The skyscraper is perhaps the most recognizable icon of the modern urban landscape. Providing offices, homes, restaurants, and shopping to thousands of inhabitants, modern skyscrapers function as small cities- with infrastructure not unlike that hidden beneath our streets. At the time of year when your looking for a book on all things urban then The Heights by Kate Ascher, author of The Works: Anatomy of a City provides a great graphic tour through the inner workings of skyscrapers.
Exploring the interconnected systems that make life liveable in the sky Kate provides a unique illustrated view of the development, operation, safety and history of the skyscraper. Just how do skyscrapers sway in the wind, and why exactly is that a good idea? How can a modern elevator be as fast as an airplane? Why are skyscrapers in Asia safer than those in the United States and onwards….
Along the way, The Heights introduces the reader to every type of person involved in designing, building, and maintaining a skyscraper: the designers who calculate how weight and weather will affect their structures, the workers who dig the foundations and raise the lightning rods, the crews who clean the windows and maintain the air ducts, and the firefighters-whose special equipment allows blazes to be fought at unprecedented heights.
More than a technical survey, Ascher’s work is an ode to the most monumental aspect of modern civilization. Full of illustrations and anecdotes, The Heights is a good art style guide for anyone interested in high rises…
Core to GEMMA (our Geographical Engine for Mass Mapping Applications) is the OpenStreetMap feature highlighter. The feature highlighter allows users to search for any term and have it mapped with via points or original OpenStreetMap feature.
Ollie at CASA has used the feature to map the occurrences of the “High Street” road name – and a few regional variations, namely Main Street, Front Street, Market Street, Fore Street and The Street. Using GEMMA, and the high level of completion of OpenStreetMap in the UK and Ireland, allows us to visually show the spatial patterns of such street names:
As Ollie states, it turns out that Main Street is popular in the Midlands and in Scotland and Ireland, and Front Street is popular in the North-East of England (around Newcastle) while High Street is used nearly everywhere in the UK – but only sparingly in Ireland. Market Street is popular in the Manchester and Devon areas. Fore Street is popular in Cornwall and The Street very popular in Essex and Kent.
GEMMA is in early beta, aimed at allowing anyone to create a map via its online interface and iPhone app, you can find out more and try it out via the GEMMA blog. We also provide a unique map url shortener, so you can share your maps with ease – the map above can be viewed live at http://gemma.casa.ucl.ac.uk/apps/canvas/?m=7tj
Thanks go to Ollie over at http://oliverobrien.co.uk/ for creating the map, let us know if you create a GEMMA map….
Core to GEMMA (our Geographical Engine for Mass Mapping Applications) is the OpenStreetMap feature highlighter. The feature highlighter allows users to search for any term and have it mapped with via points or original OpenStreetMap feature.
Ollie at CASA has used the feature to map the occurrences of the “High Street” road name – and a few regional variations, namely Main Street, Front Street, Market Street, Fore Street and The Street. Using GEMMA, and the high level of completion of OpenStreetMap in the UK and Ireland, allows us to visually show the spatial patterns of such street names:
As Ollie states, it turns out that Main Street is popular in the Midlands and in Scotland and Ireland, and Front Street is popular in the North-East of England (around Newcastle) while High Street is used nearly everywhere in the UK – but only sparingly in Ireland. Market Street is popular in the Manchester and Devon areas. Fore Street is popular in Cornwall and The Street very popular in Essex and Kent.
GEMMA is in early beta, aimed at allowing anyone to create a map via its online interface and iPhone app, you can find out more and try it out via the GEMMA blog. We also provide a unique map url shortener, so you can share your maps with ease – the map above can be viewed live at http://gemma.casa.ucl.ac.uk/apps/canvas/?m=7tj
Thanks go to Ollie over at http://oliverobrien.co.uk/ for creating the map, let us know if you create a GEMMA map….