Liberty City's size compared with real cities

[zinklesmesh]

Assuming that Liberty City is a bit under 2 miles tall (I figured this out based on the GPS and through some other measuring methods) I have overlayed it, to scale, over maps of San Francisco and New York City.

 

I MEASURED THE SIZE OF LIBERTY CITY, I AM CERTAIN IT IS SLIGHTLY LESS THAN TWO MILES TALL, I SCALED IT TO MATCH THE SCALE OF THESE REAL MAPS

 

I can't imagine how much time it would take to make the city a realistic size and still be detailed.

 

Edited June 10, 2008 by Kitteh

[Tony Mozzarelli 80]

You were expecting it to be as big as a real city?

and upon what are you basing the assumption that it is 2 miles tall?

[GTAaddictforever]

to be fair, it doesnt look like it is zoomed equally

 

GTA4's map is zooomed waaaaay out and the real city map is zoomed in

[--Vega--]

Assuming that Liberty City is a bit under 2 miles tall (I figured this out based on the GPS and through some other measuring methods) I have overlayed it, to scale, over maps of San Francisco and New York City.

 

I can't imagine how much time it would take to make the city a realistic size and still be detailed.

That would take ages that's why they will never do it.

[DietSprunk]

San Andreas was a little bit too small to be a state, too (like 4-5 square miles?).

[zinklesmesh]

to be fair, it doesnt look like it is zoomed equally

 

GTA4's map is zooomed waaaaay out and the real city map is zoomed in

Can you read? I told you, I measured Liberty City in-game and carefully scaled it to match the scale of each real map.

[GTAaddictforever]

no, can YOU read?

 

in your real city map, i can clearly see detail of every street and intersection

 

in your LBC map, i cant

 

 

your scale is way off, aka horrible.

 

 

go back to school and then go learn some manners

[zinklesmesh]

 

no, can YOU read?

 

in your real city map, i can clearly see detail of every street and intersection

 

in your LBC map, i cant

 

 

your scale is way off, aka horrible.

 

 

go back to school and then go learn some manners

No, the Liberty City map is all muddy and bad quality because I couldn't find a good crisp one with black streets on a white background. You really can't see the individual roads very easily, especially when it's small and overlayed over another map. The fact that the original map has white roads on a light gray background doesn't help. If you compare that silhouette to the Liberty City map and the size of the street grid, it actually does match up (except in Liberty City, the blocks are square, whereas in real Manhattan, they're very rectangular)

 

What the hell are you still doing on this forum, anyways? I thought you hated GTA IV? Stop trolling and get the hell out.

[Breaking Bohan]

Yeah! How can it be a "living breathing city" if its much smaller than a city? I don't think it can be what it claims - for shame.

[zinklesmesh]

I'm not criticizing the game, I love GTA IV. I just thought it would be interesting to compare it. I doubt any computer game will ever be able to fully replicate the size and detail of a real city.

[Mark]

I'm not criticizing the game, I love GTA IV. I just thought it would be interesting to compare it. I doubt any computer game will ever be able to fully replicate the size and detail of a real city.

Not to mention it'd get pretty boring. I dunno about you, but having to commute in a videogame is even more mind-numbing than in real life!

 

OMG hai Kitteh!

[jonstunt]

I'd say that looks about right, doesn't surprise me though. The NY comparison looks like a better comparison (central park about the width of Algonquin).

 

Thing is with real cities are they are real big, as this is a game I think they did a good job of compressing it so much without losing the essence of the place.

 

Has anyone overlaid this map with SA? I'd like to see that

 

 

Edit: I always assumed the airport was meant to be JFK. Now I reckon that it is La Guardia judging by the runway layout.

Edited June 10, 2008 by jonstunt

[emigrating]

I'd be interested in knowing how you arrived at Algonquin being 2mi tall. I know you said you used the GPS and other methods, but could you elaborate a little?

 

The reason I'm asking is because the GPS keeps telling me one of the bridges in the game is 1mi long, and that would, imo, make the map around 3 - 3.5mi tall.

 

You're right though, they've done a good job in keeping the feel of the place in such a small map. There are definitely things missing though, but most non New Yorkers would probably not notice these (although there are several places I've tried to find in the game which just aren't there).

[johnnyk1]

San Andreas was a little bit too small to be a state, too (like 4-5 square miles?).

17 Spuare miles.

[learn2forget]

Thanks for the comparison. I just saw the real central park in a movie (cloverfield) last night and it looked HUGE so I was wondering how pathetically small LC was next to NY.

[zinklesmesh]

I'd be interested in knowing how you arrived at Algonquin being 2mi tall. I know you said you used the GPS and other methods, but could you elaborate a little?

 

The reason I'm asking is because the GPS keeps telling me one of the bridges in the game is 1mi long, and that would, imo, make the map around 3 - 3.5mi tall.

 

You're right though, they've done a good job in keeping the feel of the place in such a small map. There are definitely things missing though, but most non New Yorkers would probably not notice these (although there are several places I've tried to find in the game which just aren't there).

Well, the GPS told me that about half of Algonquin (north to south) was a mile.

[jonstunt]

 

I'd be interested in knowing how you arrived at Algonquin being 2mi tall. I know you said you used the GPS and other methods, but could you elaborate a little?

 

The reason I'm asking is because the GPS keeps telling me one of the bridges in the game is 1mi long, and that would, imo, make the map around 3 - 3.5mi tall.

 

You're right though, they've done a good job in keeping the feel of the place in such a small map. There are definitely things missing though, but most non New Yorkers would probably not notice these (although there are several places I've tried to find in the game which just aren't there).

Well, the GPS told me that about half of Algonquin (north to south) was a mile.

A fit human can run a mile in four minutes. If Nico didn't tire and could sprint north to south Algonquin would it take eight minutes?

 

I'm thinking 2 miles minimum

Edited June 10, 2008 by jonstunt

[petertime007]

A really fit human can sprint a mile in 4 minutes. You do make a really good point though I wonder how long it would take to run that distance in the game.

[pompeyfc08]

Good post OP

 

I think the LC map is abit small, I really don't see why they couldn't of taken more time with the map.. True Crime NY for PS2 was pretty much a complete "Algonquin". .. and if they can create that on a PS2.. why couldn't GTA do the same. People go on about the amount of detail, yes theres some.. but its not as if you can go in these places. Its just outside decor.

 

[GTAaddictforever]

HAY GUYZ

 

Assuming that the United States of America is a bit under 4 miles tall (I figured this out based on the GPS system and through some other measuring methods I have personally deducedz ) I have overlayed it, to scale, over map of GTA: San Andreas.

 

I MEASURED THE SIZE OF United States of America, I AM CERTAIN IT IS SLIGHTLY LESS THAN FOUR MILES TALL, I SCALED IT TO MATCH THE SCALE OF THESE REAL MAPS USING MSPAINT!

 

 

 

 

 

 

lol. OP's full of it. You can see every detailed road in the San Francisco map but the Liberty City map looks like it's zoomed out to outer space. can't even see a road.

Edited June 11, 2008 by GTAaddictforever

[emigrating]

HAY GUYZ

 

Assuming that the United States of America is a bit under 4 miles tall (I figured this out based on the GPS system and through some other measuring methods I have personally deducedz ) I have overlayed it, to scale, over map of GTA: San Andreas.

 

I MEASURED THE SIZE OF United States of America, I AM CERTAIN IT IS SLIGHTLY LESS THAN FOUR MILES TALL, I SCALED IT TO MATCH THE SCALE OF THESE REAL MAPS USING MSPAINT!

 

 

 

 

 

 

lol. OP's full of it. You can see every detailed road in the San Francisco map but the Liberty City map looks like it's zoomed out to outer space. can't even see a road.

Do you even know what scale means? His maps were, if algonquin is infact 2mi tall, spot on.

 

Here's some light reading material for you;

http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/geology/...nksa/scale.html

http://www.archaeologica.org/Drawing%20to%20Scale.htm

http://maps.nrcan.gc.ca/topo101/scale_e.php

 

[jonstunt]

Funny but keep an eye on your resolution

 

Here's my rough guess based on intersection size and runway size, If SA is roughly 4 x 4 miles that makes LC 4 x 2/ 2.5 miles

 

 

 

 

[gregrein]

you actually did a pretty good job. The road grids are the same size on LC as the real maps. Though you can argue that the LC map is way too zoomed out.

[zinklesmesh]

Okay, I just measured, with surgical precision, the height of Algonquin, from tip-to-tip, using the GAME'S VEHICLE STATS PAGE. My miles by car was exactly 650 when I stole a car at the bottom tip. I drove perfectly straight to the northern tip and it increased to 651.45. If you add the couple hundred feet of land south of the southernmost road, it's safe to say it's 1.5 miles long.

 

ALGONQUIN IS 1.5 MILES LONG

 

So it's even smaller than I first measured it.

[GTA3Freak-2001]

Here's a quote from Dan Houser:

 

 

Its not the full city, it's an approximation thereof. We make a city that feels like the real thing, but is perfectly tuned for gameplay in the broadest sense. The world is not designed to be a video game. We are trying to make a video game that feels like the world, but still plays like a video game. The design of the city and the missions that unfold within it are designed hand-in-hand and complement each other perfectly. Everthing in this world is here for a reason, where it is directly tied to gameplay or simply there to create atmosphere.

 

I know no one has directly said its a bad thing that Liberty City is tiny compared to real life, but this is why the size of Liberty is perfect for a game just like a movie that shows only areas relevant to the story and characters.

[wayninja]

Okay, I just measured, with surgical precision, the height of Algonquin, from tip-to-tip, using the GAME'S VEHICLE STATS PAGE. My miles by car was exactly 650 when I stole a car at the bottom tip. I drove perfectly straight to the northern tip and it increased to 651.45. If you add the couple hundred feet of land south of the southernmost road, it's safe to say it's 1.5 miles long.

 

ALGONQUIN IS 1.5 MILES LONG

 

So it's even smaller than I first measured it.

How long did it take you to drive?

[zinklesmesh]

Okay, I just measured, with surgical precision, the height of Algonquin, from tip-to-tip, using the GAME'S VEHICLE STATS PAGE. My miles by car was exactly 650 when I stole a car at the bottom tip. I drove perfectly straight to the northern tip and it increased to 651.45. If you add the couple hundred feet of land south of the southernmost road, it's safe to say it's 1.5 miles long.

 

ALGONQUIN IS 1.5 MILES LONG

 

So it's even smaller than I first measured it.

How long did it take you to drive?

That's irrelevant and I didn't need to measure it because the game measures miles.

[FiendishDog]

Look at the size of the streets of the real map, then the size of the ones in LC. The streets on the real map are like 4 time larger. phail

[wayninja]

Okay, I just measured, with surgical precision, the height of Algonquin, from tip-to-tip, using the GAME'S VEHICLE STATS PAGE. My miles by car was exactly 650 when I stole a car at the bottom tip. I drove perfectly straight to the northern tip and it increased to 651.45. If you add the couple hundred feet of land south of the southernmost road, it's safe to say it's 1.5 miles long.

 

ALGONQUIN IS 1.5 MILES LONG

 

So it's even smaller than I first measured it.

How long did it take you to drive?

That's irrelevant and I didn't need to measure it because the game measures miles.

It's irrelevant to what? I just asked a question, I haven't made any point...

 

I can read, I understand you used the in game odometer... If you don't want to tell me for whatever reason, I'll just figure it out when I get back to my place from being on work trip...

[zinklesmesh]

 

Okay, I just measured, with surgical precision, the height of Algonquin, from tip-to-tip, using the GAME'S VEHICLE STATS PAGE. My miles by car was exactly 650 when I stole a car at the bottom tip. I drove perfectly straight to the northern tip and it increased to 651.45. If you add the couple hundred feet of land south of the southernmost road, it's safe to say it's 1.5 miles long.

 

ALGONQUIN IS 1.5 MILES LONG

 

So it's even smaller than I first measured it.

How long did it take you to drive?

That's irrelevant and I didn't need to measure it because the game measures miles.

It's irrelevant to what? I just asked a question, I haven't made any point...

 

I can read, I understand you used the in game odometer... If you don't want to tell me for whatever reason, I'll just figure it out when I get back to my place from being on work trip...

I didn't measure the time, why would I do that? How would you figure out the time by my distance anyways? If I knew how long it took me I'd tell you, but I had no reason to measure the time.

 

 

Look at the size of the streets of the real map, then the size of the ones in LC. The streets on the real map are like 4 time larger. phail

 

Look at the posts in this thread, then realize it's all exactly to scale and has been measured precisely. phail