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[NobleNerd]

I've always found it a little frustrating how the maps set around things like the English Channel and the Falklands are never 1:1 scale. Granted, maps set in places like the English Channel would need to be narrowed down to more specific areas for the sake of the game engine and the overall effort on the part of the map creator, but even so, I'd like to be able to fly on maps in these regions with their scale accurately represented.

It got me wondering, though... How many of the maps are actually 1:1 in scale? I know for sure the Manchuria and Viet Minh maps are, but then there are things like Franz Josef Land and other small island regions that I'm not sure about.

[Venator77]

I would think all of the stock maps would be in 1:1 scale.

[WxTech]

Verify for yourself for any map of interest by opening the map in the FMB and comparing to Google Earth or a printed atlas. In the FMB at the most zoomed out, the coarse grid will have a 100km spacing (with numbers at the edge confirming this.) The majority of maps are at or near to 1:1. Even such extensive ones as, e.g., the Solomons, NGNB, Squashman's Coral Sea/Solomon Sea.

Not that many maps are at 1:2 scale (or smaller), and those cover huge areas like the bulk of the vast Meditterranian Sea, or Northern Australia/New Guinea.

Note that earlier stock maps did not tend to be as faithfully accurate in the geography. Over time, modders have striven for more accuracy by adhering to digital elevation data as the foundation.

[agracier]

When making maps, the ideal scale is supposed to be 1 pixel = 50 meters when starting from srtm satellite data. That is I believe the 1:1 for Il-2 maps.

However, this often results in huge large maps that are labor intensive to finish, especially if how terrain looks is considered an important consideration. Otherwise terrain will look monotonous and not varied enough to give a believable impression of a landscape. Maps over 6000 to 7000 pixels in one length (as calculated from the basic satellite data) tend to become unmanageable and very time consuming to finish. Since the best terrain results are obtained by hand-painting in the various  RGB values on the terrain map, this can result in having to do a few million pixels. There are tricks around having to paint them all, but it can be a labor intensive job. That is why some maps have lots of water (no need to paint in water) and also why some maps are to a smaller scale.

I often start my maps by using values like 1 pixel = 60 or 75 meters. I don't see much difference, but then I don't compute flying times per distance or do much else than dog fighting. But it does allow for larger geographical areas to be included on a map.

[Wing Walker]

Not all maps are 1:1...

For instance some of the Italy ones are not.

How I measure is I set a boat or something to 1km/h speed, and the time at 1 hr tells you that distance is a kilometer.

Then I convert it to miles...  and measure on a map.

Some maps are close.  Others you don't have an option for the scenario you are building.