The magical Minecraft creator Christopher Gutteridge has done it again.
Minecraft-fans/fanatics will remember when OnTheWight first brought you the news about Chris’ original adventure in converting parts of the Isle of Wight into Minecraft – when he made a Minecraft Ventnor a year and a half ago, August 2015.
The reaction was huge. Not only in terms of interest in the story, but also an enormous number of Minecraft fans of all ages crammed into Ventnor’s Minecraft Club when Chris spoke to the assembled throngs about how he did it.
Well, Chris has been flexing his programming and data skills again to take a crack at the Island’s capital – Newport.
16km Square!
Not content to do just part of the town, he’s gone and done a 16km square area! (4.3km x 3.7km for purists)
It all came about when OnTheWight was working with artist Jo Kori in the months when she was in preparation for her Quay Arts show that focuses on Newport Quay. Remembering Chris’ great Ventnor Minecraft experiment, we connected the two of them and he started to work him magic straight away – in fact, from memory, he created the Quay while we were speaking on the original phone call.
Using his programming skills he’s combined Lidar data (what’s this?) and information from OpenStreetmap to spit out Minecraft blocks to form Minecraft Newport.
During the half term holidays Christopher will also be holding a drop-in workshop at Quay Arts – so get involved.
Take it and make things!
The sheer scale of the results are impressive, but the idea is that now Chris has created the Minecraft map, enthusiasts can help fill in the detail to make it “more accurate or more historical or more futuristic”. Get creative – it’s up to you.
You’re invited to send in your screenshots or pop along to the drop-in event on Saturday 25th February where Chris will be talking about the project, and you can meet other enthusiasts and compare notes.
Where and when
For more details about how to share your creations and how Chris’ adventures in Minecraft, please visit: Project Newport Past, Present, Future
This free event takes place on Saturday 25 February between 1-4pm in the Seminar Room, Quay Arts, Little London, Newport.
For ages 8+. All children must be accompanied by an adult.
Adults more than welcome to join in!
What is LIDAR?
Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) is an airborne mapping technique, which uses a laser to measure the distance between the aircraft and the ground.
