A local miner’s oversized signature has turned up in Microsoft Flight Simulator—and it doesn’t get much more Coober Pedy than that.

There are a few unwritten rules on the Coober Pedy opal fields. Among them: don’t ask too many questions about another miner’s claim, and don’t go telling everyone where it is.

Writing your name across the landscape in letters visible from an aircraft does introduce a slight complication.

Local miner Mick, known around town as “Mohawk Mick”, used heavy machinery some time ago to carve “Mick” into the ground on his claim. It was a distinctly local approach to signing one’s work, and large enough to be spotted from the air.

Now, it turns out, you don’t even need a plane.

During a recent evening playing Microsoft Flight Simulator on Xbox, the writer’s children were flying over familiar Coober Pedy terrain when a familiar name appeared below.

There, written across the virtual landscape, was “Mick”.

A screenshot captured the discovery: a little piece of local character finding its way into a simulator played around the world.

Microsoft Flight Simulator uses real-world satellite and aerial imagery as part of the technology that recreates the planet. That helps explain how an earthmoving exercise on the opal fields can end up becoming scenery on a television screen.

In Mick’s case, the result is an unlikely meeting of heavy machinery and high technology.

Some people leave their digital footprint by building a website. Mick appears to have taken the more direct approach of moving the ground until the digital world caught up.

For a bloke who generally prefers to keep a low profile, it is a rather impressive signature.

We’ll respect local custom and leave out the directions. Those who know the country will probably recognise it. Everyone else can simply appreciate that, among the airports, cities and famous landmarks recreated in a global flight simulator, there is also a patch of Coober Pedy bearing a miner’s name.

Coober Pedy has always been a place where people make their own mark.

Mick’s just happens to be big enough for Microsoft to pick up.