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posted by n1 on Saturday April 26 2014, @07:46AM   Printer-friendly
from the testing-fracking-in-minecraft dept.

The Danish Geodata Agency (Geodatastyrelsen), a part of The Danish Ministry of the Environment, has created a 1:1 model (English) of Denmark in Minecraft (English via Google Translate link) based on their publicly available data of Denmark, such as elevation models and data about roads and buildings. There is a YouTube video.

A coordinate system has been introduced so you can find your way around or locate and visit a specific place. From what I have read so far, it's not clear how you go from latitude and longitude to that coordinate system. It's 1TB of data, so I'm not going to download it just to try it out. If you're looking for places to visit, "The Little Mermaid" should be at 55.692867° N 12.599258° E and Kronborg Castle should be at 56.039036° N 12.621156° E.

Last year the UK had their own version. As much as I'd like to get my hands on a full-sized 3D map of somewhere, I can't see that Minecraft is ever going to be the best medium for it.

Please note that their Minecraft server is just a demo. It will shut down October 23, 2014. After that only smaller pieces of data will be available.

 
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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Saturday April 26 2014, @08:06AM

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Saturday April 26 2014, @08:06AM (#36526) Journal

    As much as I'd like to get my hands on a full-sized 3D map of somewhere, I can't see that Minecraft is ever going to be the best medium for it.

    Was it only geekness or is there a "need to have an open standard 3D explorer/player for geo data. We couldn't find one free, so there you have it as Minecraft file: not the best but better than nothing"?

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 2) by clone141166 on Saturday April 26 2014, @08:40AM

      by clone141166 (59) on Saturday April 26 2014, @08:40AM (#36530)

      Interesting idea and I'm sure it was a lot of fun. But I have to agree; why was this necessary? Danish hospitals, roads, public transport systems, etc. are just so well-funded already that the government couldn't find anything better to allocate taxpayer funds to than playing Minecraft?

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by irfan on Saturday April 26 2014, @09:31AM

        by irfan (84) on Saturday April 26 2014, @09:31AM (#36539)
        I think it is a great idea. This page [gst.dk] (English via Google Translate link) [google.com]) has some ideas about how it can be used in education.

        One school already uses Minecraft in teaching mathematics. With this Minecraft map, it just becomes more engaging for the students, when they can work with measurements in their own local neighbourhood. Another example is a combined virtual and physical world treasure hunt, where the students first search for the treasure in game, and then afterwards go out in the real world and search for it. Yet another example is in danish lessons. All streets and places in the Minecraft map have signs [gamepedia.com] with the name of the road plus the house number. This can serve as a discussion for e.g. why is there a "Mosevej" (en:mire road) in many danish cities? (hint: Denmark is a country of mires). I think the possibilities are endless.

        I do agree with you and the GP though, that we still need a proper 3D explorer for geodata. The Minecraft thing, probably is best suited for kids. Fortunately all of Denmarks raw geodata are freely available from The Danish Map Supply [kortforsyningen.dk], including height models (DHM, Danish Height Model) and whatnot, needed for building such a 3D explorer.
        • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday April 26 2014, @10:19AM

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Saturday April 26 2014, @10:19AM (#36546) Journal

          I do agree with you and the GP though, that we still need a proper 3D explorer for geodata.

          Well, what are we waiting for [youtube.com]?

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 4, Informative) by stderr on Saturday April 26 2014, @10:25AM

        by stderr (11) on Saturday April 26 2014, @10:25AM (#36548) Journal

        Interesting idea and I'm sure it was a lot of fun. But I have to agree; why was this necessary?

        It probably wasn't, but that doesn't mean it's totally useless and a waste of money.

        Danish hospitals, roads, public transport systems, etc. are just so well-funded already that the government couldn't find anything better to allocate taxpayer funds to than playing Minecraft?

        From one of the links:

        Consequently, the Ministry of the Environment, which oversees the Danish Geodata Agency, has made the Minecraft map available to everyone and is encouraging schools to use it in their teaching.

        One example they give is math. Ask the kids to construct a playground near their school in Minecraft and calculate how much it would cost based on the number of resources used. Doing so in a virtual world, that sort of looks like something they're familiar with, might be more fun for the kids than using pen and paper and apparently it's easier to learn something while you're having fun.

        You could also divide the kids into two teams and have them build a bridge between two islands. Does the ends of the bridge match up or do they have to start over? That might be a valuable lesson for future bridge builders.

        A virtual field trip to a place on the other side of the country might also be a good idea for some schools. At least if the other option is no field trip at all due to lack of time and money.

        I don't know if anyone is planing on doing so, but now that a Minecraft map of Denmark as of "now" is available, it might be "easy" to make a map of Denmark as of 1900 or 1800 or older. Or maybe just a part of Denmark. We have lost a bit of land in various wars and I doubt anyone is going to add all of that to the map. But maybe if Sweden, Norway or Germany made their own Minecraft maps, we could get some data from there?

        --
        alias sudo="echo make it yourself #" # ... and get off my lawn!
  • (Score: 3, Informative) by irfan on Saturday April 26 2014, @08:58AM

    by irfan (84) on Saturday April 26 2014, @08:58AM (#36531)
    There is a converter from UTM/ETRS89 (zone 32) to Minecraft coordinates [gstcraft.dk]. Those coordinates you give are in WGS84 (the standard OpenStreetMap uses), whereas the common system amongst governmental provideres of geodata here is UTM/ETRS89.

    Also, you don't need to download all of Denmark at once. The maps can be downloaded in 10x10 km chunks one at a time from The Danish Map Supply [kortforsyningen.dk]. For example, the inner Copenhagen area (240_40.zip), which includes The Little Mermaid, only takes up 388 MB.

    Unfortunately I have to dissapoint you about The Little Mermaid, which is only represented as pillar of moss stone blocks, with a gold block as a head (MC coordinates: x:126200 y:21 z:22233).
    • (Score: 2) by stderr on Saturday April 26 2014, @10:29AM

      by stderr (11) on Saturday April 26 2014, @10:29AM (#36550) Journal

      Unfortunately I have to dissapoint you about The Little Mermaid, which is only represented as pillar of moss stone blocks, with a gold block as a head (MC coordinates: x:126200 y:21 z:22233).

      Got a screenshot? :-)

      --
      alias sudo="echo make it yourself #" # ... and get off my lawn!
  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 26 2014, @01:42PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 26 2014, @01:42PM (#36602)

    This is where the real action is at https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/3D [openstreetmap.org]

    All the world, freely licensed for all time. And you can jump right in.