wrote in message
...
On Tue, 30 Mar 2004 22:20:19 +0000 (UTC),
(Paul Tomblin) wrote:

You haven't used MSFS recently have you? Satellite imagery ground has
been a feature of MSFS since about 1998 or 2000.

Actually that's not quite true. Digital ELEVATION data, possibly
acquired by satellites, forms the terrain mesh of FS200*. The IMAGERY
mapped over that elevation data is mostly comprised of bitmaps that are
driven by USGS "land class" data (i.e. "where are the trees, where is
the water, where are the verdant pastures of green"), not actual
photo-imagery.

Maybe that's why, a few years back, MSFS '98 had me crash into a mountain
on a flight from CHD to the Grand Canyon when flying at 13,000 feet. That's
1000 feet higher than any terrain in the area (Mt. Humphries, which was
misplaced by 70 miles). I never went back and bothered to upgrade the
product. It also misplaced the runways about 100 feet left or right.