See major MSFS photogrammetry cities by region, plus update requirements and fixes when streamed 3D buildings fail to appear.
Microsoft Flight Simulator has photogrammetry for hundreds of cities rather than a short, fixed worldwide list. Coverage is strongest in the United States and has expanded through World and City Updates across Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Sydney and Auckland are prominent examples.
Which major MSFS cities have photogrammetry?
The following table lists prominent first-party photogrammetry areas in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and 2024. It is a practical selection rather than an exhaustive register: updates add or replace coverage, while one metropolitan area can contain several separately named municipalities.
| Region | Examples of photogrammetry cities |
|---|---|
| United States | New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Las Vegas, Miami, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Dallas–Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio and Waco |
| Canada | Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver |
| United Kingdom | London, Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge and Oxford |
| France | Paris, Amiens, Angers, Nantes, Nîmes, Reims and Annemasse |
| Benelux | Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Ghent and Luxembourg City |
| Germany | Bonn, Cologne, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hanover and Wuppertal |
| Switzerland | Geneva |
| Japan | Tokyo, Yokohama, Sendai, Takamatsu, Tokushima and Utsunomiya |
| Australia | Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Hobart |
| New Zealand | Auckland, Christchurch, Hamilton, Nelson, Queenstown, Tauranga and Wellington |
Many additional American metropolitan areas and smaller cities are covered. Microsoft does not provide a dependable in-simulator layer showing every photogrammetry boundary, and those boundaries rarely follow city limits exactly.
Photogrammetry should not be confused with aerial imagery, autogen buildings or individually modelled landmarks. Our explanation of how MSFS builds its streamed 3D city mesh covers that distinction, while our guide to how real cities are represented in flight simulators explains what appears when a location has no photogrammetry.
Does photogrammetry cover every part of a city?
No: coverage commonly concentrates on the urban centre and surrounding districts, with generated buildings taking over beyond the captured area. Large metropolitan regions may contain gaps, sharply defined edges or suburbs captured at different dates.
Even inside the covered area, airports and famous landmarks may use separate handcrafted models. These usually look cleaner than the surrounding mesh. Trees, cranes and parked vehicles can be baked into the photogrammetry, which causes the familiar melted or lumpy appearance at low altitude.
Why is photogrammetry missing or showing flat buildings?
Missing photogrammetry usually means world data is disabled, the required update is absent, or the simulator has fallen back to generated scenery because streaming failed.
- Check online data: In MSFS 2020, open the Data section of General Options and enable Online Functionality, Bing Data World Graphics and Photogrammetry. MSFS 2024 organises its streamed content differently, but online world data and photogrammetry must still be enabled.
- Install regional content: MSFS 2020 users should check the in-simulator Marketplace and Content Manager for the relevant free World or City Update. MSFS 2024 streams more world content, although package availability and disabled content should still be checked through its library tools.
- Inspect bandwidth limits: A reached data cap, slow connection or temporary online-data failure can replace the city with generic buildings. Photogrammetry needs substantially more data than ordinary aerial imagery.
- Rebuild the rolling cache: If one area remains corrupted, delete and recreate the Rolling Cache from the simulator's data settings. Expect the city to download again on the next flight.
- Test without scenery add-ons: On PC, temporarily move conflicting packages out of the
Communityfolder. An older city add-on can sit above the default scenery or exclude part of its mesh.
A common mistake is testing from street level and assuming malformed close-up geometry means photogrammetry is disabled. The source mesh is designed primarily for viewing from the air; lower terrain level of detail settings and slow streaming make its defects more obvious.
Can you add photogrammetry to an uncovered city?
Yes, third-party scenery can add, replace or improve city photogrammetry, although quality, performance and covered area vary considerably. Check that an add-on supports your simulator version and avoid running two packages that modify the same city.
Our library of city and regional MSFS scenery includes photogrammetry projects for locations beyond the default coverage. Regional collections can be more efficient when planning a trip; for example, our French scenery section covers several major cities and surrounding areas.
Choose replacement scenery when the default mesh is absent, badly dated or missing a district you need. Keep the first-party version when performance and broad metropolitan coverage matter more than close-up building detail.