New Idea? jpeg planning tool

[BadPeanut]

hey guys!
Re-posting from facebook post:

I was just rewatching gameplay highlights, and i was wondering, in the external map editor, are we able to place roads (like highways) before importing it in game?
If we can, would you then be able to implement in the map editor/in-game a way to import a jpeg image that can be overlayed on a transparent layer, above the terrain? This would be awesome to toggle on or off every so often (like a tracing layer in photoshop) so you can "trace" a google maps jpeg snapshot using the ingame road tool. it would make it super easy to replicate a real life city. of course if you were to import a jpeg, then i would need to be rescalable so the player can choose how closely the scale fits into the game.

Another way would be to superimpose the jpeg image onto the terrain (toggle view on/off)
Just thought this would act as a really good guide, and I'm sorry if it is a little too demanding, I'm not sure as to the difficulty of implementing this.
thanks anyway!
stay awesome!

 

[TotalyMoo]

So this would work a little like a height-map but for roads?

 

[billbsb]

I also love this idea of sketching your city plans before executing. It's just so annoying to layout your entire plan, or new section, using the cheapest road as your sketch tool.
It would be much nicer to have a tool that just draws lines on the map without costs and even maybe write some notes on the map as well.

 

[BadPeanut]

I guess it sort of would be! I actually just bought cities in motion 2, and I found a mod called Maps4cim which allows you to take a map service (like google maps) and renders it onto a map.

you can find it here

I would pretty much adopt this except instead of it becoming the physical map (the road lines stay on the map texture) I would have it as a "layer" that you can toggle the visibility on/off.

 

[haymosdude]

I guess it sort of would be! I actually just bought cities in motion 2, and I found a mod called Maps4cim which allows you to take a map service (like google maps) and renders it onto a map.

you can find it here

I would pretty much adopt this except instead of it becoming the physical map (the road lines stay on the map texture) I would have it as a "layer" that you can toggle the visibility on/off.

That is an awesome tool! Thanks for pointing it out, will try this today.