Minecraft Game Adds Ordnance Survey GB Terrain Data
Minecraft game adds Ordnance Survey GB terrain data By Matthew Wall Technology reporter, BBC News
23 September 2013
Minecraft, the highly popular video game that combines monsters and building has now been able to incorporate accurate Ordnance Survey terrain data of Great Britain in its blockwork virtual world.
The game's 33 million players are able to create worlds on top of geographically precise landscapes covering 224,000 sq km (86,000 sq miles) of Britain.
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Joseph Braybrook, an intern with OS's Innovation Labs, created the GB Minecraft world in just two weeks.
It uses OS OpenData products for free.
Graham Dunlop, OS Innovation Lab Manager, stated that "we believe we've constructed the biggest Minecraft world ever" based on real-world data.
"The resultant map shows the immense potential of Minecraft not just for geography and computer technology in schools but as well for the broad array of OS OpenData applications."
Minecraft was created by Swede Markus "Notch" Persson in 2009 It is a world made of cubes made of various materials, like lava, sand, and rock.
The players can work together to build shelters, construct things from raw materials, and fight off various creatures.
The OS GB world contains more than 22 billion Minecraft blocks.
Once players have downloaded the map to Minecraft it is then possible to enter the 3D virtual world via OS's head office in Southampton and from there , they can recreate real-life locations, such as Stonehenge or imagined buildings like Hogwarts castle.
The OS map products OS Terrain 50 and OS VectorMap OS Terrain 50 and OS VectorMap - combine to create an 3D model of the earth surface overlaid with features like water, woodland and roads.
Players can design their own structures on top of the real-world terrain.
As OS is the UK's primary national mapping authority, its information encompasses the mainland and the surrounding islands, but not Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Isle of Man or Channel Islands.
Ordnance Survey