INVOLDED!, just follow the video instruction and away you go....... Have to say the graphics with google maps is a vast improvement with crips graphics!!!!

 

 

Thanks!

Benefits?

 

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Been using it about a week now, I love it! Looks really clear and crisp!

Thanks!

Benefits?

 

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Just make sure you empty your rolling cache file in general options under the Data Tab to avoid any problems with the old Bing maps......... Benefits & first impression, more accurate maps with newer and crisper graphics..... In short, it just looks more real!, with a vast improvement on the road network!!!!

Edited November 18, 2021 by daspinall

I would like to try this, but don't see the You Tube video link :)

 

Lol, found it :) Sigh :)

Edited November 18, 2021 by davidc2

I would like to try this, but don't see the YouTube video link :)

 

David the link,

 

watch the video the link to the free mod is in the video comments, you will up and running in two mins, enjoy

Thanks for this! I’m going to try it now too.

Obviously not everywhere will be an improvement (as he says in the video) like the carpark seen in the video as 2min 41 seconds. It looks better in bing maps.

Anyway, I’m going to try it :)

 

Regards

Steve

Edited November 18, 2021 by g7rta

Great! Thanks!

 

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Thanks for this! I’m going to try it now too.

Obviously not everywhere will be an improvement (as he says in the video) like the carpark seen in the video as 2min 41 seconds. It looks better in bing maps.

Anyway, I’m going to try it :)

 

Regards

Steve

 

I await your comments......

I await your comments......

 

Here's one from a very experienced simmer over at Sim Outhouse:

 

"I tried this mod and it was okay, with significant drawbacks. For some reason, it has attracted the most zealous group of fanboys on flightsim.to and YouTube. It's clever and works well in some ways, but in most areas it is not as radical improvement as some would have you believe.

 

Google maps are more detailed than bing in many areas, but in most parts of the world, you won't see an improvement above 500 feet AGL. Around major population centers there is no difference at all.

 

Google maps don't blur out as many military bases as bing does, and the ones that it does blur out are much less blurred and still recognizable. This was probably the biggest plus for me, I am always annoyed when I'm flying around Belgium or the Netherlands and come across a big area that is blurred out.

 

Google is noticeably better detailed than bing in much of Asia. In some parts of Asia, bing has no high-LOD textures at all, and resorts to pure autogen when you get down low. In some ways, it is nice that google replaces the autogen textures with real and quite detailed ones, changing rural China, for example, into something full of terraced rice paddies rather than what looked like Iowa in the unmodded sim. However, bing's autogen trees and buildings will remain, and they are now mismatched with the google textures. Remember how FSX would lay down random urban or rural textures and then place roads and autogen buildings in places that didn't align with the textures at all? Yeah, it's like that. This is a bit of FSX nostalgia that I didn't need in MSFS.

 

Many of the google textures have odd coloration, visible borders between texture tiles, and other artifacts. If you've used google maps, you'll know that sometimes the highest LOD is a photo taken in a different season than the lower LODs, and is a very different color. You'll see some of that with squares of texture popping to different colors as you approach them in flight. Bing seems to have less of this, and I'm sure they are progressively improving their maps to work better in MSFS, while Google has no incentive to do so.

 

The operation of the mod itself is clever but a bit sketchy, it intercepts all the calls to bing map textures, sends them to a new server, and translates them into google map requests. There are reports of it breaking the sim, and it uses a port and host reassignment that you may already unknowingly be using for something else. It seems like it would be easy for either MS or Google to kill this mod, and I would think that both of them would want to do so, especially if a lot of people adopt it and it starts to increase traffic noticeably on Google's servers. It's also my understanding that this mod is becoming popular with people who have pirated MSFS, because those folks had no ability to stream the bing maps but now they can stream the google ones and have online scenery for the first time. Another reason I imagine MS would want to kill it.

 

Because of the uneven nature of the improvements, the tech issues, and the likelihood that this mod is not here to stay, I turned it off after a few days of playing with it."

thanks for that read tiger, the ground textures I can tell are a vast improvement, the buildings no difference that I can see. however in my opinion doing a lot of flying over unpopulated areas I can see the difference straight away.... It's a work in progress maybe down the road it will just get better and better.....I think all the buildings may still be Bing/Asobo... It may be my GPU as I still see what resembles screwed-up sweet paper for lots of buildings Edited November 18, 2021 by daspinall

I’ve had a quick fly around with the Google maps mod. I don’t know if I’m imagining it but the sim doesn’t seem quite as smooth (reverb G2).

I need to do more testing. In fact I’ve just come out of the sim, so to relaunch it…. but it appears SU7 is now available! I have to update first :)

 

Regards

Steve

Mine stutters slightly with G2 although I have all settings maxed out ha..... on the screens, it's fine as dandy....... I've just started the update too...... I'm also downloading Adrenalins new driver update with IMPROVEMENTS FOR MSFS so I just maybe on a WIN WIN WIN today ha Edited November 18, 2021 by daspinall

I’ve had a quick fly around with the Google maps mod. I don’t know if I’m imagining it but the sim doesn’t seem quite as smooth (reverb G2).

I need to do more testing. In fact I’ve just come out of the sim, so to relaunch it…. but it appears SU7 is now available! I have to update first :)

 

Regards

Steve

 

Correction mine most likely stuttered slightly because as I discovered later the GPU was not in overclock mode ha.... When you think about it, the buildings will be more or less the same because they are Asobo/Bing and auto-gen.... I think the ground textures are much better and the roads look better IMO Microsoft, Ace and Asobo have all failed in the road building department..... Anyhow, I'm happy for now....

Thanks for this! I’m going to try it now too.

Obviously not everywhere will be an improvement (as he says in the video) like the carpark seen in the video as 2min 41 seconds. It looks better in bing maps.

Anyway, I’m going to try it :)

 

Regards

Steve

 

Please comment after you have tried the MOD, I will follow you. Regards

Please comment after you have tried the MOD, I will follow you. Regards

 

Thank you… but I have decided not to bother now. I’ve had a few CTDs with the new update, mainly while switching to or from VR.

A few moments ago I launched the Google maps mod and the (updated) sim.. it crashed straight away.

It might not have been the mod, but I’m going to remove it anyway.

Tim made a good point earlier that both MS and Google will want to disable the mod & probaby will at some point. When you launch it, a message appears, reminding you to stop the mod before exiting MSFS otherwise it won’t work next time… well my sim crashed before I could stop the mod. I could have a problem now? We shall see. Actually it appears to be loading ok.

 

I might do an uninstall and reinstall tomorrow. Good chance of removing any problems.

 

Regards

Steve

Thanks for all the inputs and comments guys. If I have some spare time for MSFS in general, I might try it, but for now it seems like a pass.

Cheers!

 

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I tried it with the new update, had to switch back, also, kept getting bandwidth too low message.

The mod still works for me.