"Man builds" is not quite correct. The airport is part of the largest model railway in the world [1]. The thing is build by a rather large team with ten years worth of experience in building high-end models.
If you ever come to northern Germany, I absolutely recommend a visit!
It was an honest mistake. I did not realize that a team was involved in the building. I've seen stories about single guys building a yacht out of popsicle sticks, etc. and thought from the article that this was a single maker too. Sorry if the headline was misleading.
For what it's worth, I was referring to the attempt at a justification by the guy I was replying to. I thought I'd point that out for the record now that his comment has been deleted.
I think the downvotes (not from me - once a comment goes grey I tend to think the job is done for all but the most abusive comments) relate to the "I submitted this story and got no love" element (or maybe the smiley face).
We've all been there, and it adds nothing of value to the actual article or conversation to know it's a dupe, unless the previous one had a worthwhile discussion as well, in which case link to it.
Labour, as you point out, but also materials and tools, none of which I'd expect comes particularly cheap in the quality needed for that level of detail.
Their YouTube channel has a lot of videos called "Gerrit's Diary" (the main guy building it), and he goes into some detail about the different parts as they are building it (it is in German, with English subtitles). I haven't found anything specifically about the programming, but I would love to know some more about what went into that.
I have just browsed through the blog of the project manager at http://tagebuch.miniatur-wunderland.de (it's in German).
Until now the only thing I could find regarding the programming are the following numbers[1]:
The control software has 145.000 lines of code[I guess for the whole model, not just the airport]
Just the airport control software has 70,000 lines of code.
He has added 200,000 numbers just for the configuration.
When I remember correctly Gerrit mentioned that his homebrewn code is mostly written in VisualBasic. As far as I know, he studied business informatics.
However, they are also using other software like http://www.railware.com. I visited the Miniaturwunderland this year and it was quite fun to watch the operator team writing down RailWare bugs into their own excel sheets.
The Miniaturwunderland model railroad is definitely worth a visit for every programmer! Then you can imagine how difficult it is to change things in large complex systems without breaking something.
Can anyone tell how the take-off/landing is handled? It appears that the planes ride on little support struts, but do the struts auto engage/disengage once landing is complete/about to begin? Most of the taxiing appears to be done sans-struts. Also curious what happens to the planes onces they take off...
The youtube video above explains that (again in German). The start/landing system with two 'poles' was designed over a long time to allow realistic angles of the plane (i.e. nose up during descend/landing).
Are those things disconnected later? I'm pretty sure, yes. The actual mechanism wasn't shown in the videos I've seen, but I expect those planes to be able to taxi to the runways, connect and lift off.
After take off the planes are brought behind the scenery in a special area that allows to store/move/hide the planes. The video even says that it should be possible to change the direction of the start/landing.
As an autonomous vehicle enthusiast I was bewildered by the "carsystem" with no other explanation.
Their website explains that they use an expanded version of the "Faller-Car-System". After doing a little research I found that a magnet attached to the front tires follows a metal wire embedded in the roadway similar to the way a smart road works.
In one system I found, a magnetic reed switch is used to stop (and start) vehicles when they pass over electromagnets. Electromagnets in the road are also used to divert the steering when a choice between 2 wires to follow is available.
Miniatur Wunderland has expanded on this system considerably with a central computer communicating with an on-board controller in each vehicle to control speed, lights, and sounds. I couldn't find any information about if or how the cars determine or communicate their true position. My guess is that they estimate based on the speed and movement commands they send.
They do have a couple of systems for computer controlling boats that they are working on that uses ultrasonic or infared signals to determine boat position to under 1mm.
It's quite interesting to me that they have been able to make cars and boats act and be controlled more like trains.
The funny thing is that, while my first reaction was "that's really cool", my immediate next thought was that it would have been much cooler using augmented reality instead of figurines and models. I wonder how much longer there is going to be demand for physical proofs of concept like these.
But I don't "get" projects like this. Why spend seven years and $4.8m? Are there really that many people willing to pay to see this that they can recoup the investment? Are there any other side benefits? (i.e. finding logistical deficiencies in the airline industry)
I'm honestly curious what colour brought to the table. Last I checked their app wasn't all that great and their idea, while novel, wasn't groundbreaking and I'm not aware of how they could try to monetize it beyond ads. That last part could just be lack of imagination on my part.
Yep, they use magnets on the airplaines. The planes are powered by batteries and guided by other magnets (watch the nose wheel with his little skid). They even have some elevators behind the scene to sort and distribute the planes.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. I have become unable to stop the plane while on the ground. What I'm going to have everybody do is form a queue at the emergency exits, and as I go down the tarmac two or three of you jump into the gate…"
http://ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html : ("A crap link is one that's only superficially interesting. Stories on HN don't have to be about hacking, because good hackers aren't only interested in hacking, but they do have to be deeply interesting.")
If you ever come to northern Germany, I absolutely recommend a visit!
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miniatur_Wunderland