We are continually impressed with the amazing projects we come across in the community, one of them being Bushtalk Radio. Bushtalk Radio is a community-driven project with the aim to fill the world of MSFS2020 with thousands of additional landmarks and points of interest (POIs). Each highlighted landmark is given a unique audio tour that is automatically played on arrival. Founder u/bushtalkradio explains, “It’s all about giving the user more context about their location, and hopefully learn something new.”
We asked u/bushtalkradio about the inception of this project.
“I’m not a hard-core flight simmer, so when I picked up Microsoft Flight Simulator it was mostly for sightseeing and exploring the world. I soon found that when I was flying somewhere new and saw something cool and interesting like a volcano or a crater, I’d pause the game and spend loads of time finding it on Google Maps to then read about it on Wikipedia. I was spending more time on Wikipedia than flying on MSFS! So, I had the idea to automate this with a script, that then evolved into the website you see today.”
Currently, there are over 3000 points of interest you can explore with more being added daily. To promote the addition of new points of interest, a new feature has just been added in. “It’s called Bush Radar and it allows you to scan your surroundings for undiscovered POIs. Players can then publish the interesting discoveries with the usual audio tour for other players.”
For now, the system exclusively scours Wikipedia for articles, though u/bushtalkradio is working on “adding other interesting datasets for players to discover (in real life treasure hoards to collect, meteorite sites to study, [etc.]). Essentially bringing some RPG/Geocaching elements to [the] site.”
If you are interested in learning how this mod works, join us for a community stream with the creator of Bush Talk Radio this Friday on our Official Twitch Channel at 1900Z. He will go over how it works, how to install it, and then we will fly together and listen to some great POIs! We want to thank u/bushtalkradio for their awe-inspiring contribution to the community. So, go on and check out Bush Talk Radio and add another element to your flights and sightseeing.
To learn how to get started: https://github.com/BushtalkRadio/BushtalkClient