Point Breeze, Philadelphia in 1935

This is an interesting look at the Great Depression, and its impact on the Railroad industry, Philadelphia, and the environment.  Anyone who has ever driven down route 291 to the Philadelphia Airport knows of the vast oil refineries, and the horrible smell that is associated.  It’s interesting to see just how many railroad cars sat there waiting to be used.

Point Breeze, 1935 « THE NECESSITY FOR RUINS. (via ruins.wordpress.com)

 

Boston T, in Pipe Cleaners!

Ok, so this has got to be the coolest thing I’ve ever seen made out Pipe Cleaners:

It’s the Boston T map!  I think they should hang these on the trains.  Please click through below for more information on this awesome creation:

Pipe cleaner subway map (via Cartogrammar)

 

Ocean Floor to be added to Google Earth

Google Earth Fills Its Watery Gaps (via nytimes.com)
Google Earth, Google Ocean: mysteries of the seafloor are mapped for the first time (via guardian.co.uk)

This is big news to all the Google Earth users out there!

Google Earth is a great tool for anyone who has any need for maps on land, and now, you can find maps of the ocean too. This is great for anyone looking at boating channels or looking to SCUBA dive somewhere. This isn’t a small undertaking either, considering roughly 2/3 of the earth is covered by ocean.

There is also some talk about incorporating global warming trends into Google Earth.  I could understand how some simulations of it could be very cool to watch.

Al Gore is going to be headlining the debut of this new software, so expect some talk about Global Warming.

And of all the songs named “Ocean”, this was the first that popped into my head.  So enjoy listening to this as you read the linked article.

Sebadoh – Ocean

In very related news, I am currently working on a program to convert ESRI shape files to GeoRSS and KML documents, which will open in Google Earth.  I already have the code working, and am working on the UI now, so if anyone out there wants to be a beta tester, please contact me.

 

The roads are still crumbling!

ASCE’s Report Card for America’s Infrastructure:

Aviation: D
Bridges: C
Dams;     D
Drinking Water:     D-
Energy:     D+
Hazardous Waste: D
Inland Waterways: D-
Levees:     D-
Public Parks & Recreation: C-
Rail:     C-
Roads:     D-
School:     D
Solid Waste: C+
Transit: D
Wastewater D-

If this were my college transcript, I would have lost all of my scholarships!

I wonder how the extra $3B added to the transit stimulus will address these issues.  I guess only time will tell.

• 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure Reveals a Grade of D (gisuser.com)
• Engineers Give U.S. Infrastructure A ‘D’ (wbbm780.com)
• Advocates: Stimulus shortchanges mass transit (philly.com)
• Sinkhole Swallows Philadelphia Water Dept Truck (shameless plug)

 

Manayunk 1890 and Today

It’s amazing how different it looks today…

Manayunk PRR Station
Photo by William Rau ca. 1890

The same area August 2008. The area on the platform on the right is where the volunteers worked on recently.

Manayunk Viaduct ca. 1890 By William Rau

(Copied from a post by Colin P. Varga on PhillyBlog {link} )