Dev Tutorial [Editor] Aerial Imagery (1 Viewer)

To aid with building highly-accurate real maps, the OMSI 2 Editor can display aerial imagery onto tiles so that the map can be built with everything aligned correctly. For the aerial imagery to work, your map must be using real-world coordinates.

The first step to using Aerial Imagery is to go into /OMSI 2/maps/ and create a directory called aerials. The editor will not create this directory automatically and instead just fail to download any imagery.

Next we need to tell OMSI where to look online to find the aerial imagery. To do this, you need to edit /OMSI 2/options.cfg. Right at the bottom of the file is the tag:
Code:
[Editor_LinkAerial]
Directly under it a link should exist for the site that distributes the aerial images that will be downloaded, but by default it is not set. There are several links available that work here, the easiest to start with is OpenStreetMap imagery:
Code:
http://b.tile.openstreetmap.org/~z/~x/~y.png
Paste this directly below the tag, save the file and then load the Editor. To display the images in the Editor, go to the Tile tab and check the "Use tile aerials" option:
upload_2016-9-17_14-46-15.png
The resolution of the above link is limited to 256px, so leave the slider alone and click "Dnl. current Tile". This will download a JPEG image into the directory you created earlier and apply it to the tile you're on. Additionally, any tiles that have not yet been downloaded will display the most recently downloaded image. As the images are stored locally on your computer, they will now appear each time the tile aerials are activated without having to redownload them. It's also possible to change the link after downloading some images and then download some other tiles with a different mapping style if you want to mix mapping types.

On the subject of changing the link, you'll probably find that the 256px streetmap imagery leaves rather a lot to be desired in terms of detail, but luckily there are alternatives provided by GCMods:
Code:
http://aerial.gcmods.de/toquad.php?x=~x&y=~y&z=~z&apicode=YourBingAPICode
http://aerial.gcmods.de/toquad.php?x=~x&y=~y&z=~z&type=road&apicode=YourBingAPICode
http://aerial.gcmods.de/toquad.php?x=~x&y=~y&z=~z&service=google&hres=1&apicode=YourGoogleAPICode
http://aerial.gcmods.de/toquad.php?x=~x&y=~y&z=~z&service=google&apicode=YourGoogleAPICode
http://aerial.gcmods.de/toquad.php?x=~x&y=~y&z=~z&service=google&type=roadmap&apicode=YourGoogleAPICode

These links give Aerial and Streetmap imagery from Bing and Google, but they don't work unless you provide an API code.

To get an API code to use the Bing imagery, you'll need to go to the Bing Maps Dev Center and sign in with a Microsoft account. Then, go to the My Keys section and create a new Basic/Not-For-Profit key. This will give you a key which you can paste in place of YourBingAPICode in the links above.

To get an API code to use the Google imagery, you'll need to create a Google Maps Static API key, which requires a Google Cloud Platform account, which requires a Debit/Credit card as requests to the API are pay-as-you-go. You get $300 credit with your free trial, which is enough for over 2,000 tiles at max resolution, so it's only really an issue if you are but a child. This will give you a key which you can paste in place of YourGoogleAPICode in the links above.

With the exception of the first Google link, imagery can then be downloaded up to 2048px square. For higher resolutions, the game will appear to freeze for quite some time while the image is downloaded. Google imagery is usually much higher quality and more recent that Bing imagery, however it has a watermark on each 256px square. The first Google link is slightly strange as it only works at the 256px setting, but actually downloads a 512px image with only the one watermark rather than the usual 4...
 
Last edited:
Nov 4, 2016
187
15
46
@BestBear yeah, unfortunately it looks like Bing's coverage of your area is pretty poor, the only solution is to find a different service with better imagery. :(
Damn it. Do you know of any other websites? Preferably google maps because their coverage is not bad, of course with slightly higher resolution if that's possible to obtain?

I tried searching around for "download high resolution aerial imagery", am I using the wrong keywords?
 
Hi. I'm trying to build a map set in my local area, however google maps is not working. I have tried the following links:
http://b.tile.openstreetmap.org/~z/~x/~y.png
http://www.gcmods.de/toquad.php?x=~x&y=~y&z=~z
https://www.gcmods.de/toquad.php?x=~x&y=~y&z=~z&service=google

All 3 of these, when I paste the address into my browser, come up with a 404 error. In the game, they either appear white, or OMSI just refuses to download them. These links worked last time I tried, about 2 weeks ago which leads me to think it is to do with a 313KB update steam downloaded the other day. Screenshots:
upload_2017-10-18_23-2-52.png


upload_2017-10-18_23-3-16.png


If anyone can help me or give me a link that works it would be greatly appreciated.
 

Advertisement

Trident Fan

Brummie bus driver
Jun 17, 2017
159
2
142
26
@ALX400 Trident You're going to have to give a lot more detail like that, rather than just a generic statement like that. Are you referring to the topic in question or are you just pondering life's questions in the wrong place?

The gc links do not work but the last one does, when I click download the tile just changes colour and doesn't show any image at all, its the same as the above screenshots
 

Advertisement

Florence3099

Prepare for trouble! Make it double!
Dec 10, 2015
790
2
1,107
Goldenrod City
www.flickr.com
Pronouns
She/Her
The gc links do not work but the last one does, when I click download the tile just changes colour and doesn't show any image at all, its the same as the above screenshots

Try this one
Code:
http://aerial.gcmods.de/toquad.php?x=~x&y=~y&z=~z&apicode=SttE3oRTYenLQlaq3aYj~1ER7sZkbT0-fUdGdmDCoZg~AkdeGn93l0yEBbG3ZRktNE2-3he0J0E3LVzhDD1HUYB_n1gw8tCLS4mvOuaYYgzn
 

LH275

????????????
Dec 9, 2016
357
18
195
London
I'm having a problem aswell. I've read this thread about 5 times and I still can't seem to find the problem, its probably something so simple!
Basically I've tried the links and they don't want to display the map on the tile and the dialog box that pops up after the conversion says this:

Capture.PNG

I'm guessing that "File picture.jpg does not exist" is the problem, any suggestions?
 

Road-hog123

An Orange Bus
FF Council
UKDT
Add-on London Team
Dec 10, 2015
2,287
109
3,158
Kent, UK
roadhog123.co.uk
Pronouns
He/Him
I'm guessing that "File picture.jpg does not exist" is the problem
That message is just an informational notice, not an error. You don't have a preview image defined yet, so when the conversion is run there isn't one to find.

I would think it highly likely the issue is with the acquisition of the imagery, not with the conversion to real coordinates.
 

Road-hog123

An Orange Bus
FF Council
UKDT
Add-on London Team
Dec 10, 2015
2,287
109
3,158
Kent, UK
roadhog123.co.uk
Pronouns
He/Him
I have updated this tutorial to add an extra step at the beginning, which seems now to be required. The download is failing because the folder it's trying to download to doesn't exist and it's not intelligent enough to go ahead and create it...

The first step to using Aerial Imagery in the OMSI Editor is to go into /OMSI 2/maps/ and create a folder called aerials. Then copy the name of your map's folder exactly and create a folder within aerials with the same name. You'll end up with something like /OMSI 2/maps/aerials/Grundorf/.


Following the World Coordinates tutorial, DEM tutorial and this tutorial on a fresh OMSI install has given me a map with hills and 2048px imagery, so I think I might finally have got this thing nailed now...
 

Advertisement

Mar 15, 2017
205
10
260
Pronouns
He/Him
I'm trying to sort out Aerial Images on a fresh install of OMSI 2. I have followed this tutorial but when i get to the part when i need to click "Dnl. current Tile" nothing happens. I dont get any sort of pop up message. Anyone else had this issue?
 
Mar 15, 2017
205
10
260
Pronouns
He/Him
@Road-hog123 Waited a few minutes mate. I did have Aerial Images working on a previous copy of OMSI but this time it does nothing. I don't even get the copyright images message after hitting Dnl. Current Time.

EDIT: Everythings Sorted Now
 
Last edited:

Advertisement

This thread is more than 51 days old.

Your message may be considered spam for the following reasons:

Users who are viewing this thread