We're starting to think the people at British Geological Survey just want an excuse to play Minecraft.
The Natural Environment Research Council agency claims to maintain and develop Britain's understanding of its geology. It made headlines last year after helping recreate all of Great Britain in Minecraft, a sandbox indie game that first released in 2009. Microsoft later bought it, and now Minecraft has more than 33 million players.
The BGS' first world map featured more than 224,000sq km (86,000sq miles) of Great Britain, but amazinginly, it only took two weeks to construct using Open Data terrain tech. BGS apparently went straight back to the drawing board - or should we say gaming - after that and has now created 3D geological models of three sites in Britain.
In the new world maps by BGS, you see how Britian's geology rises and falls, overlaps, and folds at different depths. More specifically, you'll see a digital representation of the rocks beneath north London, the soils deposited by ancient glaciers in York, and how the ground is dissected by faults beneath the slopes of Ingleborough.
Like all the world maps in Minecraft, these three new maps use a variety of coloured blocks to show different surfaces and compositions, but the translucency of some of the blocks actually lets you to see through all the geological units, thus giving you a better understanding Britain's geology.
After all, BGS said it's all about improving your understanding of Britain's geology. So, if you're interested in any of that, or just want new world maps to explore in Minecraft, you can download the new maps from here.
The BGS plans to release more world maps in the coming weeks.