Having easy access to the LINZ aerial images, plus their generous licensing, gives us the opportunity to see some quality photoscenery, and Godzone/Real New Zealand has always been based on this LINZ imagery. However the NZ coverage, although vastly improved over the old days of 2.4 metre coverage, is not colour-matched between areas, and it is still being updated from time to time.
Hence my previous project, the Subscription scenery, which was designed to be built upon as new and better resources went online. However the concept didn't really take off with users, so I no longer offer this in my online store. However the subscription scenery is still on my todo list, and I am aiming at some stage to release a stand-alone, finished photoscenery project for each of the different subscription areas.
The Southern Alps photoscenery was an example of mixed and matched photos, based on the coverage which was previously available. When I planned the Christchurch/Canterbury photoscenery included in Real NZ NZCH, I wanted to include a section where the Canterbury Plains join the foothills of the Southern Alps. This is a fascinating landscape, around Castle Hill, where you really get a good idea of the tectonic forces which have formed the alps. This area is popular with movie makers, such as the Narnia movies, which were filmed in part around Castle Hill.
Because the Southern Alps subscription scenery also included this area, there is a section which overlaps, and the mis-matched colouring etc can detract from the newer photoscenery. This is mainly around Springfield and Oxford, and you will see LOD-switching between the old and new coverage as you fly over it. This may be fixed when/if I get around to finishing the Southern Alps photoscenery, but in the meantime, if you intend to explore around here, you may wish to disable one photoscenery area within the Subscription scenery.
This particular scenery file is in the Godzone\GZ9347Photo\Scenery folder, and is called "AlpsNorthEast.bgl". You can disable it by renaming it, adding the extension ".off". So the final filename would be "AlpsNorthEast.bgl.off".
This means that it is disabled, but it doesn't lose the original extension in case you wish to activate it again.
Click on these thumbnails for larger galley images.
