Obvious Google Maps Game Idea That Must Have Been Done

[pootle]

I was on Google Maps earlier, browsing as you do.

After the obligatory check that my house, my mum's house and my work were all there I looked around my home city (Glasgow) for a while.

As I'm sure you all know you can make routes easily and 15 minutes later the "Glasgow Grand Prix" track had been planned in meticulous detail.

It's such an obvious idea to take a route created in Google Maps, or some other map, and import it into a racing game.

Custom tracks based on real locations that are so easy to make even I can do it.

It must have been done.

Can anybody help me find it?

Thanks.

 

[Nova]

On the A Team movie website you can drive the A Team van around on Google Earth. You'll understand why it wasn't done since.

 

[lulzfish]

The images taken from a satellite are pretty shit quality, last I recall a "good" image just about let you see the shape of a car.
So you'll end up with a 2D heightfield with a low resolution texture on it.

Maybe Google has geometry for popular racetracks, and you might be able to fudge in some procedural vegetation and place some stands, but I don't think it could all be automated.

And realistic racetracks are so boring, anyway. It would be like playing Gran Turismo 4.

 

[pootle]

Sorry guys, I should have been clearer.

I wasn't thinking about taking the maps directly from Google, just the trail I made, for example

http://bit.ly/dBZeEI Glasgow

http://bit.ly/aDGMaB Paris

Just some simple ones to show how easy it is.

I would love to be able to create routes this easily then use them in a proper racing game.

Not copying the graphics of the real place, just the route information itself.

 

[WizardStan]

So you're idea is a game which has basically digitized an entire city onto which you can create any race track based on google maps routes?
If that's the case, the reason it hasn't been done is because it would be very difficult to digitize the entire city, or at least a reasonable amount of it to make such a thing possible.
There are games that have you racing around actually places and through real cities, but those tracks are picked in advance, and only the parts where you are driving then need to be digitized.

 

[pootle]

I've explained it wrong again, sorry

When I make a route in Google Maps, the route is overlaid onto the map. The route can be over water, through buildings, anything. It's just a line created by joining waypoints.

So I was thinking that there must be a way to take this list of waypoints from google maps and using it to create an equivalent track layout in a game. So you would trace the Top Gear track or Monaco or your house to your mate's house or anything else, and copy the route created into a game.

There would be nothing else taken from Google maps itself, no images or information. Just the list of waypoints that make up the route.

I know there would be no graphics from the place but that's OK. Just a field with the traced track would be enough for me. Of course if you could use the file in a real track creator so much the better

 

[WizardStan]

So just a generic track that follows the path created in Google maps? No actual roads or buildings or anything, just a straight loop of asphalt?
That actually sounds kinda boring, no offense. Plus I'm not entirely certain what this would add over existing make-your-own-track software, other than being a little more precise to real world distances.

 

[klikklak]

Nokia had at least a demonstration for a game exactly like OP described. You make tracks on the (ovi) map then race over them, they had some social aspects too. If I'm not wrong then at least the next generation of phones should have it in a month of so.

 

[Nova]

So just a generic track that follows the path created in Google maps? No actual roads or buildings or anything, just a straight loop of asphalt?
That actually sounds kinda boring, no offense. Plus I'm not entirely certain what this would add over existing make-your-own-track software, other than being a little more precise to real world distances.

I guess it would be cool if you could edit the track afterwards. It would be cool for example in Modnation Racers.

 

[pootle]

That's it! Just the track, nothing else. I have been searching to see if any games do this but haven't found any.

To use my earlier example I could make a my house to my mate's house rally stage, add any racetrack to a game or create my own based on anywhere in the world.

Mapping something from real life in a traditional track editor is a complete pain. But if instead of referring to maps and trying to create a copy you can click a few times and have it done for you then you could recreate any real road or track in a couple of minutes. Without the elevation changes admittedly.

I used to get together with a few mates and we would make tracks and have increasingly drunken races on them. I never did find an easy way to replicate a real place quickly and easily and I thought this would be a perfect way. So you could have a race night where you race on the top gear track, then Suzuka, then through Glasgow city centre then... you get the idea. An infinite number of tracks available and it can all happen as in seconds. No planning required, no limits on the tracks you can add and you could even give each person say 15 minutes to make the best track out of a chosen city.

I suppose it depends on what king of racing you like. Some people will find this idea horribly dull, but at the risk of offending lulzfish Gran Turismo 5 is going to take up many hours of my life come November

EDIT: Thanks for the info klikklak I will keep an eye out!