work out size of town

[Tankbuster 1747]

I've done something similar, I think. This function takes a position  and a boolean (true to ignore military/windmills/powerlines/pier/dockside etc) and returns a radius that describes the perimeter of the town.

fnc_getcitylimits =
// finds citylimits for the position given
// if 2nd param is true, script will concentrate more on actual houses
// returns the radius of the city limits and the house count within that
	{
	private ["_locpos","_countonlyhouses","_oldringshousecount","_rads","_houses","_dummyhouses","_ringhousecount","_allhousecount", "_finalhousecount", "_myradius", "_rings", "_foundhouses", "_myhouse", "_excludedbuildings", "_exitit", "_previousringhousecount", "_excludedcount",  "_previousringhousecount", "_excludedcount"];
	params ["_locpos", "_countonlyhouses"];
	_locpos set [2,0];
	_ringhousecount = 0;_oldringshousecount = 0;_previousringhousecount = 0;_rads = 300;_finalhousecount = 0; _excludedcount = 0;
	_excludedbuildings = ["Land_TTowerSmall_1_F", "Land_Dome_Big_F", "Cargo_Patrol_base_F", "Cargo_House_base_F", "Cargo_Tower_base_F", "Cargo_HQ_base_F","Piers_base_F", "PowerLines_base_F", "PowerLines_Wires_base_F", "PowerLines_Small_base_F", "Land_PowerPoleWooden_L_F",  /*"Lamps_base_F",*/ "Land_Research_HQ_F", "Land_Research_house_V1_F", "Land_MilOffices_V1_F", "Land_TBox_F", "Land_Chapel_V1_F","Land_Chapel_Small_V2_F",  "Land_Chapel_Small_V1_F", "Land_BellTower_01_V1_F", "Land_BellTower_02_V1_F", "Land_fs_roof_F","Land_fs_feed_F", "Land_Windmill01_ruins_F", "Land_d_Windmill01_F", "Land_i_Windmill01_F","Land_i_Barracks_V2_F", "Land_spp_Transformer_F", "Land_dp_smallFactory_F", "Land_Shed_Big_F", "Land_Metal_Shed_F","Land_i_Shed_Ind_F","Land_Communication_anchor_F", "Land_TTowerSmall_2_F", "Land_Communication_F","Land_cmp_Shed_F", "Land_cmp_Tower_F", "Land_u_Shed_Ind_F", "Land_TBox_F"];
	for "_myradius" from 75 to 450 step 75 do
		{
		_houses = []; _excludedcount = 0;
		_dummyhouses = (_locpos nearObjects ["House_F", _myradius]);
			{
			if (_countonlyhouses) then
				{
				_myhouse = _x;_exitit = false;
					{

					if (_myhouse isKindOf _x) exitWith {_exitit = true};
					} foreach _excludedbuildings;
				if (_exitit) then {/*diag_log format ["%1 excluded because is %2", typeof _myhouse, _x];*/ _excludedcount = _excludedcount +1;} else {_houses pushBack _myhouse;};

				} else {_houses = _dummyhouses};
			} foreach _dummyhouses;

		_allhousecount = (count _houses);
		_ringhousecount = _allhousecount - _oldringshousecount;
		//diag_log format ["houses count = %1 at ring %2 meters", _ringhousecount, _myradius];
		if ((_ringhousecount < _previousringhousecount) and (_myradius > 99)) exitWith {_rads = _myradius; _finalhousecount = _ringhousecount; };
		_oldringshousecount = _oldringshousecount +  _ringhousecount;
		_previousringhousecount = _ringhousecount;
		};
	[_rads, _finalhousecount]
	};

Here's demonstration mission that shows the function in action, plus a further script to attempt to relocate the town centre to a better position.

 

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198023888634/myworkshopfiles/?appid=107410