Difference between revisions of "Autogen from OpenStreetMap data with scenProc"

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(Downloading the data)
(Downloading the data)
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Each shapefile consists of a couple of files, so you will see files with the extensions shp, shx, dbf and prj. You should always keep these files together, as they are all needed for tools to be able to read the shapefile.
 
Each shapefile consists of a couple of files, so you will see files with the extensions shp, shx, dbf and prj. You should always keep these files together, as they are all needed for tools to be able to read the shapefile.
 +
 +
The names give a good indication of what you will find in the different shapefiles. In general this is what you can find in each of them:
 +
 +
* buildings: polygons with the shape of buildings
 +
* landuse: polygons with landuse information, so where are residential or industrial areas for example
 +
* natural: polygons with natural information, for example forests and parks
 +
* places: points with place names
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* points: all kind of other points of interest
 +
* railways: lines for the railways
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* roads: lines for roads
 +
* waterways: lines for rivers
 +
 +
For the autogen we will mainly be using the shapefiles with buildings, natural and points.
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 +
[[Image:scenProc_Lux_OSM_data_in_QGIS.jpg]]
  
 
== Selecting the data you need ==
 
== Selecting the data you need ==

Revision as of 02:32, 28 July 2012

This tutorial describes how you can use the data from OpenStreetMap to create autogen for FSX. We'll cover all the steps, including downloading and selecting your data, how to configure the tools to create the autogen and how it finally looks in FSX. In this tutorial I will be using the area around Luxembourg city as an example.


Required tools

You will need a couple of tools to create autogen from OpenStreetMap data. This section discusses the tools you need.

GIS editor

We will be using ESRI shapefiles, which is a common format to store GIS vector data. Therefore you will need a tool to view and edit such shapefiles. In this tutorial I will be using the open source QGIS tool, but any other GIS editor should also work fine. A good way to install QGIS is to use OSGeo4W, which includes other useful GIS tools as well.

scenProc

scenProc is the tool that will create the AGN autogen files for FSX from the GIS vector files. Here you can find the manual and information on how to download scenProc.

Text editor

The configuration file for scenProc is just a plain text file. So you will need a text editor to create and edit this file. Standard notepad will be fine, but of course you can use any editor of your choice.

Downloading the data

Our first step is to get the data we will work with. We will be using OpenStreetMap data. On their own website you can view the data and you can also download it in their own OSM format (which is XML). But that format is not so easy to process with GIS tools. Therefore we will download a shapefile version of the data.

Such shapefiles can be found locations on the internet, but we will be using those made by GeoFabrik. From their website you can download shapefiles of the OpenStreetMap data organised per country. For some big countries the data is split into different packages per region. In this case I will download the Luxembourg file.

After you unzip the file you downloaded, you should see shapefiles with the following names:

  • buildings
  • landuse
  • natural
  • places
  • points
  • railways
  • roads
  • waterways

Each shapefile consists of a couple of files, so you will see files with the extensions shp, shx, dbf and prj. You should always keep these files together, as they are all needed for tools to be able to read the shapefile.

The names give a good indication of what you will find in the different shapefiles. In general this is what you can find in each of them:

  • buildings: polygons with the shape of buildings
  • landuse: polygons with landuse information, so where are residential or industrial areas for example
  • natural: polygons with natural information, for example forests and parks
  • places: points with place names
  • points: all kind of other points of interest
  • railways: lines for the railways
  • roads: lines for roads
  • waterways: lines for rivers

For the autogen we will mainly be using the shapefiles with buildings, natural and points.

ScenProc Lux OSM data in QGIS.jpg

Selecting the data you need

Creating vegetation

Creating library objects

Creating buidlings

Areas for improvement