There are very few scratch-made LIDAR-based versions of Australian race circuits from the AC community – despite how many of these tracks are unique, awesome to drive, and of historical significance. Any tracks modders looking for a new project and hoping to make a meaningful contribution to the sim racing community, I would suggest considering making some high quality versions of Australian tracks!
In a past post, I explained how there are no up-to-snuff versions of the Surfers Paradise street circuit, yet two years worth of LIDAR data are available:
But I did some research, and below are all the tracks in Australia that currently have LIDAR available for them as of summer 2022. One small note - the entirety of New South Wales has point cloud LIDAR data available
Some of these tracks of course already have ripped versions from other games, but there really should be a "open" community-made version of these tracks so that it could freely be shared for AC and potentially be ported (if permission is granted) to other games in the future.
Anyway, to access the LIDAR data, go to the link below, click Agree, find the circuit, click Search, draw a box around the area for which you want data, select the data you want under "Points Clouds", enter an industry (e.g. "Entertainment") and your email, and the data will be sent to you in a few minutes. It's an impressive service.
elevation.fsdf.org.au
Really hoping this might stimulate more scratch-made versions of some of the fantastic, but less known, circuits in Australia. As well as famous, iconic tracks like Bathurst and Adelaide which somehow still don't have super-high-quality community-made versions.
NOTE: If you find this further in the future, there should be more data available for more circuits, as Australian data availability has been improving rapidly. Here's hoping that other hidden gems like Hidden Valley, Barbagallo, The Bend, and Phillip Island have data come available in the future
In a past post, I explained how there are no up-to-snuff versions of the Surfers Paradise street circuit, yet two years worth of LIDAR data are available:
But I did some research, and below are all the tracks in Australia that currently have LIDAR available for them as of summer 2022. One small note - the entirety of New South Wales has point cloud LIDAR data available
Some of these tracks of course already have ripped versions from other games, but there really should be a "open" community-made version of these tracks so that it could freely be shared for AC and potentially be ported (if permission is granted) to other games in the future.
- Adelaide International Raceway
- Adelaide Street Circuit
- Calder Park
- Canberra Street Circuit
- Homebush Street Circuit
- Lakeside International
- Mount Panorama (yes, really!)
- Newcastle Street Circuit
- Queensland Raceway
- Surfers Paradise Street Circuit
- Sydney Motorsport Park (a.k.a. Eastern Creek)
- Symmons Plains Raceway
- Townsville Streets
- Also Amaroo Park (where the track used to be, anyway)
Anyway, to access the LIDAR data, go to the link below, click Agree, find the circuit, click Search, draw a box around the area for which you want data, select the data you want under "Points Clouds", enter an industry (e.g. "Entertainment") and your email, and the data will be sent to you in a few minutes. It's an impressive service.
Elvis - Elevation and Depth - Foundation Spatial Data
Elvis Elevation and Depth is a cloud-based system allowing users to easily discover and obtain Australian elevation and bathymetry data available within their area of interest.
Really hoping this might stimulate more scratch-made versions of some of the fantastic, but less known, circuits in Australia. As well as famous, iconic tracks like Bathurst and Adelaide which somehow still don't have super-high-quality community-made versions.
NOTE: If you find this further in the future, there should be more data available for more circuits, as Australian data availability has been improving rapidly. Here's hoping that other hidden gems like Hidden Valley, Barbagallo, The Bend, and Phillip Island have data come available in the future
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