Saipan's abandoned Pacific Barrier III RADAR

[Northstar98]

Hi everyone,

IRL, in the north-east of Saipan, there is an abandoned Pacific Barrier (PACBAR) III RADAR, which is a fairly obvious landmark in that area of Saipan.

The actual site and the roads are present, but the RADAR isn't present at all, and none of the structures look anything like their RL counterparts (the RL counterparts are actually more simple than the buildings depicted).

Here's a Google Earth satellite view of the area (and here's a link to the street-view):

And here's the site in DCS (-camera 194.382066 0.558637 109.098343 -cameradir -0.000000 -1.000000 0.000000):

Here's a Google Earth street-view, looking to the north-east, the RADAR clearly visible:

And here's essentially the same shot in DCS (-camera 194.338169 0.269159 109.105729 -cameradir 0.931103 -0.009012 0.364646):

The difference should be immediately obvious:

• There's no RADAR (instead just a house)
• The buildings are located in exactly the right places, but are both incorrect.

And here's the same position, but looking to the south-west:

And here's more or less the same shot, in DCS (194.379694 0.272285 109.125520 -cameradir -0.908288 -0.007574 -0.418276):

You can see that:

• The geometry is way off (the real area is flat, and extends past the road - the building and tower should not be half sunken into a large incline of terrain. To the south there should be a sharper incline (more like a sheer cliff).
• There's a small electrical transmission tower instead of what actually should be there - a small triangular communications tower (cellular?).
• There's a lack of foliage on both sides and straight ahead (straight ahead though is probably related to the incorrect geometry).

Here's a street-view image of the RADAR up close:

And here's the same shot in DCS (-camera 194.384782 0.271140 109.130790 -cameradir 0.993898 0.074329 -0.081495):

• RADAR is clearly absent.
• The real area is much more flat.
• The area is mostly concrete instead of grass.
• Building is completely wrong.

Here's the north-eastern building, taken from the road, looking to the north-west:

And here's essentially the same shot, taken in DCS (-camera 194.390025 0.270694 109.140106 -cameradir 0.423803 0.154313 -0.892512):

As you can see, the building is completely different - the real building is actually a fair bit less complicated than the one depicted in DCS. As seen in the street-view, it's a simple, yellow/beige rectangular building, with just a doorway with some steps. The only other thing is a cable run/waveguide leading to the antenna.

Also note the geometry, for some reason the road (which is a dirt track in DCS) is down a small, steep hill - the real site is pretty much flat, and if you follow the road to the west, there's only a gradual incline. The road where I've been taking the screenshots is at the lowest point, whereas IRL it's the highest.

Here's the south-western building, taken from the road, looking to the north-east:

And here's the same shot in DCS (-camera 194.341359 0.276013 109.073453 -cameradir 0.735862 -0.150807 0.660124):

Note that the geometry is completely incorrect (the road on the right should be slightly above the section of road where the camera is, not down a steep incline), the building is completely wrong. There's also inconsistencies with the foliage, but the geometry errors are probably more to blame here.

EDIT: Found this photo of the site, presumably when it was operational, circa mid-ish 80s.

Edited January 15, 2022 by Northstar98
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[Wing]

Yeah, I have personally noticed alot of unique features especially on Guam, are copy pasted default buildings in game. Kind of a shame, but I cant expect ED to true model every unique area. 

 

One part that does stand out to me, is the Tumon Bay area... we should see a proper strip of famous hotels, and unique buildings in that tourist area. Not default island buildings all over the place.

 

 

Hopefully ED will continue upgrading this map...

[Nealius]

They modeled the unique buildings on the Las Vegas strip, so why such lacking detail in Marianas? The number of major landmarks across Guam and Saipan probably doesn't number any higher than what's on the Vegas strip.

[Northstar98]

1 hour ago, Nealius said:

They modeled the unique buildings on the Las Vegas strip, so why such lacking detail in Marianas? The number of major landmarks across Guam and Saipan probably doesn't number any higher than what's on the Vegas strip.

 

The major landmarks (in terms of man-made structures) are hardly anything at all.

Edited July 3, 2021 by Northstar98