purcellmcneil057864

p>The Minecraft map of BRITAIN: 22 billion blocks are used to construct the virtual world that even includes famous landmarks

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p>Ordnance Survey used 22 billion blocks from the popular building game

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p>The interactive 3D map covers the UK mainland and the islands surrounding it.

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p>Each block is 50m2, and the map covers 220,000 square kilometers.

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p>By Victoria Woollaston

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p>Published at 10:02 EDT on 30 October 2013. Updated at 10:59 EDT on March 5, 2014.

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p>The well-known building game Minecraft lets players create their own worlds. However, a brand new 3D gaming map lets players to explore the UK and build new settlements inside their virtual back gardens.

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p>Minecraft Britain was built using Ordnance Survey maps of the UK as a starting point and was built using 22 billion building blocks from the game.

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p>It covers approximately 86,000 square miles of the British mainland and surrounding islands. Each block is approximately 50 square metres.

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p>Ordnance Survey used 22 billion blocks from the game of building Minecraft to create the interactive 3D map of the mainland UK and the surrounding islands. The OS Minecraft world covers the equivalent of 86,000 square miles. This is the Minecraft Stonehenge in Wiltshire.

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p>This is how the Stonehenge landmark in Wiltshire appears in the real world

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p>To help players navigate the interactive world, Ordnance Survey has also released an index of coordinates for various UK markers such as Stonehenge in Wiltshire.

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p>The map was created using OS OpenData - maps and mapping tools that Ordnance Survey lets developers use to create maps that are different from the ones they currently have.

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p>They can then explore a variety of terrains, such as forests and caves.

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p>To get a bird's eye view of the landscape, players can fly in the air.

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p>The game was initially made for the PC but now there are Xbox 360 and mobile versions available.

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p>For each 100x100 km grid square, the developers from Ordnance Survey used height information for various landmarks and buildings.

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p>The left-hand image shows the Minecraft version of Snowdonia, while the right-hand image illustrates how the North Wales mountain range looks in real life. Because the height of many landmarks and buildings in the UK is higher than Minecraft's built-in height limit developers reduced them so that they could fit.

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p>Minecraft was launched in 2009. At the start of the game, a player is put into a 'virtually infinite game world.' The player is then able to explore the world and create towns and cities. While the original game was originally designed for the PC, there are now mobile and Xbox 360 versions.

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p>HOW TO INSTALL THE MINECRAFT MAP

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p>Players will require a licensed copy Minecraft and approximately 5GB of disk space on their computer.

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p>The world is home to approximately 3.6GB of uncompressed information and requires at least 4GB memory.

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p>To install the map, players need to download the Minecraft-GB.zip archive.

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p>Unzip the archive and save it to an undetermined location. Open the readme.html file in a browser and follow the installation steps.

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p>They then loaded images of all UK locations from the OS VectorMap District files.

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p>Each 20x20-pixel area of the map was analysed by the designers to determine the correct color material, size, and colour of each block. https://minecraft-java.org/ </p>

p>The height data in the raw format was stored in meters, meaning the developers were reduced to fit within the 256 block height limit of Minecraft.

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p>Ben Nevis, for example is a mountain that measures approximately 2,500 meters and was converted into 128 blocks high.

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p>Ordnance Survey said in a blog post: 'Although it exaggerates the actual height, it helps preserve low-lying coastal features like Bournemouth's cliffs, adding interest to the landscape.'

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p>Developers employed diamond blocks for motorways, emerald blocks on A roads and pumpkin blocks for B roads. The standard water, leaves, and brick blocks were used to create forests, waterways, and areas of built-up.

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p>After that, 32 x 32 chunks were created and then reassembled as regions. Ordnance Survey stated that the entire process took seven hours.

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p>The image shows the River Thames in East London Ordnance Survey stated that the entire mapping process took seven hours. Each 20 x 20-pixel portion of the map was analysed to allow developers to choose the appropriate material, colour, and size of block.

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p>These images show a bird's-eye view of Minecraft London with the River Thames flowing through the centre, left, and an aerial view of the same region of the Thames, right.

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