[Novalug] Google, DC & the Inauguration

[Bonnie Dalzell]

On Tue, 20 Jan 2009, John Franklin wrote:

JF >So, I was watching the coverage of the inauguration and they had a shot from
JF >the top of the Capitol looking down to the Washington Monument.  I knew
JF >(pretty sure) the road on the right was Pennsylvania, couldn't think of what
JF >the road on the left was named.
JF >
JF >Google to the rescue!

if you are looking straight down the mall from the top of the capital to 
the washington monument there are 4 parallel roads. the ones that are 
inside the museums are minor mall roads. the two large avenues that run 
parallel east and west of the museums are on your right (west) 
Constitution Ave and on the left (east) Independence Ave.

Mostly the state named avenues run diagonally PA runs south west from 
the capital. so when they showed a shot back towards the capital where 
you saw the building on a diagonal - that was a shot along PA Avenue.

DC has the property of having the streets laid out on a rectangular grid 
with the numbered streets running north south and the lettered streets 
running east west and the streets named after states running on a 
diagonal. This means the average block in DC has 5 sides - leading to 
people (tourists and new residents) getting lost easily when they try to 
"go around the block" and only turn 4 corners. :-)

DC also has a large number of circles including dupont circle which has 
(had?) one of the most amusing traffic signs I have ever seen. when I was 
livign in DC we called it the "octopus crossing" sign. Similar to the 
curvy arrow "snake crossing" signs one sees on twisty country roads.



JF >
JF >Yup, Pennsylvania on the right, 1st Street in front.  Maryland Ave is the
JF >one on the left.
JF >
JF >Then it struck me.   Detail visible on the Capitol.  No digital obfuscation.
JF >
JF >Scroll, scroll, scroll to the White House.
JF >
JF >Huh.  It's not a flat color.  You can make out HVAC units on the roof.  And
JF >the Oval Office is not just visible, but labeled.
JF >
JF >When did that happen?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                       Bonnie Dalzell, MA
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