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Visualizing Oakland in Minecraft

The 980 freeway in downtown Oakland may not seem a likely place for creepers, dynamite and Endermen, but as consummate nerds here at the Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment, we couldn’t help but apply Minecraft to the problem

That is, the problem of the I-980 in downtown Oakland. If we go back to the 1970’s, Oakland had changed from a rich suburban enclave, to a much more diverse and urban locale. The city itself had indeed once been comprised of fruit orchards and Gertrude Stein at the turn of the 20th century, but the post WWII Oakland saw a rapid influx of workers from all walks of life settling down to make a living at the ports, in the train yards, and at the factories in East and West Oakland.

As was sadly typical of the time in the United States, redlining took hold in places where the well-to-do wanted to halt the encroachment of the “others.” This, of course, meant that the African American inhabitants of Oakland were pushed aside in many places. One of those places at the I-980 freeway footprint.

Starting in the early 60s From 1976 to 1985,, the freeway project uprooted people, families, and Victorian houses as it cut a deep scar into the face of West Oakland, dividing the Western part of the city from downtown. Ever since the freeway opened in 1985, it’s very apparent the divide between each side of that freeway. Some of the houses there were moved over to form Preservation Park, a delightful area of restored Victorians, including the former governor’s mansion: the Pardee House. Of course, all of this is on the downtown Oakland side of 980.

Since 1985, While I-980 connects Highways 24 and 580 to 880, it’s just not that busy. While a less busy freeway may sound like a good thing, the utter monstrosity of this thing, coupled with the tower of offramps connecting it to everything else combine to make 980 an easy target for reclamation by the urban body.

But here’s the trick: when 980 was first created, there was no public comment taken from the local residents by by the city, state, or federal government. Naturally, when you are undertaking an institutional effort to disenfranchise an entire populace, you don’t want to hear what that populace thinks about the plan!

We thought we could help correct, at the very least, that bit of the process by making it easy for local residents to mold a new vision for 980 our of digital clay. We collaborated with TKTK a local group working on gathering public comment on the long term plans to remove the freeway.

Just how do you make it possible for a whole town of folks to comment on a plan to remove over a million square feet of freeway from their backyards? Do you turn them loose on CAD programs? Give them blueprints and crayons? Teach them to use 3DSMax? Bryce? Offer up a table full of Warhammer-style models and buildings?

Naw, you use Minecraft!

The idea is to unleash the creativity of the community and beyond. For every wonderful green park we’re hoping to see built, we’re also hoping to see a Godzilla-style destruction of the whole city! Why not, it’s Minecraft! Go crazy! This project will take years, after all. It took 9 years to build the thing. We expect it will take 5 to 10 to remove it and replace it, but who knows, it could take longer! Take your time. Build something cool. Share it with the world. Maybe, just maybe, it’ll become real. It’s kind of like Tron, but really, really slow.

Build Pipeline

Vision 980

Blender 

  • 3D representation of the world

Google Maps API Key

  • Best source of data, includes color information

  • Did try OSM, but OSM didn’t have texture data

    • Had fewer issues with Trees, but ended up looking way too sparse

    • Missing elevation data on freeway

Blosm plugin

Obj to Schematic

  • Convert to .schem

Conda

  • Dependency management in Python

Amulet MC

  • Import .schem files

  • Painstaking use of tools to line up patches

WorldEdit for touchup

We’re anxious to hear what you think, and more importantly, to see what you do with the Minecraft in Oakland map. Post your videos and send us the links at info@themade.org or  ADD SOCIALS HERE.

If you like what we’re doing, please donate to us! We’re a non-profit, all-playable video game museum dedicated to inspiring the next generation of game developers. We do lots of things like this, and we do them for free, so please help us continue to do so by supporting our current fund raising campaign.