Here's your neat thing for today: according to Reddit poster ixohoxi, this work-in-progress recreation of San Francisco began with a 1:1.5 scale map of the terrain followed by a whole lot of eyeballing. Even though there are errors—"I had to take out Mission St. in SOMA," wrote ixohoxi—the layout is stunningly accurate. Even the traffic congestion, though not as severe, occurs in the same spots it does in the real SF. When I'm driving home from work today, I'll think of all the little virtual people with the same headache.
Of course, ixohoxi's effort is probably most impressive if you live in San Francisco and can admire a virtual version of your daily commute, or recognize little details, such as the solar panels in the Sunset Reservoir, but we can all appreciate how great it is to have a city builder with so much freedom. (And, obviously, the city builders who share amazing stuff, and the modders who help make it possible.)
If you're not familiar with San Francisco's streets, below is a satellite image from Google Maps followed by ixohoxi's city. You can browse the whole work-in-progress gallery here. I can't wait to see the finished city, and the inevitable recreations of every other major city in the world. Making virtual versions of real things is endlessly fun, isn't it?
