A review of Washington DC scenery for FS5. by Jim Jones   3/5/94

Washington DC is another great scenery package from Mallard and BAO. 
Among the outstanding highlights of this collection of images are the 
high resolution scenery of an area of DC that includes the Mall; the 
White House; the Washington, Lincoln, and Jefferson memorial monuments, 
and the dome of the Capitol. The scenery covers about 2200 square miles 
that includes Dickerson, MD (NW corner), Manassas Municipal Airport in 
VA. (SW corner), Chesapeake Beach, MD. (SE corner) and Baltimore 
Washington International Airport (NE corner). The detailed scenery just 
misses including the Inner Harbor area of Baltimore where most of the 
skyscrapers are located. The scenery resolution in this broader area is 
similar to that found in the San Francisco scenery and somewhat less 
than the high resolution area. The broad area scenery is detailed enough 
to see rivers, lakes, the Chesapeake Bay, patches of trees, fields, 
subdivision patterns, highways and their interchanges, and large 
buildings. There are no mountains in 3D format as seen in the San 
Francisco scenery package. Dawn, dusk and night views show orange lights 
along major highways and streets, and also shows varied airport 
lighting, for runways, taxiways and navigation. 

The most impressive scenery, however, is the high resolution area. In 
map view, the high resolution scenery is sharp, contrasty, and very 
detailed. Shadows of the buildings give a three dimensional effect. Most 
buildings and streets can be seen in sufficient detail to identify them 
if one is familiar with the area. A map and Cameron's book Above 
Washington are fun to use while flying to identify specific buildings, 
streets, monuments, etc. Most of the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials, 
the White House, and the dome of the Capitol look as though a photograph 
of them were placed over their exterior walls and are very realistic 
when viewed close. Some of these exteriors, such as the porch on the 
White House, had to be completed with geometric shapes. The statue atop 
the Capitol dome appears as a spiked point, and its suprise appearance 
might be missed if not approached very closely. When viewed within 50 ft 
or so the statue "Freedom" appears and she is breathtaking. A statue of 
Jefferson stands within his memorial, and it also might be missed if it 
is not approached in slew mode into the monument. The Washington 
monument is depicted with its observation windows, red night lights, and 
a different shade of stone that was used when the building of the 
structure was restarted after the Civil War. At night, the uneven 
illumination of the monument simulates that of spot lights directed 
toward it from below. Several bridges cross the Potomac river, most of 
them near DC.  

The following is a list of 3D buildings not associated with an airfield, 
most of which are either in the high resolution area or nearby:

Object:					Coordinates:

Jefferson Memorial                  N38 52 52.4
                                    W77 02 11.9

Washington Monument                 N38 53 21.8
                                    W77 02 07.8

Lincoln Memorial                    N38 53 52.2
                                    W77 03 03.3

White House                         N38 53 52.2
                                    W77 02 13.1

Department of the Interior          N38 53 39.6
                                    W77 02 35.8

Corcoran Gallery of Art             N38 53 44.8
                                    W77 02 26.5

Federal Reserve                     N38 53 37.7
                                    W77 02 47.8

?                                   N38 53 34.7
                                    W77 02 47.8

?                                   N38 53 34.4
                                    W77 02 41.6

DAR (Constitution Hall)             N38 53 38.1
                                    W77 02 30.2

Kennedy Center                      N38 53 44.8
                                    W77 03 24.6

Smithsonian                         N38 53 17.4
(Arts & Industrial Bldg)            W77 01 27.9

Hirshorn Museum of Art              N38 53 17.3
                                    W77 01 22.1

Capitol Dome                        N38 53 24.0
                                    W77 01 22.1

Pentagon                            N38 52 10.3
                                    W77 03 28.8

JFK Stadium                         N38 53 22.8
                                    W76 58 18.6

This list may not be complete, but it contains all buildings that have 
been located until now for all the scenery in this package except those 
at the airports.

The airfields have many features and might include one or more of the 
following: edge and end lighting; centerline, end, number, and side 
markings on textured runways; 2 and 3 bar VASI; approach lighting 
systems; localizer and glideslope ILS; marker beacons; and towers with 
alternating green/white flashing lights. The air fields that have 
several 3D buildings include Washington National, Dulles and BWI. The 
curved roof of the Dulles Terminal is depicted. From personal experience 
in viewing some of these buildings, most are recognizable in their 
placement and shape. At times some runways may not appear to be on the 
ground, but float above the ground scenery. This was noticed approaching 
the Gaithersburg airfield from the southwest toward the side of the 
runway.

To discuss some of the views from the cockpit a few terms were coined to 
describe this scenery: high, medium and low resolution. Resolution is a 
measure of how accurately the scenery can be displayed, the higher the 
resolution, the more detailed the scenery looks. Resolution typically is 
expressed as the number of lines per inch, or some other linear measure, 
that can be resolved by a photographic film, the TV, or some other 
medium. Three different resolutions were used to display the DC scenery, 
and San Francisco too, probably to optimize the frame rate. The scenery 
in this package is composed of colored squares and rectangles. In the 
low resolution scenery each square is roughly 2000 by 2000 feet, while 
medium resolution is about 100 by 100 feet. The high resolution scenery 
is made up of rectangles about 12.5 by 25 feet. The low resolution 
scenery is used to display scenery that is distant from the aircraft 
while the medium and high resolution scenery is used to display scenery 
beneath and nearby the aircraft. The pilot will visualize most of the 
scenery in medium resolution, unless of course all flying is done very 
near or within the Mall area, which is displayed at high resolution. In 
the high resolution area the resolution is just sufficient to sometimes 
display an automobile as a single rectangle. So, although an automobile 
will not be recognizable as such, when rectangles are lined up along the 
side of a street automobiles can be imagined being parked along that 
street.

The program is designed to switch the resolution of the scenery as one 
approaches an area of different resolution. For example, while 
approaching the Mall area from a great distance, the mall area would be 
displayed in low resolution and very close to the horizon (No details of 
the mall are recognizable). The rest of the scenery is displayed in 
medium resolution, except for that beyond the scenery area. As one 
approaches the Mall, it eventually can be seen in medium resolution, 
then with closer approach the high resolution scenery is activated and 
the mall begins to be visible in significant detail.

The real mechanism of scenery switching can only be guessed at, but it 
must be very complex and dependent on several factors. This becomes 
apparent, especially when flying toward the high density scenery of the 
Mall. The program seems to swap patches of scenery at different 
resolutions in and out of the display and, at times, can't make a 
pleasing decision, resulting in an area of all gray background color, or 
scenery that flops back and forth from one resolution to another. 

Altitude has a significant affect on the scenery view. Flying high seems 
to improve detail and realism, but reduces the amount of scenery seen in 
medium or high resolution areas while increasing the amount of low 
resolution scenery displayed. The blur of scenery at the horizon thus 
appears to widen on the screen. Flying too low allows more of the high 
or medium resolution scenery to be displayed but at the expense of 
seeing squares instead of smooth scenery. By the way, use the image 
smoothing feature to improve the view at low altitudes. Everyone will 
have their own optimum flying altitude, but one might begin by using 
full screen, at .5 zoom at an altitude about 3000 to 4000 feet in the 
medium resolution area and at 800 to 1000 feet in the high resolution 
area. A close look at the 3D buildings will require that you buzz their 
roofs.  

The medium resolution scenery, which comprises the bulk of the flying 
area of this scenery, provides an interesting and useful flying 
environment. With the help of maps or prior knowledge of an area, one 
can follow highways or other features to locate shopping centers and 
other places of interest. For example, Tyson's Corner, White Flint Mall, 
Montgomery Mall, Lake Forest Mall, Fair Oaks Mall, the drill fields of 
the Naval Academy in Annapolis, University of Maryland, and George Mason 
University are among some of the areas identified. Large buildings or 
groups of buildings are the most easily found. Most buildings appear 
white as do areas under construction where much earthwork has been done. 
Green patches of trees, different colored fields, lakes, rivers, 
highways, and the varied forms of interchanges add to the realism.

At times, at the border separating different resolution scenery areas, 
parts of the images begin to repeat and smear across the central part of 
the screen (if in level flight). This is not always noticeable, but 
sometimes becomes objectionable. As one continues the flight, a new 
patch of scenery pops in and replaces the smear with higher resolution 
scenery.  

Washington DC comes packaged with six 3.5" diskettes, a 17 page Scenery 
guide, some Mallard advertising, and a VFR terminal area chart for 
Baltimore-Washington. The scenery guide includes: an introduction to the 
Washington Scenery, Systems Requirements, installation instructions, 
scenery coverage, how to begin flying in the DC area, an airport 
directory of 32 airfields with coordinates, trouble shooting, technical 
support, installing fs4 scenery with fs5, 12 approach plates for 
Washington National, Dulles and BWI airports, and finally License and 
Warranty information. The VFR chart is a great addition to Mallard's 
scenery and appears to be authentic, yet there is a warning to use the 
chart for only entertainment purposes with flight simulation software.

The PC system on which this review is based is a Compudyne DX2 66 MHz, 
with 8 MB RAM, a Diamond SpeedStar Pro accelerator video card (VESA 
local bus version), and a NEC SVGA monitor in 640x400 mode. FS5 and this 
scenery package require powerful PC systems for optimal simulation. 
During testing, when the system had only 4 MB of RAM, and while flying 
in the mall area, frame rates were noticeably slow and the hard disk 
seemed to be active continuously. After upgrading to 8 MB, the frame 
rate was somewhat improved and disk accesses were significantly reduced. 
The very high scenery density option was set to view all the details 
included in this great scenery collection. 

This review does not cover all the features of the scenery, is limited 
to the one PC configuration mentioned above, and is limited to one 
person's point of view. Any errors in reporting features or performance 
is unintentional. This writer disclaims all responsibility for any 
accidental or unintended misrepresentation of this package. 

This scenery is fun, instructive and a very interesting addition to the 
FS5 flying experience. Many thanks to BAO and Mallard. 
