| ▲ | blobbers 2 hours ago | |
I haven't tried the game, but this is slightly hilarious and awesome. I've often wondered about this kind of thing. When I go to an airport, it seems strange to me that each one is different with some of them having elaborate train systems, or multiple runways. The engineer in me says "surely there is an optimal solution, so why are they all so different?". Is there a simulator? Sim City was a fantastic simulation from the stand point of a game, but I'm curious; if you build a city simulator and let it grow organically (game of life style) can you put in sufficient regulation/parameters that get you to where we are today? And if so, is there a simulation that shows us a way to get us to a better tomorrow? | ||
| ▲ | buildsjets 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] | |
Every airport is different because every local geography, existing land use, and weather pattern is different. Seattle has generally ether north or south winds depending on season, and the airport is located on the only buildable flat plateau for miles around, so has 3 runways all going the same direction, N/S. https://wrcc-archive.dri.edu/cgi-bin/wea_windroseclim.pl?laK... Denver built an all-new airport way outside of town where there was unlimited buildable land. Their winds are highly variable even within one season, so they have 6 runways in a crossing configuration. https://wrcc-archive.dri.edu/cgi-bin/wea_windroseclim.pl?laK... | ||
| ▲ | nkrisc 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | |
> The engineer in me says "surely there is an optimal solution, so why are they all so different?". Is there a simulator? Optimistically, because each one has a different optimal solution given all the unique constraints for each airport project. Also, airports aren't just built and then done. Often the cities around them will grow and the airports will need to expand and adapt to new constraints, sometimes many decades after they were first built. | ||