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Great Britain Mapped In Computer Game World

by Travis Korte
by
Minecraft map of Great Britain

An interactive environment lets users explore all 85,000 square miles of mainland Great Britain using the popular computer game Minecraft. The environment was created by the Ordnance Survey (OS), the UK’s national mapping agency, and consists of over 22 billion cube-shaped Minecraft blocks that specify roads, water, beaches, forest, plains and cities. The 3.6 GB environment was created using a program that converted OS map data into blocks, each representing a ground area of 50 square meters. In order to preserve low-lying coastal features, heights had to be distorted, making higher elevation areas such as the Scottish Highlands loom much larger than they actually are. As a fully-integrated Minecraft environment, players can experiment with building their own features into the landscape; one YouTube commenter noted, “Technically, you could build a house the size of London!”

Take a look.

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