How Microsoft Employed AI to Make Flight Simulator 2024

Heralded as the most immersive flight simulator game on the market, the highly anticipated release this week of Microsoft Flight Simulator (MSFS) 2024 came with an ultra-immersive artificial intelligence (AI) engine upgrade.

Once again collaborating with Blackshark.ai, the franchise used Microsoft Azure Cloud and AI to recreate a photorealistic digital twin of Earth, offering breathtakingly realistic panoramic landscapes for gaming enthusiasts.

Despite the launch experiencing a bumpy take-off with server failures on day one, Techopedia delves into its AI-driven tools and realistic world-building features, along with scalability challenges, applications beyond gaming, and the potential flaws of depending on AI to bridge data gaps.

Table of Contents Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024: The AI Powerhouse Acting As Your Pilot
3. How AI Works in 3D Spatial Mapping
4. Real-World Alternative Uses of Computer Vision Geospatial Mapping
5. Cloud and AI-Based Limitations and Sustainability
6. The Bottom Line
7. FAQs
8. References

Show Full Guide

Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024: The AI Powerhouse Acting As Your Pilot
3. How AI Works in 3D Spatial Mapping
Show Full Guide
4. Real-World Alternative Uses of Computer Vision Geospatial Mapping
5. Cloud and AI-Based Limitations and Sustainability
6. The Bottom Line
7. FAQs
8. References

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024: The AI Powerhouse Acting As Your Pilot

At the heart of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024’s AI-driven 3D topography is spatial mapping specialists Blackshark.ai based in Graz, Austria.

Implementing their neural networks, Blackshark.ai was tasked with processing satellite imagery to classify and reconstruct over 1.5 billion buildings, roads, infrastructure, and vegetation for the game.

Utilizing Azure Cloud, they enabled their computer vision expertise to recreate a geospatial 3D map of Earth to provide the most realistic backdrop in the game’s 42-year history.

Its development brought together over fifty AI specialists, data scientists, geospatial engineers, and real-time rendering developers, which led to the recreation of enhanced digital elevation maps that have brought to life a realistic hand-crafted aerial view for gamers, including:

How AI Works in 3D Spatial Mapping

Prior to 2020, versions of Flight Simulator originally boasted 3D-looking 2D terrain; however, these days, MSFS 2024 marries generative AI with geospatial data and cloud computing.

Here, using neural networks, AI sets about interpreting satellite and aerial imagery, identifying and organizing components of the 3D landscape in the game.

Nevertheless, the lifelike imagery seen in the game’s replicated world below is not as like-for-like as it appears.

The secret lies within AI’s ability to fill in the gaps – not just in the buildings, vegetation, and airport features, for example – but in recreating rural and urban areas where the physical data is sparse or unavailable.

Additionally, the resulting building and vegetation façades and facias (even weather) are replicated using algorithms that merge regional features, such as known local architectural styles and foliage, which are inputted into the system.

Working from every building’s footprint, type, and height, these aspects are then segmented by a neural network, which recreates them using these provincial specifics.

If all goes to plan, Microsoft’s Azure Cloud then enables the scalability and speed required to render and stream the simulation in real-time.

Here, hundreds of virtual machines work in parallel and can capably render the entire planet within 72 hours, with frequent live update AI algorithms refreshing the platform in as little as 30 minutes.

Real-World Alternative Uses of Computer Vision Geospatial Mapping

Outside of the gaming domain, the AI engine behind Flight Simulator has a vast number of applications, particularly when implemented in urban planning and environmental management schemes.

Other specialist 3D geospatial and spatial analytics firms, such as Cesium and Esri, are also creating applications, including semantic 3D city models used for vegetation management, cadastral registration, and city infrastructure planning.

Synthetic geospatial environments are also utilized for autonomous vehicle training and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle simulations, which could have further implications in future missions to explore other planets in our solar system.

Whether earthly or extra-terrestrial terrain, developers can now begin reproducing simulation edge cases in machine learning (ML) for vehicles and drones without the excessive research and development budgets of old.

Just as in the game, with generative AI’s help, living and dynamic world situations can also be mapped that can include:

Finally, industries such as telecommunications can use geospatial analytics for signal propagation planning, enhancing the reach and efficiency of communication networks.

Cloud and AI-Based Limitations and Sustainability

Despite its groundbreaking 3D rendering capabilities, the AI behind Microsoft’s Flight Simulator 2024 still has notable limitations, particularly surrounding data accuracy and resource requirements.

For example, while major cities have a large resource of up-to-date satellite and aerial imagery to draw from, less populated regions with outdated or incomplete geospatial data cannot. The resulting disparity means these areas lack the same level of data points, potentially leading to larger inconsistencies in their representation.

Then, there is the topical debate about artificial intelligence increasing demand on regional energy and freshwater reserves to cope with the massive computational requirements of cloud-based AI data centers.

However, efforts are underway to address these demands, which could be offset by switching to 100% renewable energy sources in the future, as well as adopting future innovations in advanced water-cooling systems to minimize AI’s freshwater footprint.

The Bottom Line

Microsoft’s 2024 Flight Simulator and Blackshark.ai’s latest AI engine has certainly set a new standard for digital realism in mirroring the real-life structures, terrain, and vegetation in this photorealistic recreation of planet Earth as seen from the sky.

Yet, as if to illustrate the sizeable demands of streaming this volume of data, MSFS 2024’s launch was beset by problems with server failures, which, as one of the world’s largest cloud providers, meant some concerning and unexpected turbulence.

While gamers gain an extra sensory experience, AI’s negative impact on the planet it has reconstructed is yet to be determined.

However, this transformative collaboration in AI-driven modeling also provides a very unique opportunity to redefine how we interact with, study, and improve our planet, which must be a good thing.

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