Private Land Geography Research

Second Life Geography

NOTE: THIS ARTICLE IS IN PROGRESS. PLEASE WAIT TO BE FINISHED. ESTIMATED FINISH TIME: SEPTEMBER 1ST 2014. IN THE END, RESULTS WILL BE SHOWN IN PERCENTS

Private-owned sims are the vast majority of land on the grid. They show a high diversity in Geographic features: land features, ground texture, vegetation and buildings. In many cases, they also have a complex system of skyboxes. But, a classification of these land features is possible and it shows in fact what are the aspirations of the people behind the scene.

Private sims are found in the following places:

Private Subcontinents (attached to Sansara and Nautilus continents)
Private Continents (smaller then the Linden-owned ones)
Private Microcontinents (the vast majority)
Private Sim Clusters (the vast majority)
Private Sim Groups (almost all of them)
Unassociated Sims (100% of them)
Isolated Sims (all of them).

The following listings are the data collected by Second Life Geography team by visiting private-owned sims.

Geographic features

Land fragmentation

Undivided: 42.2%
Divided by mountains: 5.1%
Divided by objects: 4.4%
Divided by parcel lines: 13.3%
Divided by roads: 4.0%
Divided by water: 14.6%
Unknown: 16.5%

Geographic type

Artificial & skyboxes: 5.1%
Hills: 11.5%
Mountains: 13.2%
Plain: 22.8%
Plateaus: 9.2%
Tropical beach paradise: 18.0%
Water: 3.8%
Unknown: 16.4%

Transportation

Air: 0.5
Inside buildings: 4.8
None: 23.9
Paths: 6.8
Railways: 0.8
Roads: 7.1
Water: 6.3
Unknown: 10.7

Water presence

No water: 19.6%
<40% water: 41.0%
~50% water: 13.9%
>60* water: 9.4%
Complete flooded: 1.3%
Unknown: 14.7%

Ground texture

Covered ground: 4.9%
Designed special: 0.8%
Empty ground: 4.0%
Grass: 49.8%
Sand: 23.9%
White: 0.6%
Unknown: 15.9%

Vegetation

Colored plants: 3.9%
Dead plants & desert: 0.3%
Forest: 12.0%
None: 19.7%
Parks: 2.4%
Small plants: 3.4%
Temperate, not forest: 15.4%
Tropical: 23.3%
Water submerged plants: 0.8%
Unknown: 18.8%

Building style

Advertise (large): 5.3%
Advertise (small): 5.2%
Antiquity: 1.0%
Beach style: 15.5%
Exposition: 1.0%
Fantasy: 1.9%
Far East & East: 1.5%
Industrial: 0.5%
Later then medieval: 2.4%
Medieval: 5.0%
Modern: 7.8%
None: 6.8%
Not quite buildings: 1.8%
Ruins: 0.6%
Rural: 4.9%
Rustic: 7.9%
Sci-fi: 1.8%
Suburbs: 7.4%
Under water: 0.2%
Urban: 3.6%
Unknown: 18.0%

Land destination

Club/party: 2.7
Commercial, not shops: 2.1
For sale, rent: 5.7
Institution: 1.4
Not used: 1.3
Private sandbox: 0.2
Recreation: 12.8
Residential: 15.8
Roleplay: 3.9
Shops: 4.8
Unknown: 10.9

Access restrictions

None found: 67.0%
Themed outfit: 1.8%
Ban lines: 9.4%
Entity orbs: 4.5%
Skybox limited: 3.4%
No access: 13.9%