How can Minecraft be usedto explore real world topography.

Adam Clarke

12 May 2014 Slide 1

Minecraft is a game played by over 100 Million people around the world. Its popularity is partly due

to the fact that there is no end goal. It is a sandbox game where the players can create anything

they can imagine using simple cubes or blocks. This element of creativity has tapped into a large

community, hungry to share, learn and develop tools to play Minecraft in ever more interesting and

creative ways. It is therefore not surprising that teachers want to know the secrets of how to get

young people to engage and learn within Minecraft itself.

In this talk I will show you how I have used real world topographical radar data, taken during a

space shuttle orbit 14 years ago, to explore the north of England and its historic monuments such

as Hadrian's Wall, Carlisle Castle and even coastal wetland bird habitats.

Video games are often played on maps and have a history of using real world data to add realism

and environmental narratives to game play. However, games-based learning has started to use

game maps for engagement and learning.

Slide 2

First let’s look at what Minecraft is and what a normal Minecraft map consists of. Minecraft is a

sandbox construction game created by Mojang founder Markus Persson, AKA Notch, and inspired

by the Infiniminer, Dwarf Fortress and Dungeon Keeper games. Gameplay involves players inter-

acting with the game world by placing and breaking various types of blocks in a three-dimensional

environment. In this environment, players can build creative structures, creations, and artwork on

multiplayer servers and single-player worlds across multiple game modes.

The starting area is called the Overworld and a normal Minecraft map is infinite. However, the

number of blocks the player may walk on is limited. The area on the X/Z axis that a player normally

plays, is: 30,000,000. There is also a height limit of 255 blocks. Beyond this edge, world generation

is significantly simpler, any chunk after the edge consists of just dirt, sand, stone and water with

absolutely no vegetation. Because of these limitations, the maximum blocks that can be generated

in a world is approximately 921,600,000,000,000,000 (nine quintillion, two hundred and sixteen

quadrillion). Which is pretty big….

The Overworld is also subdivided into biomes. Biomes may have varying sizes, and each has its

own features. For example, a forest biome will have large quantities of trees, and a snow biome

will have snow and ice.

Chunks are the method used by Notch to divide maps into manageable pieces. They are 16 blocks

wide, 16 blocks long, and 256 blocks high, each containing 65,536 blocks. By adjusting the render

distance, differing numbers of chunks will be loaded into memory, ranging from 25 to 1089. Only

chunks which have been loaded may experience activity such as spawning, de-spawning, growth,

fluid movement, or player interaction. Upon reaching the required distance away from a chunk, it

will be unloaded from the memory, but not deleted. Thus, upon re-entering that area, the game will

reload the chunk(s).

So this give us a near infinite world for players to explore, with random limited resources and a

host of dangers and challenges . It make for a very engaging gameplay and, without any final

goal, the players are left to create narratives and rebuild the world as they see fit. It is this engage-

ment that first caught my attention and led me into investigating Minecraft’s educational possibili-

ties.

Initially, Minecraft offers simulated typography and generates maps through a procedural formula

that takes a random number as a starting point — referred to as a seed — and uses it to generate

all the terrain. Using a specific seed generates exactly the same world each time, and thus inter-

esting Minecraft worlds can be shared between players.

As interest in Minecraft grew, so did the creative community around it and it wasn't long before

Map generators and World editors appeared. This gave me the tools to reshape and design new

Minecraft maps and topographies. It was at this point that I started to explore real world topograph-

ical data from The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) which obtained elevation data on a

near-global scale. SRTM consisted of a specially modified radar system that flew onboard the

Space Shuttle Endeavour during an 11-day mission in February of 2000.

Slide 3

One of the first Maps I produced was a Minecraft version of Cumbria. I did this by first download-

ing an SRTM file — there are lots of places to do this on the internet and I can give links at the

end. I then used MicroDEM software to extract and export a black and white height map, using in-

structions from YouTube videos to work out how to do this. I used this height map in another pro-

gram called World Painter, that is designed to create and paint Minecraft maps.

Slide 4

This program allows you to import height maps and using it, I was able to produce realistic topo-

graphical Minecraft maps. The software also allows you to overlay images, which meant that I

could overlay historical maps and even where Hadrian's Wall was. The software is designed just

like Microsoft Paint and uses simple brush tools. So it is easy to paint a landscape or historical re-

mains or roads, rivers, forests and so on. Excited by this, I showed my map to Tullie House Mu-

seum and Art Gallery in Carlisle, Cumbria, who asked me to create a much more detailed map that

explored Roman Cumbria.

Slide 5

We collaborated on a Minecraft history project that became part of the Museums At Night Event in

2013. The audience were students and members of the public who were interested in discovering

stories and narratives about Hadrian’s Wall and also interacting with the Wall in a novel and new

way.

Slide 6

We encouraged participants to help, build and discover roman buildings and learn about urban

planning.

This was just the seed, so to speak — the learning potential within Minecraft can:

Slide 7

1. Promote ‘Learner Engagement’, specifically across multiple age groups.

2. Hear and amplify the ‘Child’s Voice’, specifically as part of a chorus of engaged voices

3. Promote ‘Shared Responsibility’, specifically among peer groups (a hard nut to crack ordinarily).

4. Encourage ‘Collaboration’ and ‘Negotiation’.

5. Facilitate ‘Judgement’ and ‘Decision Making’.

It is also a powerful mechanism for encouraging learners to focus on ‘Outdoor Learning’ by inspir-

ing through play an interest in landscape, structure, people and place. thus challenging the com-

mon criticism that is levied at Games, that it discourages young people from being outside.

As well as my own work within Minecraft, there are other significant Games-Based Learning practi-

tioners working globally. One of these that I would like to cite is Stephen Reid, of ImmersiveMind.

Some educational examples of his work include: Pompeii and a working volcano; minefields and

the relocation of human populations after a war or natural disaster; whole cities in which town plan-

ning and green spaces can be explored for health and wellbeing; pyramids and tomb traps as part

of Egyptian studies. As you can see, the scope for learning is vast.

Slide 8

‘Data Analysis’ and ‘Bringing data to life’ is fundamental to the success of learners across a wealth

of subjects, from people and population in geography to number crunching in Mathematics and sci-

ence data gained from experimentation in physics, chemistry or biology. Data analysis can some-

times feel time consuming and laborious. With Minecraft, data analysis becomes ‘Fun’ and playful.

There are many other examples of topographic data being used for education within

minecraft - here are a few of the best….

Slide 9

Block by Block

"Block by Block" is an innovative partnership between the United Nations Human Settlements Pro-

gramme (UN-Habitat), the UN agency promoting sustainable towns and cities, and Mojang, the

makers of Minecraft. “Block by Block” involves young people in the planning of urban public spa-

ces. Minecraft has turned out to be the perfect tool to facilitate this process. A four-year partnership

plans to upgrade 300 public spaces by 2016.

Slide 10

Denmark 1:1 scale Minecraft model

There are many opportunities to use Denmark's free spatial data in a Minecraft world for teaching.

By walking around in the virtual world and compare with the physical world, it is possible to in-

crease the spatial understanding of pupils. The game consists of blocks of 1x1 meters and is also

a representation of Denmark 1:1, which provide good opportunities for doing exercises with the

measurement of distance, circumference and volume.

Students can also calculate prices for construction works by counting the different types of blocks

and can also calculate how high a bridge must be for a truck to get under it.

Language is also explorable in the Danish Map. There are inserted addresses in the game, so it's

possible to have a discussion of place names and their meanings.

You can also take students on a virtual field trip to places you normally can not reach physically.

And this leads to the danish map to promoting Outdoor Education where you can using spatial data

and maps get an overview of the school's immediate environment and thus the potential to move

education out of the classroom.

You will be able to plan field trips together. Students can put their findings into the wild into the

game. Denmark's free geo-data in a Minecraft world can bridge the gap between the classroom

and the school environment.

Slide 11

Brisbane City

Brisbane City Council has developed a custom Minecraft map for the city of Brisbane which is

available as a free download.

The custom scaled map includes a number of city icons such as City Hall, the Brisbane River,

South Bank lagoon, Brisbane Square, the Story Bridge and the Gabba.

Users can explore these real life buildings which have all been built to scale using Council's Virtual

Brisbane 3D modelling objects. The Council sees the game and the map it has developed as pro-

viding a number of educational benefits for children from reading, writing, maths, geometry, collab-

oration and general creativity. It highlights Brisbane as Australia’s new world city and a leader in

digital communication through the use of games to educate.

Slide 12

This platform enables endless amounts of learning opportunities, from storytelling to urban re-

newal; reminiscence engagement to real world climate change modelling; exploring the science of

human body and discovering the history of art. Minecraft has become a tool for artists and educa-

tors, social activists and community developers, scientists and other organisations around the

world. It is being recognised for its ability to engage young people in ideas and concepts that go

beyond playing a game. People are using Minecraft to develop transferable skills such as political

awareness, mathematics, literacy, humanities, scientific concepts - the list is without limit.

Slide 13

What Minecraft has shown us is a window to a future where games based learning is changing the

face and shape of education at all levels, from primary into corporate and government training. It

has shown us that the boundaries between play and education are not fixed and can enhance

each other to encourage innovative creative response. Through the connections and collaborations

made within game, a community has grown that is beginning to shape the way in which we learn

and influence change on a local and global scale. Through its simplicity, it has given the player a

sandbox in which the imagination can expand and ideas can grow.

However, it is important to remember that, at the heart of all this potential, Minecraft is a game, and

is, at its core, about having fun with your friends. Which is why it is games-based learning, not

learning based games.

Material has been remixed and adapted from http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/

Content is available under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 unless otherwise noted. Minecraft content and materials are trademarks

and copyrights of Mojang and its licensors. All rights reserved.

http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/

http://blockbyblock.org/about

http://www.gst.dk/emner/frie-data/minecraft/ideer-til-brug-i-undervisning/#

http://www.worldpainter.net/