Hello, I know I'm a bit late to the party but here some tips for a future rework of the city of Gijon to improve the realism. and Tips for others zones of Asturias (Principado de Asturias).
Gijon is the 15th most populated city of Spain, 2th most populated on the Cantabric coast behind Bilbao and most populated than A Coruña.
I feel that currently in game Gijon have potential to be improved a lot with not much work, making it feel more realistic.
- First some mistakes in Gijon streets currently in game, and also some tips:
- Avenue “Principe de Asturias” I would talk about is the big avenue that goes from the highway to the Port Entrance.
(In game -69491.8;399.244;29295.3;2.33191;-1.3246)
(https://www.google.com/maps/place/Av.+d ... -5.6866023)
Currently in game the avenue is 2 lanes per direction in some places and 1 lane perdirection in others.
In Real life this avenue is 3 lanes per direction all the way, I know that maybe redo the avenue with 3 lanes per direction will cause problems with other places of the map and misaligments thats why I think that the avenue should be rebuild with at least 2 lanes per direction all the way from the highway to roundabout in the port entrance.
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Other things that can be improved are some missing exits or others wrongly done (Orange lines in the in game capture)( intersection between Principe de Asturias and avenue de los Campones (https://www.google.com/maps/place/43%C2 ... -5.6893439), and some missing traffic light for one of the missing exits(green stars)(https://www.google.com/maps/place/43%C2 ... -5.6822567).
And Also this avenue has a radar placed where the limit change from 80 to 50km/k(https://www.google.com/maps/place/43%C2 ... -5.6907484).
Edit: a better view of the mistakes in Avenue Principe de Asturias and Avenue de los Campones.
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As you can see in the image the red circle indicates that the Avenue Principe de Asturias has 3 lanes per direction IRL, in game has 2 lanes per direction except in this place that as only one per direction, so a good thing is to upgrade and making it full 2 lanes per direction(ideally 3 lanes per direction), the purple Star marks the position of a radar just in the place where the speed limit changes from 80km/h to 50km/h radar is set at 50km/h and only for traffic entering.
Black lines indicates the real exists to the left that pass under the avenue to incorporate to Avenue de los Campones, green indicates grass IRL, the orange circle indicates that avenue de los Campones has 2 lanes per direction that start were all the exits merge, but maybe in game if the avenue Principe the asturias remains only 2 per direction Avenue de los Campones could remain as 1 per direction.
This is the real intersection
Also if you model this whell there is a new fuel station for cars in the middle of this intersection and several buildings
- Intersection between Avenue de los Campones and Camino Melón (In game:-69836.7;73.1675;29578.2;0.720321;-0.451545)
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As you can see in the photo the red arrows mark the lanes of the intersection and only has one lane per direction as a one way lane, Avenue de los Campones in the orange circle has 2 lanes per direction (But if avenue principe de Asturias remains with only 2 lanes that can remain with one lane)
Also blue circle indicates the placement of an famous and important canned food manufacturer, Litoral(owned by Nestle España currently), if you want to add more industries to Gijón this can be one that can be added without adding more roads.
This is the real intersection
- Gijon Port Entrance, (In game -70624.3;23.3268;28866.4;-0.432494;-0.182339)(https://www.google.com/maps/place/43%C2 ... -5.6953156)
the current in game entrance control don't have the enter barriers. In real life this is one of the access controls to the port and has barriers, as you can see on google streetview.
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Also the sculture in the roundabout in real life is not placed inside de roundabout, is placed inside the triangle that the enter and exit lanes form.
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There are also another checkpoints currently missing in game on the way to the container terminal
- The area around the Iveco dealer is wrongly done,(In game:-70494;263.391;29722.5;-1.85581;-0.954628)
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As you can see in the photo the street that you model in front off the dealer don't exist in Real life you can't shortcut across that street(Red zebra) because is the street of the parking lot of a factory, and end in a wall, with other factory on the other side(pink zebra), to cross you must follow the lines marked in black crossing all the roundabouts.
Also the real Iveco dealer entrance is marked with the purple arrow, is a steep entrance IRL.
This dealer is a big one (Talleres Antuña) and have service IRL, currently in game you placed the Gijon service where a Rail Freight depot is placed IRL, so probably is better to change the service to the same place the dealer is, makes more sense and is reallistic.
(As suggestion the road in the orange circle ends in the intersection between Camino Melón and Avenue de los Campones, that maybe can be include in game as a shortcut, you can see that intersection in a previous photo)
Real life location
By the way the fuel station you modeled in construction in this area is finished and working since many years, is intended for cars
- The service and rest area(in game -70646.7;148.585;29476.5;-0.167136;-0.987206)(https://www.google.com/maps/place/43%C2 ... -5.7042815)
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[ external image ]- The place chosen for the service area in real life is a freight train station now mostly unused. (Red circle in the google maps capture)
I feel that is more accurate to include the service station in the Iveco dealer, because in real life is exactly in the same point as in game is, and is a big dealer and also has service, or put the service in other place that has a workshop IRL i think there are some on the Gijon part that is in game
- The rest area near the service, in real life is the test track for the practical test(Track test) for the driver licenses (Truck, Bus, Trailers and Motorcycles).(Blue circle in maps capture)
The track exams consist in do well diferent manoeuvres some of them with time limit and with trailer atached.
In my opinion this rest area should be in the big parking on the transport center(Green circle on maps capture) you already modeled the big parking in game(next to the APP depot), and in real life truckers use it as rest area, also this big logistic center has truck scale IRL(https://www.google.com/maps/place/43%C2 ... -5.7059896) and as you can see on the satellite images the lanes has directions marked that currently in game are not well represented. This area also have Scales were in game is the car parking left to the entrance.
- Finally as a curiosity the orange circle marks the place were all the vehicles must past their technical inspection (ITV) to be allowed to run on the roads.
- The place chosen for the service area in real life is a freight train station now mostly unused. (Red circle in the google maps capture)
- Sailship position, (in game:-70018.3;39.2047;28548.1;-2.37031;-0.235902)
[ external image ], This Ship is placed in an area where IRL there are not dock, this area is a rocky area with low deep that protect the shipyard from the waves, ships can't navegate in this area because they will strand. there is a small dredge canal for the ships to enter the ship yard, and also Ships that big only dock in the bigger port of Gijon "EL Musel", so I suggest eliminate that ship, smaller yatch or sailboats can be seen in the area but a bit farer from the rocks.Real life location
- Avenue “Principe de Asturias” I would talk about is the big avenue that goes from the highway to the Port Entrance.
- A compilation of train related mistakes in Gijon:
- In Game -70837.1;57.9644;29355.5;-0.904681;-0.256669 (https://www.google.com/maps/place/43%C2 ... -5.6985709)
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This is Calzada station, is the way for passenger trains to the end of the line in the Gijon main station.
The line should be electrified with the standard spanish catenary pole for standard lines, this seccion of track is used for all the Renfe passenger trains that enter/exit Gijon (Commuter/Long distance), the arrows show the direction of travel.
The tracks inside the pink circle are dead end tracks currently used to store the long distance trains(AVE, ALVIA and AVLO) on the night and on past times was used sporadically to load trains with wood (logs).
- In game -69948.7;45.6488;29256.1;-1.70526;-0.152947 (https://www.google.com/maps/place/43%C2 ... -5.6890112)
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This is the main line between La Calzada station and Gijon main station, is used only by Renfe passenger trains (Commuter/Long distance), currently in game the catenary poles are wrong placed on the middle of the tracks(tramway style poles) in the real life on this place the catenary poles are on the sides and are the standard line spanish catenary poles, the arrows show the direction of travel.
- In game -70610.1;46.8004;28980;0.339409;-0.152928 (https://www.google.com/maps/place/43%C2 ... -5.6964543)
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This is the main line entering the Port of Gijon-El Musel in real life after cross the bridge the track not electrified disapear, and remains only the electrified one till arrive to the port station, is electrified with the standard line spanish catenary poles, this tracks are only used by freight trains enter/exit Gijon.
- In Game -69550.7;76.2111;29692.1;-0.708966;-0.360347(https://www.google.com/maps/place/43%C2 ... -5.6821399)
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This is the enter/exit Gijon of the narrow gauge railway FEVE, the lines are also electrified with the standard spanish catenary poles.
You didn't include any spanish narrow gauge train model in game soo the best is to not put trains on this tracks.
- And for reference here is a picture of the real standard lines catenary pole, i think i see it modeled somewhere in the DLC already, and here more info in spanish about standard lines catenaries
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- In Game -70837.1;57.9644;29355.5;-0.904681;-0.256669 (https://www.google.com/maps/place/43%C2 ... -5.6985709)
- Big industries missing from Gijon.
- Arcelor, probably the biggest miss in Gijon, is the biggest integral steel mill in Spain, and was once one of the biggest in Europe if you count that the integral factory is composed of two steelmills that work as one, The Gijon plant and the Aviles plant that are conected by a private railway that transport the molten steel in torpedo wagons between the two plants.
Gijon plant is like a small city the plant has 2 big blast furnaces, one coke owen to produce the coke coal needed for the furnaces, a big steelmill that is currently being upgraded with a new electric furnace, and the production facilities of long products(Rails, wire rod, steel rod, steel profiles...) are also on Gijon.
Aviles plant have the Oxygen converters(Oxygen furnace) were they eliminate the impurities of the molten steel(the molten metal travel between factories on their private raywail) a steelmill and the production facilities for flat products(Steel coils, steel sheets...)
Arcelor is the biggest industry on Gijon on people working there and also on their footprint(space that ocupies) that why their absence in game is a big miss, you already modeled other big steelmills in game like the one on Duisburg and the one in Linz and while the depots are small their surroundings in game make you feel like you are in a big industry because you have to travel a bit inside the industry to arrive to the facility.
To include Arcelor in game you can model the new road that IRL conect Gijon AS-19 to Arcelor and the future industrial park ZALIA.
AS-19 new part needed, Road conecting AS-19 with Arcelor south entrance, route inside the factory from north entrance, route inside the factory from south entrance,all routes conect and form a big loop but google maps don't let me show the loop in one link here is the loop more or less, as you can see the route include the two main entrances to arcelor, the one on the south is just near DACERO Gijon(ACC in game), and the one on the north is Veriña is where the trucks transporting bulk(Ores, coal...) enter because is closer to the dump site and because they have scales on that entrance.
The part of AS-19 of that need to be included can also have the Veriña Repsol(Miralsol in game) service Station where many truckers fill up, also that section have a very industrial flavour to it because IRL the shoulders of the road are covered with redish tint because of the iron ore dust.
The part of road inside of the factory will help giving players the feeling that they are in a big letting them reach the long products loading facilities(where the depot should be)
The south exit is near Dacero(ACC) production facility i will probably keep it since they manufacturer other things IRL, like big steel structures, windmill towers, boiler parts, steel parts for the industry... maybe changing the prefab for another more fiting would be needed.
With the inclusion of this new road parts of the old road could be eliminated if needed to have more space and that could also help to solve the mistakes make near the Iveco dealer where the street layout is wrong.
In summary the inclusion of Arcelor will improve Gijon a lot.
- The new regasifier plant were they convert the LNG that the ships unload back to normal natural gas for their use, is a big facility that can be done extending the port road towards the sea.
Here is the example of the road thats needed to have it, Near the port control tower there is a port check point because the road is no longer a public road from that point up to the plant.
- Gijon port bulk ores terminal, Gijon port is one of the biggest in spain on bulk comodities(Coal, ores) now mainly because Arcelor uses it to recive their ores and coal in the past Asturias was a big exporter of coal and other ores.
It can be included in game if you extend the current road on the port north towards the sea.
Here is the example of the road thats needed to have it, Near the port control tower there is a port check point because the road is no longer a public road from that point up to the docks.(Same road as the regasifier)
It recieves mainly coal, Iron ore, and other ores that arcelor needs for their production, the port also have another bulk facilities to load unload cement products(or the ores needed to make it), and grain terminals, but are a bit spaced around the port and probably the most interesting visually is the ore terminal because of the redish and black colours because of the dust.
- Arcelor, probably the biggest miss in Gijon, is the biggest integral steel mill in Spain, and was once one of the biggest in Europe if you count that the integral factory is composed of two steelmills that work as one, The Gijon plant and the Aviles plant that are conected by a private railway that transport the molten steel in torpedo wagons between the two plants.
- More options to add new small industries to Gijon without needing to add new roads, because their locations and roads are already modeled in game.
- Litoral:Well known and important Spanish food manufacturer(canned food) owned by Nestle, their location was marked in the photo of the intersection Avenue de los Campones with Camino Melón. (In game position:-69836.7;73.1675;29578.2;0.720321;-0.451545 )[ external image ]
Real life location, probably is better to have more heavy industries that are more representative of Gijon IRL.
- Gijon IRL Marina location marked in this photo[ external image ] (in game location:-70452.2;45.3492;28360.5;-2.42026;-0.381535) Real life location
Redbars marks another the control of access to other port facilities like the Grain storage or the old ferry dock (GIjon-Nantes) and IRL there is also entrance to the container port here too, the marina entrance is a parallel road without checkpoints
- Galp fuel storage facilities in Gijon port marked in this photo [ external image ] (in game position:-70478.3;26.3806;28582.5;2.03282;-0.313342)Real life location
- Nippon Gases, manufacturer of professional gasses(Not used as fuel), used in some industries like for example metallurgic industry for welding, semiconductor industries for lasers, medical industrie for patient care...(in game position:-70366;76.1271;30771.6;-1.95949;-0.620518)
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Real life location
- More logistics companies in the transports center where APP is located, which is where IRL most logistics companies are located in Gijón(in game location:-70841.3;201.188;29498.9;-2.44904;-0.883669) is the transport center of Gijon, is also a good place to have a rest area because in real life is the rest area where many truckers sleep in Gijon because is protected and many local drivers park their trucks until the next day for the same reason, green circle marks rest area parking, it also has a scale placed in the yellow circle.
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Real life location
Probably if you opted for this option the best bet is to put for example a Transportes Caballeria in the place XPO is so you will have 2 logistic companies one in front of the other, using the space better because the other are placed in game on the outside of the transport center.
- Litoral:Well known and important Spanish food manufacturer(canned food) owned by Nestle, their location was marked in the photo of the intersection Avenue de los Campones with Camino Melón. (In game position:-69836.7;73.1675;29578.2;0.720321;-0.451545 )[ external image ]
- Other mistakes in Asturias (near Gijon area):
- The intersection of the A-66 with the A-8 near Gijon ("Y Serin" as people called in real life) is wrongly done.
In game -71493.4;374.039;31302.7;-0.576487;-0.637385(https://www.google.com/maps/place/43%C2 ... -5.7848203)
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Leon-Gijon, Gijon-Leon, Gijon-A Coruña, A Coruña-Leon should be direct link with a two lanes road.
A Coruña-Gijon should pass under Gijon-Leon, with a two lanes road.
Leon-A Coruña should pass under Gijon Leon and under A Coruña-Gijon, with a two lanes road.
- Viaduct of Llovones area is misplaced in game (A-8) (In game:-65912.7;60.0812;31228.6;1.06397;-0.259612)
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The whole area of the viaduct of Llovones is well done and is a bit recognizable, but is completly wrongly place, because in game is placed east the Mirasol service station(Colunga Service area IRL) and IRL should be west the service station.
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So I suggest to rework the area to make it right i've already done a bug report about this, but if you reworked the area I suggest you to change it for the a more scenic area of the A8, the area around area around San Antolin Beach, this area also have a big truck service station nearby and is much more scenic with a high viaduct, the San Antolin beach, cliffs, the ruins of an old Monastery and church almost under the viaduct, train tracks almost runing through the middle of the beach, and a nearby beach called "Gulpiyuri beach" that is in the middle of a field conected to the sea by a cave, and that looks like a lake when the high tide come.
There are lots of things that could made the area interesting to fit a viewpoint because all of this scenics things,( I real life there is a viewpoint on top of the beach on the old AS-379 road.)
This addition can facilitate also the of a small logging depot where Eucalyptus trees are harvested to be sold to the Paper Mill in Navia, IRL in this area there are a lot of Eucalyptus plantations to sold the wood to the Navia Paper Mill, they choose Eucalyptus because it grows fast, Eucalyptus is not originaly from here and have several problems like it desertify the earth but in Asturias that rains a lot that problem is not that important for the producers, that plant it because it grows fast and is more profitable than local species and see for example this areain this area there is a big plantation of Eucalyptus, you can see it from the A-8 and see how they harvest it (in 2012) and replanted again.
So this could also be a good area for the logging depot to collect logs to carry to Navia Paper Mill.
Also a small Cow/Milk farm could be nice to have in the area there are some in the area on AS-379, and can compliment other farms that could be placed near Navia.
So the solution i propose is to change the current modeled area between the east exit of Gijon tunel and the frontier Asturias-Cantabria with this two sections, that are more pintoresque and representatives of the region:
First sectionThis section could start on the east exit of the Gijon tunel, section passes a hill between Naves and Nueva the Llanes, on the area there is a long beach called San Antolin that you can see very well from the highway is a very nice view, also near San Antolin is the beach of Gulpiyuri which is a beach in the middle of a field, the sea access the beach from a tunnel on the rocks, there are a lot of cliffs near the beach and a parking spot with a view point also on AS-379 near San Antolin there are the ruins of and old monastery and church (San Antolin de Bedon), on the end of the section there is a service station that conect with the AS-379 via road LLN-11, if AS-379 is done a small milk farm and small logging depot can be added plantations of eucalyptus trees are common on the area for logging.
Second section this section contains the real border between Asturias and Cantabria, the restaurant on the Unquera highway exit is a supper common stop for long distand buses and charter buses, is very famous because of a type pastrie that only made here in Unquera, is called Corbata, is like a tradition for everyone in Asturias to stop there to buy a box of those pastries if you pass by Unquera, so if this section is added the restaurant need to be at least a rest stop.
the section end were a viaduct starts and can be linked with one currently modeled viaduct in Cantabria.
This to sections will improve the realism of the area a lot with much better landscapes and easing the transition between the regions with the real border in place.
- The intersection of the A-66 with the A-8 near Gijon ("Y Serin" as people called in real life) is wrongly done.
- Other suggestions for things in Asturias:
- Navia, there are a possibility for a future new company from Navia is home of a multinational dairy products brand Reny Picot(Position of Industrias lacteas Asturianas), they manufacturer milk related products and have a big factory, they could be an option for new industries in Navia.
Milk products are very tipical from Asturias(And all the cantabric coast) being the asturian dairy brands on the top 5 of biggests spanish dairy brands by revenue,(Reny Picot is the fourth overall by revenue, and the other one is Central Lechera Asturiana being first or second depending of the year, but you didn't have modeled in game where Central Lechera is located so probably adding Reny Picot in Navia is a better option.)
You can include Reny Picot adding the road NV-5 from the AS-25 you already have in game,(this route)( is the road that go to SCS Papper only need to be prolonged a bit, because other more direct routes probably will cause more problems and trucks also use NV-5 to go to Reny Picot in real life.)
If the Dairy industry is included and thinking on the posible Rigid trucks game play with multidrop near Navia there is an incompleted road that with low effort can be completed, the road is now like that.
Here is on Navia exit, marked in red N-634.
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Here is Novellana exit marked in orange N-632a
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As you can see the road only miss a bit of imaginary road that conect both from Santa Marina to Canero something like that
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One cow/milk farm can be placed on Canero, and Another one in Santa Marina, i drawed the loations on the picture, you can also include another one in Novellana like this one.
The inclusion of the farms and dairy industry will benefict rigids a lot in real life there are a lot of small farms that produce milk for the big dairy industries, having the road and 2 or 3 smaller farms will allow players to make the morning trips that go collecting the milk produced for the smaller farms to carry it to the big industry, IRL on this area mainly rigid trucks are used to pick up the milk from the farms and one truck pick up the milk of several farms on the same trip.
This also will include a big industry on that part of Spain and will add to the game the flavour of the rural north of Spain.
Also in Navia, there are a possibility for a future other new company, because in real life in Navia there are a Shipyard from the same company as the one in Gijon and the one in Vigo https://www.astillerosarmon.com/es/empr ... n-s-a.html
So if in the future you want to add a new company to Navia consider this. (https://www.google.com/maps/place/43%C2 ... -6.7230592).
If you plan to add the Navia bus station when coaches arrive the ship yard is a bit north of that,maybe then is a good time to added and change the Special transport route Gijon-Navia to be from Gijon ship yard to Navia Shipyard.This route is needed to access the ship yard
In real life the train line that pass through Navia is a narrow gauge one, and you didn't model any narrow gauge train in game, so probably is better to not having trains passing through the Navia in game tracks.
- Aviles you have the exit 399 Aviles Zona Portuaria in game so you can model towards the sea to include a remote depot of Gijon here in Aviles wich is also big on Industry.
The ACC in Gijon is placed where Dacero Gijon is placed in real life just on the entrance of the Arcelor Mittal Steel factory is located (Is a big Steel mill one of the largest of the EU and has two big blast furnaces, and they are finishing the construcction of a big electric furnace ), the Gijon plant and the Aviles plant work together as a one(Tecnically are part of the same productive process), They have a private railway that link the two facilities and both work in conguction (atleast in the past they were the largest integral steelmill of the EU), in Gijon there are the 2 blast furnaces(In the future also a electric owen on the steel mill), the Coke coal batteries, and they product the long products(rails, steel rods, wire rod, profiles...)
In Aviles they have the Oxigen converters to eliminate the impurities of the steel while it was liquid(they transport the liquid steel on trains between factories on torpedo wagons) and also in Aviles they produce the flat products(Coils, sheets...)
You already have the Aviles exit modeled (399 Aviles Zona Porturia) so you can add the Aviles plant where they manufacture the flat products (Coils and sheets) as a remote depot of Gijon.
There are also other big industries in Aviles that can be reach from the same exit but they are in the port area a bit more far of the actual in game modeled.(towards the sea in game)
A big Zink manufacturer(Asturiana the Zink)
A big Aluminium Manufacturer(Endasa)
A big Glass manufacturer(Saint Gobain - they made car glass)
A big manufacturer towers for aerogenerators, they have also a loading dock on the port for that (Windar)
I think this is all, I know i'm too late but maybe this will help in the future if you need to improve some places in Iberia.
Greetings from Spain and keep it improving the game, If you need help i will be here
Pd:Sorry for my bad English - Navia, there are a possibility for a future new company from Navia is home of a multinational dairy products brand Reny Picot(Position of Industrias lacteas Asturianas), they manufacturer milk related products and have a big factory, they could be an option for new industries in Navia.
