Possible inaccurate geometry to the north of Tinian international

Northstar98 · July 1, 2021

Hi everyone,

I think I've found some possible geometry issues immediately to the north of Tinian international airfield.

These areas comprise 2 dirt tracks that are more or less parallel, that are in turn parallel to the runway at Tinian international airfield, as well as a small clearing to the west:

The small clearing to the west, should be basically flat. Going from south to north, in the centre, the clearing goes from 79m to 82m. In DCS the same area goes from 85m to 103m and is 95m at it's northern edge. Going from west to east, and again going by the centre, the elevation goes from ~80m at it's western edge, to ~81 at it's eastern. In DCS the same area goes from 88m at it's western edge to 102m at it's eastern.
The southern track should also be basically flat, with only small inclines (DCS get's the locations of the inclines approximate accurate, but they are way too exaggerated in comparison). The track has 3 high areas, each separated by a low area. The high areas range from ~82 to 85m, and the low areas are only around 80m - much more level than DCS, where the high areas range around 95-100m and the low areas as low as 65m.
The northern track essentially follows the same trend as the southern track, but in the middle high area, it reaches 87m - still far lower than DCS, where it reaches 96m.

I realise this information might not be very useful in a practical sense, so here's a topographic map of the area:

Here's the link to the Topographic map site, though for another point of reference, Google Earth also thinks the area should be fairly flat (varying between 79-82m).

Here's the area as seen in ALT mode - unfortunately ALT mode isn't all that useful compared to a proper topographic map (it simply lacks the granularity and isn't a proper relief map). But you can at least the outlines of where the elevation changes. However, it doesn't appear to match the topography seen above.

And here's the area as seen from above in DCS - the layout of the tracks and clearing is all spot on - just the geometry seems a little wonky, at least based on what I can dig up (camera position: -camera 167.407539 2.460112 90.088621 -cameradir 0.002876 -0.999996 -0.000007).

There are other screenshots that I've taken that hopefully highlight the issue, though unfortunately I don't have RL reference shots to make a comparison. I'll put these in the spoiler below:

Spoiler

Here's a view of the southern track, as viewed from the west (camera position: -camera 167.169304 0.129698 88.873607 -cameradir 0.195592 -0.100879 0.975483):

The large, steep hills with sharp inclines should be noticeable.

Here's the same track, but viewed from the east (camera position: -camera 167.619611 0.142337 91.370249 -cameradir -0.191069 -0.009012 -0.981535):

Fortunately, on it's eastern end, it's much more flat, though the 2-3 prominent hills are still present (these hills are the sorta thing you might expect to see on a proving ground/training area for a tank, or maybe a track for ATVs).

Here's the northern track, viewed from the west (camera position: -camera 167.379860 0.143164 88.874274 -cameradir 0.179213 -0.159331 0.970823):

Again, you can see the geometry, which seems very sharp and excessive. As it stands the geometry is actually more complicated than it actually needs to be, at least based on the topographic map above.

And here's the same track, viewed from the east (-camera 167.788952 0.159797 91.578228 -cameradir -0.145384 -0.135151 -0.980101):

Again, at least the eastern portion is more flat, which seems to be more in line with reality.

Finally, here's the clearing, as viewed from the south (-camera 166.980261 0.143568 88.936292 -cameradir 0.958919 -0.266066 0.098408):

This area is especially annoying because it is an obvious place to locate, say for instance, a mobile air defence system, such as the S-300, however, the geometry basically makes it impossible.

If there's any other information I can provide, please let me know.

Edited February 14, 2022 by Northstar98
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