The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all of our lives in ways both big and small; from wearing PPE around on our day-to-day dalliances to lining up outside the grocery stores to purchase household staples. And, for many Canadians, the closing of most international borders is a particularly harsh reminder of our new inconvenient reality – especially as we enter fall and with winter on fast-approach.
However, fret not, restless would-be travellers, for Obiter has your back! Snowbirds may be unable to jet away in real life, but Obiter has assigned a crack-team of travel experts to take to the skies in your stead – virtually. Armed with a Thrustmaster PC HOTAS (Hands-on-throttle-and-stick… gamer-speak for replica airplane controls) and Microsoft’s new Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 – which uses state-of-the-art satellite and A.I. technological wizardry to map and scale the entire planet Earth 1:1 – Obiter visited some of the world’s most renown and storied law schools, to see just how accurately they had been rendered in the video game.
All flights were conducted under similar virtual conditions: the clock was set to 1:10 PM local time, the weather was set to mostly sunny with scattered cloud coverage, air-traffic was turned off, and the pilots took off and landed at the nearest appropriate airfield – ensuring the integrity of the simulation, for those who mind. Obiter’s team visited eight law schools in total; four Canadian and four international. All flights were conducted using the “Extra 300 L” stunt aircraft.
All of the top-row images in the collages are from Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and all of the bottom-row images are sourced from Google Earth and various attributed photographers. Bottom-line: top-row images are in-game, bottom-row images are real-world.
University of Toronto, Faculty of Law:
Airport – CYTZ Toronto, Toronto City Centre
We lead with our cross-town rivals downtown, the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law. We note that Flight Simulator has done quite a bang-up job of rendering the area, even capturing the Varsity Centre stadium tucked behind the law faculty buildings. We also make note of the excellent job Microsoft has done in capturing the surrounding skyline in downtown Toronto, just north of Queen’s Park. However, it appears the actual law faculty building itself is under siege from the surrounding treeline, a quirk in the game’s processing of the satellite imagery it leverages.
Harvard Law School:
Airport – KBOS Logan International, Boston, MA
The world’s most famous law school, Harvard Law School, is clearly all here. Check. The Boston skyline is indeed in the background. Check. The Cambridge Commons is, sort of, here. Check. And the aggressive invasion of trees into every open space at the law school campus – also check. In all seriousness, it is impressive how well Flight Simulator renders the actual Harvard Law School building – right down to its neo-classical columns. Very nice.
McGill University, Faculty of Law:
Airport – CYUL Montreal/Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau International
The McGill University, Faculty of Law, is easily one of the more impressive scenes in Flight Simulator, certainly. The law school (striking enough in person) is rendered near-perfectly, and downtown Montreal provides a stunning backdrop for any photograph. Also, it must be noted that Flight Simulator’s hankering for aggressive treeline’s thankfully did not appear to materialize in this instance.
Stanford Law School:
Airport – KSFO San Francisco International
The most exclusive law school on the West coast, Stanford Law School, in beautiful coastal-California, does not disappoint. The iconic Hoover Tower is rendered beautifully, as is the rest of the Stanford campus. Stanford Law School specifically is rendered right down to the rose-planters in the entrance plaza, and gives a very warm, and very California vibe throughout. Nice.
Peter A. Allard School of Law (UBC):
Airport – CYVR Vancouver International
Probably the most disappointing, and objectively “ugly” rendering of the bunch. The Peter. A Allard School of Law building, while already being architecturally modest in the real-world, is inexplicably rendered in-game as if it is a pastel coloured 1960’s style office block, and not the modern building that it is. The surrounding area receives the same bland treatment. At least the Rockies in the background are nice?
Yale Law School:
Airport- KHVN Tweed – New Haven
Yale Law School, much like its storied Ivy League cousin Harvard, is beautifully rendered in Flight Simulator, and the historic law building is captured in most-all of its glory. Again, there does seem to be an issue with aggressive tree coverage, however it does not take away from the breathtaking scene we find here in New Haven, Connecticut.
Faculty of Law, University of Oxford:
Airport – EGTK Kidlington, Oxford
Unfortunately, our only non-North American law school wasn’t as accurately rendered by Flight Simulator as its counterparts. This was to be expected, as Microsoft has much poorer satellite data in Europe than in North America, for whatever reason – but still sad to see. Nonetheless, Flight Simulator does accurately capture the general layout of the Oxford Faculty of Law buildings, including Linarce College, which is nice to see.
Osgoode Hall Law School:
Airport – CYYZ Toronto Pearson International
Last, but certainly not least, is our very own Osgoode Hall Law School. While Flight Simulator doesn’t get everything exactly perfect, it does certainly give an impressive rendering of our law school campus. It is nice to see the Assiniboine and Passy residence buildings mostly accurately portrayed (despite their new pastel colours), and Pond Road is as familiar as it is in person. Heck, we can even spot our old Obiter office from the sky! We miss you Osgoode!
