Overview
You can identify what is inside most buildings by looking at what objects are on the roof. I posted this on the forums but figured I’d put it here if anyone else finds it useful.
Building Types (and what’s inside)
What is on the roof of the building you can see from the air tells you whats inside.
Note: The design slightly varies from race-to-race but the object type remains the same (dish, tower, etc)
Nothing on top = Empty or normal NPC, sometimes ruined research facility if combined with a second building
Radar dish = observatory, points to ruins
Transmitter tower = distress beacons, points to crashed ships
This thing = Languages, gives multiple words
1 or 2 vats, not grouped together = Ruined research facility, gives normal mod BPs, often a part of 1 or 2 other buildings
4 vats = Manufacturing facility, gives meta crafting blueprints (This one varies the most but always looks most different from the rest. The door will always need destroyed on these and an alarm bypassed.)
4 vats = Manufacturing facility (just another example of a different races look)
Landing pads = of course, trading post or outpost
Bonus tip for reading the whole thing: While sprinting forward with Shift on flat or decilned terrain, hit Q and then press and hold Space while still sprinting forward. If you time it right you can fly really fast and go a lot farther than simply running.