The Flying Hamster

[NeoThermic]

But seriously, Subversion, even at this stage, generates more realistic streets than it should create and glad that they're not all straight as they aren't in real life.

The intresting thing is that given an area of population and the algorithm from the paper as previously described in one of Chris' posts, the roads are accurate to what humans would build (there's even a bit from the actual paper of downtown NYC being auto generated and then compared to the current road layout of NYC. They are surprisingly very close to identical).

NeoThermic

[KingAl]

(there's even a bit from the actual paper of downtown NYC being auto generated and then compared to the current road layout of NYC. They are surprisingly very close to identical).

I just have to say - that's very cool testing them to real streetscapes.

[NeoThermic]

(there's even a bit from the actual paper of downtown NYC being auto generated and then compared to the current road layout of NYC. They are surprisingly very close to identical).

I just have to say - that's very cool testing them to real streetscapes.

Indeed. Top of page 5 (PDF WARNING!) has the image I'm reffering to. Also the whole paper is one hell of a read.

NeoThermic

[torig]

NYC's streetscape really is a chessboard-like pattern. To me that seems fairly easy to autogenerate, since you'd have very clear rules for the generation.
It *is* cool that the patterns match closely (and the matching is done) and I don't mean to bash the idea. But if you can autogenerate Paris, I'll be really impressed
(Paris, Rome, erhm London probably as well as many other big cities which had a more natural and slow evolution of their streetscape).

[NeoThermic]

NYC's streetscape really is a chessboard-like pattern. To me that seems fairly easy to autogenerate, since you'd have very clear rules for the generation.
It *is* cool that the patterns match closely (and the matching is done) and I don't mean to bash the idea. But if you can autogenerate Paris, I'll be really impressed
(Paris, Rome, erhm London probably as well as many other big cities which had a more natural and slow evolution of their streetscape).

Well, find me a land/water representation of Paris, a heightmap of Paris and a population density map of paris (make sure they are the same size!) and an overhead representation of the road layout in Paris and we'll see what can be generated with the rules VS what has been created with a "natural" streetscape.

NeoThermic

[torig]

I'd take the challenge, but I first need to read through that PDF. I wasn't trying to bash the idea, at all.
Doesn't it sound logical that generating any city really, exept NYC, would be more complicated? Or is that only me thinking that

[NeoThermic]

I'd take the challenge, but I first need to read through that PDF. I wasn't trying to bash the idea, at all.
Doesn't it sound logical that generating any city really, exept NYC, would be more complicated? Or is that only me thinking that

Read the paper and come back to your post

(Or if you want the quick answer, the great thing about procedural rules is that they work very very well for most cases. You're running over a set of instructions which match what you'd expect in real life. With roads, there's rules. For example, if two roads meet, make a junction. If the roads that merged don't continue past that junction, make it a corner. If you read the procedural notated code in the paper, you'll note that it makes sense. When you next take a trip to somewhere, consider the rules and then look at the road. Ask yourself how close they match )

NeoThermic

[KingAl]

But if you can autogenerate Paris, I'll be really impressed
(Paris, Rome, erhm London probably as well as many other big cities which had a more natural and slow evolution of their streetscape).

Something tells me you won't get Champ de Mars turning up in an auto-generated city...
Also, I think the intent of IV is to make a faceless corporate city rather than one with the cultural history of the cities you have mentioned.

[torig]

Indeed. What surprises me most is the "close to what humans would build" part. Not the "close to resembling NYC". That's all I was pointing out

[BrianBlessed]

....With roads, there's rules. For example, if two roads meet, make a junction. If the roads that merged don't continue past that junction, make it a corner. If you read the procedural notated code in the paper, you'll note that it makes sense. When you next take a trip to somewhere, consider the rules and then look at the road.....

I take it you've never been to Italy then. Italians don't obey your puny rules of logic and road planning. *shakes fist*

[shinygerbil]

Computers will never be as irredeemably stupid as humans.

[KingAl]

Computers will never be as irredeemably stupid as humans.

Moidbot begs to differ.

[KingAl]

Something tells me you won't get Champ de Mars turning up in an auto-generated city...

I get your point, but we were talking about streets, not about parks. I think a better example is Broadway.

Jelco

I agree - I was trying to think of Champs-Élysées, but Champ de Mars was good enough for my purposes. Regardless, such places are generally related to the cultural/social history of a city, and as such - if IV is aiming for the faceless corporate look - it's largely irrelevant.

[martin]

Getting back to the topic, will anyone host the script for me? I *only* need the script since it can point to a folder with images in one my own server...

[NeoThermic]

....With roads, there's rules. For example, if two roads meet, make a junction. If the roads that merged don't continue past that junction, make it a corner. If you read the procedural notated code in the paper, you'll note that it makes sense. When you next take a trip to somewhere, consider the rules and then look at the road.....

I take it you've never been to Italy then. Italians don't obey your puny rules of logic and road planning. *shakes fist*

I'd wager that the larger cities obey at least one of the known ways of making a city layout...

As for Broadway/Champ De Mars, the former could exsist (the major road in a city could be classified as a "Broadway", see Vegas for an example), and the latter would only "exsist" if you defined an area of no population. Roads might be put across it, but no streets would be defined. Either way, the road builder as per the PDF I linked deals with generating roads, not landmarks

NeoThermic