Cmod Political borders model?

[granthutchison]

I've now removed all Cham's reported border loops and tripoint gaps for Asia and Africa, and have updated the files at my previous links. (I've cosmetically joined three tripoints in Africa, and eight in Asia.)
Europe next.

Grant

[Cham]

I've rebuilded Africa and checked the model. It's clean ! Tomorrow, I'll do Asia and check it.

Grant, be carefull with Europe. There are many gaps in this case, mostly on the East-Europe tripoints.

[Cham]

Hmmm, I rebuilded Asia, and there are many gaps at tripoints in the middle-East. Also, apparently there's a missing part for Koweit and Iraq. Grant, I'll make a complete report tomorrow by email.

[granthutchison]

Hmmm, I rebuilded Asia, and there are many gaps at tripoints in the middle-East. Also, apparently there's a missing part for Koweit and Iraq. Grant, I'll make a complete report tomorrow by email.

Are you suggesting these gaps weren't there with previous builds? That would be remarkable. I can break the data files so that whole borders disappear, but I'm fabulously unlikely to make tripoint gaps appear in regions I'm not working in. (The predictable gaps, now fixed, were in Central Asia and Transcaucasia, where new states from the old USSR adjoin older borders.)

Grant

[Cham]

The Africa and Asia models have been rebuilt and checked. They're a pure jewel, now !

This is getting very exciting, especially after a comparison with Google Earth !

More to come very soon...

[Cham]

Okay, the world model is finished ! I'm just waiting for Grant's opinion before publishing the addon.

I made lots of comparisons with Google Earth, and the results are interesting : in most cases, GE is more accurate, its curves are more detailed at very close range (which isn't surprising, considering GE ambition). However, in a few cases, the CMOD version seems a bit more accurate. I can show some comparisons here, but I don't think it's really worth it. The users could do the same once the model has been published.

The borders model is very satisfying in Celestia, even at pretty close range. The BINARY CMOD file is 3.1 MB, which is pretty good, considering the curves complexity. Here are some large screenshots (sorry, I'm using a 16K texture only) :

samerica.jpg

europe.jpg

asia.jpg

[ElChristou]

Whaaa...

[Cham]

Here's another nice view from space (large picture) :

monde.jpg

At this altitude, you can't see the polygonal limitation of the borders. The polygonal aspect is only visible at an altitude of about 100 km or less.