It’s been over a decade since the last version was released, but Microsoft’s Flight Simulator is back and looks incredible! Here is a detailed hands on review at Techcrunch. The trailer has me wanting to call it a day and go install.

Vexcel gets a shout out in this in depth overview at Protocol for providing imagery and data products used to help create the real-world simulation. The heavy-lift engineering that goes into a product like this is staggering.

The algorithms and data — including OpenStreetMap — were then fed into Microsoft’s vast Azure computing cloud to generate Flight’s 2.5-petabyte model, which includes 2 trillion trees, 1.5 billion buildings (you can probably find your house), 117 million lakes and just about every road, mountain, city and airport on the planet.

Protocol