I've always thought it would great to have a track editor that could take GPS info and turn it into a track. (There is this one turn when I drive the kids to school: a sweeper that crests a hill and then turns sharply the other direction.)
I think we all have a section of road we'd like to try balls out without fear of death or incarceration.
Also we could have some of the great drives from around the world at our disposal. It seems like the technology is there...you'd have to specify the width and surface of the road of course and add some stock trees and guard rails. But think of the replay value!
Thank you for enduring my fantasy...
RB

Quote from rubberbrush :

I've always thought it would great to have a track editor that could take GPS info and turn it into a track. (There is this one turn when I drive the kids to school: a sweeper that crests a hill and then turns sharply the other direction.)
I think we all have a section of road we'd like to try balls out without fear of death or incarceration.
Also we could have some of the great drives from around the world at our disposal. It seems like the technology is there...you'd have to specify the width and surface of the road of course and add some stock trees and guard rails. But think of the replay value!
Thank you for enduring my fantasy...
RB

This should be in the suggestion area.
Also, the track editor has been suggested several times.
As far as I've heard, it will come, sooner or later

Yeah...of course the editor has been mentioned before...many times, I'm sure.
I was just wondering if anyone has ever considered linking in GPS data. I'm not suggesting that LFS would do something that "outside the box" with such a small team and limited resources.
That's why I posted it here. I just wanted to see if it sparked interest in the community .

Hook up the GPS and start collecting data on some stretch of road, hmm...

Wish I could do that and create a virual template of great ocean road.

It's a really cool idea, but I can't imagine it being integrated directly into LFS.

If at any point in the future we get the track editors, and the corresponding file format, I'm sure there will be a few souls, including myself, who would be very interested in doing the port across

Imagine doing your morning commute, albeit much faster, in LFS?

There's a road around my area that has a long right turn then a long left turn, and it's downhill/uphill. There's already guardrails there since there's a massive drop into peoples back yards over the side.
I've always wanted to drive that with my foot to the floor.

Great idea of using GPS for track editing.

Im not a programmer but can imagine its posible.

- the data is there - only needs to the transfered into editor.


...sounds easy..

Love the idea. What kind of hardware would I need for this? Is GPS without fancy error correcting technology accurate and fast enough? To create a track a simple lateral G sensor would probably be better but it would somehow have to be hooked up to the speedo too. No idea if this kind of simple data recording is available for roadcars.

Come to think of it, modern cars with electronic stability systems probably have the sensors built in anyway. You'd "just" need to create an interface for the recording.

Quote from J.B. :

Love the idea. What kind of hardware would I need for this?

None at the moment because we can't edit tracks.

When we have a track editor, will we be able to make new configs for original tracks.

Quote from J.B. :

Is GPS without fancy error correcting technology accurate and fast enough?

I'd imagine it would be fine for longitude and latitude but rather poor for elevation....most handheld GPS units I've used have the elevation jumping around a lot...but with an accurate enough GPS, I don't see any problems. I suppose it would take a lot more to get cambers and bumps etc into a game though. We need one of those 3D scanner things that iRacing use

Quote from J.B. :

Love the idea. What kind of hardware would I need for this? Is GPS without fancy error correcting technology accurate and fast enough? To create a track a simple lateral G sensor would probably be better but it would somehow have to be hooked up to the speedo too. No idea if this kind of simple data recording is available for roadcars.

Come to think of it, modern cars with electronic stability systems probably have the sensors built in anyway. You'd "just" need to create an interface for the recording.

I have a GARMIN ETREX VISTA handheld GPS. They give you a point every second, so depending on how fast you were travelling at that time, would alter the accuracy of your route.

EDIT: In good clear open conditions, the accuracy is very good considering its a £200 gadget.

How accurate is GPS these days? +-40 feet? +- 20 feet? Either way, hardly good enough to make realistic roads! Wikipedia claims 6 feet, but I think that's rubbish, or maybe only applicable on the most expensive units. But still, 6 feet inaccuracies on a track would be mind bogglingly huge errors.

Quote from tristancliffe :

How accurate is GPS these days? +-40 feet? +- 20 feet? Either way, hardly good enough to make realistic roads! Wikipedia claims 6 feet, but I think that's rubbish, or maybe only applicable on the most expensive units. But still, 6 feet inaccuracies on a track would be mind bogglingly huge errors.

Actually, it's 1 meter (about 3 feet) ultimate precision for te most precise units I've heard of. However, for wide roads, 6 foot isn't TOO terrible if the course is a VERY long strectch of road. Imprecisions can be compensated for with reasonable approximations. Besides, we don't really need to replicate roads to absolute perfection. Inaccuracies can be ironed out over the development of the track in LFS.

Quote from tristancliffe :

How accurate is GPS these days? +-40 feet? +- 20 feet? Either way, hardly good enough to make realistic roads! Wikipedia claims 6 feet, but I think that's rubbish, or maybe only applicable on the most expensive units. But still, 6 feet inaccuracies on a track would be mind bogglingly huge errors.

I use a Total Station for surveying purposes, and that is mm accurate, and much better than the most expensive GPS under trees and adjacent to high buildings. Trouble is it would take along time to survey a road, although it would be the most accurate way,

Quote from tristancliffe :

How accurate is GPS these days? +-40 feet? +- 20 feet? Either way, hardly good enough to make realistic roads!

Accuracy of GPS is given in reference to the real position on a map, thus there are huge absolute errors. With good visibility of the sky, the GPS itself is much more accurate in a relative way: You get a smooth line, your position does not jerk around, and you can claarly see where you changed a lane, for example. Even though the absolute position on the map could be terribly wrong, the shape of the track itself would be mostly accurate.

Recording the track twice on different days will produce a shifted version within the range of absolute GPS accuracy, and perhaps it is shifted a bit more from N to S than from E to W. For height data the same applies, but the variations are much bigger.

It all depends on satellite visibility and positions (which change), but the raw data is good enough as a basis to work on. Not for exact replica, but for something being very similar... for fun.

Attached is a tracklog from driving around a motorway interchange (1sec logging interval, as fast as it gets on consumer units) and a screenshot of a tracklog visualisation - including height data. Driving onto a mountain on narrow roads, a different way back, and around the area in general.

Those pics don't look too bad. So now all we need is a program that converts this data into a track. And a track-moddable sim that's worth playing, of course.

Quote from AndRand :

sometimes I wonder why do I repeat myself ?

Quote from J.B. :

Those pics don't look too bad. So now all we need is a program that converts this data into a track. And a track-moddable sim that's worth playing, of course.

Is LFS not worth playing?

Quote from Me. :

Those pics don't look too bad. So now all we need is a program that converts this data into a track. And a track-moddable sim that's worth playing, of course.

...

Yeah, LFS will be track-moddable soon. Just keep playing till it is.