
Danish government builds Minecraft world of Denmark from geodata - tudborg
http://gst.dk/emner/frie-data/minecraft/
======
Svip
Translation:

    
    
        The Geodata Agency's data is now free, and we have inserted them into Minecraft.
        
        That means that the whole of Denmark proper is now available as a virtual world
        in 1:1 in Minecraft itself, so you can freely move around in Denmark, find
        our own neighbourhood, construct and deconstruct like in any other Minecraft world.
        
        On this page, you can read more about the free data in the Minecraft world, and
        how you get started playing or download the free data.
    

According to this page[0] the map is divided into three regions, each which
has their own server:

    
    
      * Northern Jutland: server1.gstcraft.dk
      * Southwestern Denmark: server2.gstcraft.dk
      * Eastern Denmark: server3.gstcraft.dk
    

[0] [http://www.gst.dk/emner/frie-data/minecraft/spil-
her/](http://www.gst.dk/emner/frie-data/minecraft/spil-her/)

~~~
ManAboutCouch
The OSGB in the UK did something similar last year:
[http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/innovate/developers/minecraf...](http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/innovate/developers/minecraft-
map-britain.html)

Apparently it was built by an intern, it took him two weeks to create the 22
Billion blocks: [http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/about/news/2013/minecraft-
ma...](http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/about/news/2013/minecraft-map-of-great-
britain.html)

~~~
Svip
Is it 1:1? It doesn't appear 1:1, given how tiny the A/B-roads are. I am just
curious, there are not a lot of screenshots (or information on the scale in
fact).

~~~
bbrks
> Each blocks represents a ground area of 50 square metres. The raw height
> data is stored in metres and must be scaled down to fit within the 256 block
> height limit in Minecraft. A maximum height of 2 500 metres was chosen,
> which means Ben Nevis, appears just over 128 blocks high. Although this
> exaggerates the real-world height, it preserves low-lying coastal features
> such as Bournemouth's cliffs, adding interest to the landscape.

It seems to be a 1:50 scale.

~~~
NAFV_P
> _The raw height data is stored in metres and must be scaled down to fit
> within the 256 block height limit in Minecraft._

Well, I'm a cheapskate I play Minetest, not Minecraft. I'm fairly certain that
Minetest has a larger height limit, but it can freeze like a bastard. The
other day I went for a dig, and I used the compass to work out my position. I
was over 500 blocks under the surface, I kept running into lava flows(!).

~~~
bovermyer
I'm now curious enough about Minetest after viewing its website that I might
want to contribute. I love Minecraft and have played it since alpha, but it's
always bothered me that it's built in Java - and that it runs horribly slow
once Feed the Beast comes into play.

~~~
NAFV_P
> _I love Minecraft and have played it since alpha, but it 's always bothered
> me that it's built in Java - and that it runs horribly slow once Feed the
> Beast comes into play._

I have never played Minecraft, so I can't comment, but Minetest does slow, it
has a lot on its plate.

I just signed up with flickr, look for user "mrtucker257". I've uploaded some
photos of my upmarket real estate.

~~~
Danieru
Here is a link to NAFV_P's album:
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/123873955@N07/](https://www.flickr.com/photos/123873955@N07/)

~~~
NAFV_P
Thanks for that, it was my first time on flickr.

------
kapsel
I have to say that I am quite impressed by their work. I spent 30 minutes
earlier, walking around in the neighborhood where I grew up, and it was
extremely easy to navigate and recognize roads, houses, and large buildings.

Even the train tracks through the city were there as rails in Minecraft
(although not fully connected and working).

Very cool, the guys at GST did some amazing work here.. But as far as I can
tell, there is no way to download the full 1TB world?

------
hyp0
I've long been surprised that real-world places weren't modelled more often in
minecraft (and fps games).

My tentative conclusion was it might be too helpful for e.g. actual shooting.
Though, height data is generally available anyway (e.g. google maps'
"terrain", council planning databases), just not as easy to work with.

~~~
Snail_Commando
I think it's more likely to be a design decision. If you try to model a large
real world area, some people will immediately notice how it is unlike reality;
so the constraints of computational power, design skill, and developer ability
are multiplied. The differences can be truly jarring.

My guess is that there is more upside to creating unique areas. This affords
more creative freedom and the luxury of changing the simulation in accordance
with constraints and resources.

------
lesingerouge
Even if this is a minor "show-off" project, it's a good reminder for the power
of open data. Location services, emergency planning software, tons of other
stuff benefit enormously from this kind of openness.

[Crazy fun idea]:Basically, given Denmark's open geographic data one could
potentially build an MMORPG which takes place in Denmark and have the terrain
pre-generated. I think I would call this one Hamlet: The revenge.

~~~
zxexz
Wouldn't Hamlet: The Revenge just be Hamlet? :P Imagine a Hamlet roleplay
server

------
axx
I'm wondering how they did it? Is there some kind of converter to transform
GEO data to Minecraft Worlds?

~~~
Svip
GST itself has a very detailed explanation in Danish.[0] But basically, two of
their employees worked to created the converter. They even include a table
list of GST's own descriptions of terrain types and what Minecraft biomes they
were converted to.

They don't have underground data, so some simple steps have been taken for
each area based on a general idea of the underground (e.g. Bornholm's
underground becoming stone).

As for buildings, they know the shape of buildings, but not their texture, so
they are merely randomly generated in 'unrealistic colours' (as they describe
it).

As the map data is updated each quarter (3 months), the Minecraft data will
also be updated.

It's a very interesting read, I recommend you learn Danish and read it!

[0] [http://www.gst.dk/emner/frie-data/minecraft/om-frie-data-
i-e...](http://www.gst.dk/emner/frie-data/minecraft/om-frie-data-i-en-
minecraft-verden/)

~~~
w1ntermute
Or just use Google Translate:
[http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=da&tl=en&js=y&prev=...](http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=da&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http://www.gst.dk/emner/frie-
data/minecraft/om-frie-data-i-en-minecraft-verden/&edit-text=&act=url)

------
zenon
Didn't Mojang already do this?
[http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Superflat](http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Superflat)

------
oldmanjoe
On the Denmark minecraft server someone has placed nazi insignia all over
Amalienborg (Warp there to see).. I think the server admins should have made
it impossible to break and place blocks...

~~~
devindotcom
There is a "the" Denmark Minecraft server? It looks like the map data is just
being provided. Is there an official server hosting a live game?

~~~
oldmanjoe
Eastern Denmark: server3.gstcraft.dk

------
andyidsinga
If they included Hans Island in this, any canadians are obliged to go there,
build an inukshuk and leave a bottle of canadian whiskey for our Danish
friends - i mean enemies! ;) - who happen by. see also :
[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4797368](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4797368)

------
DanBC
I'd love it if we could get things like this for the moon, or Mars, or deep
sea Earth.

And I'd really like 3D printed toy models of Mars or Moon too - I haven't
found anything that does this.

~~~
morsch
What, like this?
[https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:26311](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:26311)

Somehow event at 10X/50X exaggerated height I don't find these particularly
interesting. Planets, even Mars, are for the most part really smooth.

A somewhat exaggerated model of the Matterhorn was one of the first things I
printed and it's pretty cool, though.

------
oliveoil
building whole cities and landscapes by putting together small bricks piece by
piece? would be surprised if they were not all over it in DK, the land of
lego.

------
kator
Is there a way to download the maps rather then connect to the servers? I keep
poking around but it's not jumping out at me..

~~~
wlesieutre
ominous answered this but was marked as dead. Not clear why, but my best guess
is that people use Google Translate to bypass spam filtering?

Here's the link he posted. I'm leaving out the google translate link:
[http://gst.dk/emner/frie-data/minecraft/download-
data/](http://gst.dk/emner/frie-data/minecraft/download-data/)

~~~
sp332
It was almost certainly the link shortener that got ominous's post autokilled
by HN code. Here's the translate link:
[https://translate.google.pt/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&pre...](https://translate.google.pt/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fgst.dk%2Femner%2Ffrie-
data%2Fminecraft%2Fdownload-data%2F&edit-text=&act=url)

------
wil421
I never really got into minecraft, do people just mine and build things or do
you actually have a story/things to complete?

~~~
duiker101
There is no story but I enjoy the adventure mode. It's a totally different
game but we can compare it to and Sims game, any other simulator or the more
recent Dayz. It doesn't have a story but it's enjoyable to play. You need to
survive the night, create a shelter, get stronger by obtaining rare block,
build a nice house etc....

~~~
exDM69
> There is no story but I enjoy the adventure mode.

Well depends how you look at it... it doesn't have a narrated, scripted
storyline but it most definitely has a kind of an open ended story these days.
It was added gradually over the years so every update was a bit more to
explore.

<SPOILERS> It is quite epic, really... you have to journey to the center of
the earth, then descend into hell and finally ascend into the heavens.
</SPOILERS>

Nothing forces you to do so, though. You can spend your time farming cows if
that's your thing.

------
drsintoma
just yesterday I was searching for publicly available administrative geodata
of European countries. it's not an easy task due to language barriers and
fragmentation. Does anyone know where to download the source data of this
project?

~~~
fetbaffe
Download here
[http://download.kortforsyningen.dk/](http://download.kortforsyningen.dk/)

Instructions here
[http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=da&tl=en&js=y&prev=...](http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=da&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=sv&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fgst.dk%2Femner%2Ffrie-
data%2Fminecraft%2Fdownload-data%2F&edit-text=&act=url)

Edit: You need a user to be able to download from Kortforsyningen. Not sure
what the user agreements says about foreigners because the sign up form is in
danish and the options are like if you are a danish city, citizen, ngo etc.
What I can see you only need to supply user name and email address.

What surprises me is that I can't find any pages in English. So good luck
navigating if you don't understand danish.

~~~
6cxs2hd6
> What surprises me is that I can't find any pages in English. So good luck
> navigating if you don't understand danish.

The American expat community hasn't grown large enough to form an effective
separatist group and demand that the Danish government translate everything
into English? How awful. /s

~~~
_delirium
The Danish government does translate a pretty large amount of stuff to
English, not specifically for Americans but because it's the _lingua franca_
used to interact with anyone non-Danish, even fairly nearby people like Finns
and Germans (Finns are officially supposed to know some Swedish, which is
similar to Danish, but in practice English is used even for intra-Nordic
communication). Not everything is translated, but it's sort of trending in
that direction. I would guess most "scientific" type stuff, like this data,
will eventually join that group.

On the other hand Google Translate tends to work pretty well with Danish
anyway, because sentences are fairly short without complicated German-style
clause structures that confuse the translator, and the grammar is not too
different from English.

------
fetbaffe
What a waste of tax payer money.

~~~
bananas
I came here to write this but am quite surprised that other people don't agree
with it and downvoted you. These agencies aren't paid from our tax money to
produce toys - they are there to provide a cost efficient service where
possible.

I have the same worries about the entire gov.uk rework.

Neat hack yes, but this is government, not private enterprise or personal
time.

In the UK we almost called for the hanging of an MP who bought a duck house on
expenses and I'm sure these "neat hacks" over time have cost a lot more.

~~~
zimpenfish
If you go down the "government should be cost efficient" route, you end up
with things like [/PPI/] which, whilst making the government more cost
efficient, has thoroughly damaged many vital UK services.

Edit: By PPI, I meant PPP/PFI. I conflated the two into one incorrect
abbreviation. Apologies.

~~~
lmm
What are you talking about? PPI was a private-industry thing. PPP is regarded
as a failure partly because it damaged service provision but mostly because
_it didn 't actually save money_.

~~~
zimpenfish
You're right - I've conflated PPP and PFI in my brain there. Apologies.

