Minecraft, a game known for its vast world sizes, has been used as the building structure for a virtual map created using actual Ordinance Survey data to accurately resemble Great Britain.
The map, in area covering the equivalent of 224,000 sq km (86,000 sq miles) and using around 22 billion blocks, is the result of a fortnight's work by intern Joseph Braybrook working with the OS's Innovation Labs team and OpenData OS software to create a map that's as accurate as possible and like all Minecraft worlds, completely breakable and customisable. The OS map products, OS Terrain 50 and OS VectorMap, create the 3D map of the earth's surface with features such as rivers, forests and roads included.
Speaking about the map Graham Dunlop, the Manager for OS' Innovation Labs said that this could be the largest Minecraft world ever created using real-life world data. He believes this proves that Minecraft shows 'massive potential' as a tool for geographical and computer technology use within schools, but also as a way to demonstrate the scope of OpenData and applications that could be created for it too.
The map covers the entire of the mainland part of Britain, comprising of England, Wales and Scotland as well as some islands but does not contain any parts of Ireland, North Ireland, the channel Islands or the Isle of Man. Upon download players enter the map through the OS's building in Southampton and from there can explore the lay of the land around them, building upon the land with their own ideas or recreating British landmark buildings if they want.
The map download is located here: Download the Minecraft-GB.zip archive (this is a large file – around 345 MB)
Here are some locations to get you started:
Code: Select all
Southampton Water --- X = 9000 Y = 100 Z = 26000
London -------------- X = 10632 Y = 100 Z = 24422
Mt Snowdon ---------- X = 5218 Y = 200 Z = 20913
Outer Hebrides ------ X = 2110 Y = 100 Z = 10000
Shetland Islands ---- X = 8900 Y = 100 Z = 4969
Poole Harbour ------- X = 8020 Y = 100 Z = 26235
Weymouth ------------ X = 7300 Y = 100 Z = 26440
Foulness Essex------- X = 12000 Y = 100 Z = 24174
Lake Windermere------ X = 6800 Y = 100 Z = 18080
Ordnance Survey ----- X = 8745 Y = 100 Z = 25695 Code: Select all
/tp 6800 100 18080The image below may help you find your bearings:
It shows the coverage of Minecraft GB expressed in world coordinates and the relationship with National Grid 100 km squares.
You'll also notice in the image above the metal lines and brick on the map
The table below lists the materials used for each map feature:
Motorways
Diamond
A roads
Emerald
B roads
Pumpkin
Minor roads
Gold
Water
Water
Foreshore
Sand
Forest
Leaves
Plains
Grass
Built-up areas
Brick
So where there is a brick area, denotes a town/city so you can find where you live and the metal lines are roads that you can follow to where you want to go
We will be putting this map up on the station Minecraft server for a short time (starting tomorrow) to have a play with and if you like the map, we may keep it for later (or we could use the tool to make the world)
If you want to join us on the station Minecraft server, goto Multiplayer on the front screen of Minecraft and in the server address box, put http://www.sanitarium.fm and come and join us