Minecraft Game Adds Ordnance Survey GB Terrain Data

Minecraft game adds Ordnance Survey GB terrain data By Matthew Wall Technology reporter, BBC News

23 September 2013

Minecraft, the well-loved video game that combines monsters and building has now been able to incorporate precise Ordnance Survey terrain data of Great Britain in its blockwork virtual world.

The game's 33,000,000 players are able to create worlds over geographically accurate landscapes that cover 224,000 km (86,000 miles) of Britain.

Joseph Braybrook, an intern at OS's Innovation Labs, created the GB Minecraft world in just two weeks.

It utilizes OS OpenData products for free.

"We believe we might have created the most expansive Minecraft world ever created based on real-world data," said Graham Dunlop, OS Innovation Lab Manager.

"The resulting map shows the massive potential not just to use Minecraft for the purposes of geography and computer technology in schools, but also the huge scope of applications for OS OpenData too." AARE

Minecraft was invented in 2009 by Swede Markus "Notch" who was an online world composed of cubes of various materials such as sand, rock, and lavas.

Players can collaborate in the construction of shelters, making items from raw materials and fighting off a variety of monsters.

More than 22 billion Minecraft blocks are stored in the OS GB world.

Once the players have downloaded the map to Minecraft and then logged in, they can enter the 3D virtual world via OS's headquarters in Southampton and can recreate real-life features such as Stonehenge, or imagined buildings like Hogwarts castle.

The OS map products include OS Terrain 50 and OS VectorMap are combined to create a 3D representation of the earth surface overlaid with features like roads, woodland, and water.

Players can construct their own structures on top of realistic terrain.

OS is the country's main mapping authority. Its maps cover the mainland and surrounding islands however, it does not include Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland, Isle of Man, or Channel Islands.

Ordnance Survey