But not all cities are built equal in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, with 341 cities in particular having been recreated in stunning photorealistic detail using photogrammetric data from Bing Maps. Read on to find out exactly where these 341 photorealistic cities can be found across the Earth.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020: photorealistic cities list
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 makes use of Bing Maps to recreate the entire Earth to a level of detail never before seen in any game. But the crown jewels of this flight simulator are its photogrammetrically realised cities, which are a cut above the rest in terms of photorealistic detail. In the words of Video Warlord Matthew, “you know them when you see them, as they are real showstoppers.” Here are all 341 photorealistic cities in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, organised by country or state:
United Kingdom: Portsmouth Southampton
France: Aix-en-Provence Bordeaux Lille Marseille Montpellier Rennes Rouen Strasbourg
Germany: Aachen Augsburg Berlin Bremen Brunswick Dresden Duisburg Halle (Saale) Hamburg Karlsruhe Kiel Leipzig Magdeburg Mannheim Mönchengladbach Munich Münster Nuremberg Oberhausen
Spain: Alicante Barcelona Córdoba Madrid Marbella Murcia Pamplona Seville Valencia Vigo
Switzerland: Zürich
Belgium: Brussels
Denmark: Copenhagen
Italy: Bologna Catania Florence Milan Naples Palermo Rome Venice Verona
Australia: Canberra Darwin City Gold Coast Hobart Newcastle Wollongong
Canada: Calgary Edmonton Hamilton London Montreal Ottawa Quebec City Toronto Vancouver Victoria Winnipeg
Alabama (US): Anniston Auburn Birmingham Decatur Dothan Huntsville Mobile Montgomery Spanish Fort
Arizona (US): Anthem Carefree Catalina Foothills Drexel Heights Flagstaff Lake Havasu City Mesa Oro Valley Peoria Phoenix Prescott San Tan Valley Tempe Tucson Yuma
Arkansas (US): Little Rock
California (US): Agua Caliente Anaheim Antioch Bakersfield Castro Valley Chico Concord Davis Desert Hot Springs Downey Elk Grove Fairfield Foster City Fremont Fresno Glendale Hanford Hollister Hollywood Inglewood La Habra Lodi Long Beach Los Angeles Los Gatos Madera Manteca Modesto Moreno Valley Oceanside Oxnard Palm Springs Palmdale Perris Porterville Redding Reedley Richmond Sacramento Salinas San Bernardino San Diego San Francisco San Jose Santa Ana Santa Barbara Santa Clarita Santa Cruz Santa Monica Selma Simi Valley Stockton Temecula Ukiah Visalia Yuba City Yucaipa
Colorado (US): Boulder Colorado Springs Denver
Connecticut (US): Bridgeport New Haven Stamford
Delaware (US): Dover Wilmington
Florida (US): Brandon Clermont Daytona Beach Deltona Flagler Beach Fort Lauderdale Fort Myers Gainesville Gulf Breeze Immokalee Jacksonville Key West Lake City Lakeland Leesburg Marco Island Miami New Smyrna Beach Ocala Okeechobee Orange Park Orlando Pace Palatka Palm Bay Palm Beach Palmetto Bay Panama City Pensacola Poinciana Port Charlotte Port St. Lucie Sarasota Sebring Spring Hill St. Petersburg Tallahassee Tampa Tarpon Springs Titusville Universal Studios Florida Venice Walt Disney World Resort Winter Haven Winter Park Zephyrhills
Georgia (US): Atlanta Brunswick Columbus Gainesville Griffin LaGrange Macon Marietta Peachtree City Riverdale Roswell Savannah Sea Island St. Marys Statesboro Valdosta
Illinois (US): Carbondale Champaign Chicago Kankakee Marion Rock Island Springfield
Indiana (US): Fort Wayne Indianapolis Kokomo Michigan City South Bend
Iowa (US): Des Moines
Kansas (US): Topeka Wichita
Kentucky (US): Louisville
Louisiana (US): Baton Rouge Monroe New Orleans Shreveport
Maine (US): Augusta Portland
Maryland (US): Baltimore
Massachusetts (US): Boston Brockton Lowell Springfield Worcester
Michigan (US): Ann Arbor Detroit
Minnesota (US): Farmington Minneapolis
Mississippi (US): Gulfport Jackson Laurel
Missouri (US): Columbia Jefferson City Kansas City Springfield St. Louis
Nebraska (US): Lincoln Omaha
Nevada (US): Carson City Las Vegas Reno
New Hampshire (US): Concord
New Jersey (US): Edison Middletown Newark Toms River Trenton Willingboro
New Mexico (US): Albuquerque Bernalillo Las Cruces Los Lunas Santa Fe
New York (US): New York Niagara Falls Syracuse
North Carolina (US): Durham Greensboro Raleigh Winston-Salem
North Dakota (US): Bismarck Fargo
Ohio (US): Cincinnati Cleveland Columbus Dayton Toledo
Oklahoma (US): Oklahoma City Tulsa
Oregon (US): Beaverton Portland
Pennsylvania (US): Abington Harrisburg McCandless Norristown Philadelphia Pittsburgh
Rhode Island (US): Providence
South Carolina (US): Charleston Columbia Goose Creek Greenville Summerville
South Dakota (US): Pierre
Tennessee (US): Memphis Nashville
Texas (US): Amarillo Austin Brownsville Corpus Christi El Paso Fort Worth Galveston Houston Kingwood Laredo Longview Lubbock McAllen Midland San Antonio The Woodlands
Utah (US): Salt Lake City
Virginia (US): Norfolk Richmond
Washington (US): Everett Seattle Tacoma
Wisconsin (US): Appleton Fond du Lac Green Bay Janesville Madison Milwaukee Oshkosh Sheboygan
Wyoming (US): Cheyenne
What about everywhere else?
If Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 had rendered the entire Earth but only dotted 341 (very US- and Europe-centric) cities across its globe, that would have made for a rather empty and disappointing world. But thankfully this isn’t the case: Asobo Studio has populated the Earth with over 50,000 cities. These cities are not photorealistic, but they’re still an absolute marvel, constructed from satellite imagery and fly-by image scans, and then augmented using lots of clever technology to give buildings the right shape, roofs the right colour, and so on. While the difference between the photogrammetry-based cities and the rest becomes clear as you fly low over each one, the non-photorealistic cities are still an astonishing technical accomplishment, and detailed enough that in most cases you’ll be able to pinpoint your exact house even if you don’t live in one of the 341 aforementioned photorealistic cities. That just about wraps up this Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 guide. Let us know in the comments if we’ve missed or misplaced anything in our list. Until then, I’ll probably see you in the skies above Incredible City #274.
