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Netherlands historical scenery

arno

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It's time to announce a side project I have been working on recently. I'm trying to create a historical scenery for the Netherlands. My aim is to represent the country at the end of the 1930's.

This project probably won't go very fast, since I only work on it when I'm not busy with developing tools. But at least it's a good excuse for browsing through old maps and photos :)

Since it's almost impossible to get aerial images for that timeframe, it will not be a photoreal scenery. I'm first trying to make a base layer with updated landclass and terrain vectors. Later I hope to add a few airports from that time as well (if I have the time), e.g. Waalhaven and Schiphol.

@Dutcheeseblend one day this should hopefully give some nice background for your beautiful planes to fly over.

I'll use this thread to post progress of what I'm doing.
 

arno

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First update is about the landclass. I'm using the area around Rotterdam as a test area for now. I'm trying to define new landclass using a military map from that time, since a lot has changed compared to now. Just for comparison here is the current map from OSM and the military map from then.

1547581104805.png


1547581134701.png


My current approach is to try to process the old military map so that I can extract if an area is urban, fields, grass, forest, etc. And use that to make a new landclass file. I have been working on various scripts using GDAL to process the data and it seems to be working OK. Below are some first screenshots from the landclass (default FS landclass and my custom one).

1547581246658.png


1547581294063.png

Given the size of the landclass tiles it's hard to represent small towns well. So maybe I will remove the urban areas from the landclass and all add them using terrain vectors. That might give a better result. I also want to create new terrain vectors for the water (the harbour area changed a lot) and the roads. But that's something to start with when the landclass is done :).
 

Dutcheeseblend

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Good plan Arno! I've got prewar aerial imagery of Rdam, I believe

Edit: okay abovementioned imagery is straight, not obligue. So, useful. I'll try to collect it tomorrow for you. I got terabytes of info from someone who was wandering around with the same idea for years.
 
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arno

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If there is some imagery for some spots we can maybe see if we can colorize it and use it. But I think for most of the country we should use landclass and terrain vectors.
 

arno

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Been experimenting a bit more with extracting the water from the map. The results are not perfect yet (all those small streams in the map are probably bothering me a bit. But I'm quite happy that the general process works and that I have succeeded now to remove the text from the map and get the basic shapes out. More work to be done on it though :)

1547670813947.png
 
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That is quite an interesting project. Should you need any help with creating buildings feel free to ask.
 

arno

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Hi,

Like I wrote before I'm focussing on the terrain first. But I would love to do some airports as well for that time. So if you or anybody else would like to join on that and make it a collaborated project that would be interesting.

I have started to collect information on. Waalhaven airport already, that's probably the first one I would like to model.
 

arno

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Since I need the old maps to base the terrain vectors on, I decided to do a small side step. I made a photoreal scenery out of the map as well. Of course it's a bit boring to fly over, since it is just a map. But on the other hand it is cool to see how much has changed in the last 80 years. You hardly recognise the country :)

1547843666336.png
 

arno

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One more screenshot from the map photo scenery, since I'm enjoying myself to wander over it :). Quite interesting to see the default FSX traffic (usually highways) driving in places where there is no road to be found at all. Makes you realize how many roads have been added.

1547879863374.png
 
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Arno,

I like the idea of a 30ties scenery of the Netherlands. I assume you already have sufficient maps and the like but I can have a look what I have collected over the years if you are missing specific information.
About the airfields, you are aware that Cees Donker made a number of them for FSX?

Regards,

Jan
 

arno

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I found a Waalhaven for FS2004 from Cees Donker, didn't find FSX work yet. I'll contact him. If airports are already there, there is no need to do them again of course.
 
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Cees showed his progress on the forum of the sim-outhouse but didn't really release most of his stuf. But when asked he did send the files to people who were interrested (like me). I for one have Schiphol, Waalhaven, Eindhoven, Texel, Den Helder, Vlissingen and Soesterberg. I once tried to do something myself with Twente and/or Leeuwarden, but that didn't materialise.
 
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Hi,

Like I wrote before I'm focussing on the terrain first. But I would love to do some airports as well for that time. So if you or anybody else would like to join on that and make it a collaborated project that would be interesting.

I have started to collect information on. Waalhaven airport already, that's probably the first one I would like to model.
Whatever you need, it would be fun to help.
 

arno

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Hi Dick,

Thanks, no I didn't check that one yet. Let me see if it has Dutch data.

I have found a service with georeferenced military maps from the time I want to reproduce, so that's my main source now.
 
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Some more of Cees Donker's historic airports for Golden Wings 3 (MarinevliegKamp De Kooy, Ruygenhoek, De Vlijt (Texel), Valkenburg (Flugplatz Katwijk), Ruygenhoek, Buiksloot, Schellingwoude Seaplane base) can be found on the "Free Flight Site" here: http://www.thefreeflightsite.com/Scenery2004.htm
Vliegpark Bergen (now defunct) can be downloaded from: http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links.php?action=jump&catid=109&id=7984 plus and updated afcad from: http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links.php?action=jump&catid=109&id=11511
Some nice images of this airport can be viewed here: https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showthread.php?182122-Vliegspark-Bergen
The stories about these airfields and the courageous defence by the Dutch against overwhelming odds by German forces is inspiring. Despite the material superiority many German planes were shot down by Dutch pilots.
 

arno

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Time for a little non-update from my side. Over the past months I have been busy with my tools and other FS activities, so this historical scenery didn't make any progress. Hopefully I will find some time in the near future to continue on it.
 
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I did the "map thing" when we were creating Kai Tak. It proved very useful especially with the airport's afcad layout. So will we be seeing vintage 1930's autogen?:)
 
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I have something that may interest you. It is a historical flight but maybe a bit before the period you are looking for? :D
BovenNieuwleusen.jpg
 
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