We have covered a few exceptional Minecraft builds in recent times here at Readwrite Gaming, the most recent being the stunning recreation of Chernobyl – a Minecraft build that actually made me watch the HBO series again. Now for something a little less riddled with disaster (no jokes from me), a 1:1 recreation of Kansas City, entirely in Minecraft.
I mean, where do you actually start with this one? Minecrafter AtmosphericBeats has gone about things differently from your traditional builder as they have used software they have created over the past four months that pulls in data from OpenStreetMap and the USGS to complete create Kansas City in just 36 hours. Should I be the first to point out that, while technically impressive, it has kind of taken the game out of proceedings?
Innovative Use of Data
AtmosphericBeats said in a post on Reddit, “This work is a representation of Kansas City on a 1:1 scale with buildings, roads, trees, and vegetation derived from OpenStreetMap. Biomes are positioned consistently, using high-resolution land cover data. I make those maps with software I’ve been developing in the last 4 months, which uses the data from various sources including OpenStreetMap and USGS to create a Minecraft World with buildings, roads, and natural features based on the data to keep it the most realistic it can be.”
The detail here is insane in that if a tree is on OpenStreetMap it will be pulled into this Minecraft version. The possibility of making many places on Earth that you are never likely to visit could mean we see a lot more from AtmosphericBeats and his mapping software. Minecraft is a great educational tool, and if this can be done reliably, it opens up a world of possibilities.
Future Prospects
There is already a Minecraft project called Build the Earth which has taken on the small task of replicating the Earth on a 1:1 scale which is something this tiny brain can’t even compute. The potential for educational and recreational applications is immense. Imagine students exploring detailed recreations of cities they are studying or gamers embarking on virtual tours of real-world locations they might never get to visit in person.
As technology continues to evolve, the intersection of gaming and real-world data offers exciting opportunities. AtmosphericBeats' project is a testament to what can be achieved when creativity meets technical prowess. Kansas City in Minecraft is not just a game; it's a digital masterpiece that blurs the lines between virtual and reality.
