The Daily Render by Nikolas R. Schiller

Screen Grab from Curbed LA

It looks like my ‘oil slick’ overlay of downtown Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Interchange Series are getting some exposure.

Some day I’d like to have the entire series printed and hung in Los Angeles and maybe include a gilded bicycle [ha!]. I wonder why there isn’t a Curbed DC yet?

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1/6/2008 || 2:09 pm
Oil Wells in Los Angeles 103 years ago [One Slick Overlay]

Links to 2.5mb KMZ file for Google Earth
Were the fingerprints dipped in oil too?

The other day I was hunting for maps of Baltimore and stumbled on to the map above (published in Baltimore). It was last prominently featured in the Library of Congress’ “Los Angeles Mapped” on-line exhibition. The map shows downtown Los Angeles with little black dots showing the locations of all the oil wells that existed in 1905.

I wonder how many of the old oil derricks still exist today? I also wonder if people living where the oil wells were constructed own the mineral rights for their property? A few years back I remember looking into purchasing cheap land in Wyoming and one of the stipulations on the land was that the owner would not own the mineral rights below the surface of the earth. Does this exist in present day Los Angeles? Could someone living in Los Angeles today dig a little deeper and find a new source of oil in their backyard?

For more information visit the Library of Congress website. Below is a secondary screen grab showing the area around Dodgers Stadium. It should be noted that the overlay does line up 100% on Google Earth, but close enough to show a change in the built environment.
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11/15/2007 || 9:41 pm
2008 California Calendar

April 2008_____

As of January 1st, the calendar is no longer available for sale on-line. A big thank you to those who purchased copies!

A viewable copy of the calendar is in the permanent holdings of the Map and Imagery Laboratory at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Washington Highlands Quilt

9/15/2007 || 4:09 pm
Los Alamitos Circle Quilt #3

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

Using this portion of the Los Alamitos Quilt #2, I created a derivative tessellation to create this map.

View the Google Map Los Alamitos Circle in Long Beach, California.

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: The DC Colonist is in a Scripts Howard wire report

9/12/2007 || 4:03 pm
Los Alamitos Circle Quilt #2

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

Using this portion of the Los Alamitos Quilt, I created a derivative tessellation to create this map.

View the Google Map Los Alamitos Circle in Long Beach, California.

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: North, South, East, Westminster

9/11/2007 || 3:42 pm
Los Alamitos Circle Quilt

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

From the Wikipedia entry:

The Los Alamitos Traffic Circle, informally known as the Long Beach Traffic Circle (or just the Traffic Circle, since there are no other high volume traffic circles in Southern California), is a roundabout at the intersection of Lakewood Boulevard (former California State Route 19), Pacific Coast Highway (California State Route 1/former US Highway 101 Alternate) and Los Coyotes Diagonal in Long Beach, California.

In the coming weeks, I am going to go through my maps and tag all the maps that feature traffic circles. I’ve made quite a few now. I would like to find more traffic circles in the Los Angeles area that are similar to the Los Alamitos Circle. Please contact me if you know of any.

View the Google Map Los Alamitos Circle in Long Beach, California.

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9/4/2007 || 5:39 pm
10 & 710 Quilt

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

Click here to read more about the series “Los Angeles Interchanges”

View the Google Map of the intersection of I-10 & I-110 in Los Angeles.

View the Google Map of the Los Angeles Interchanges Series

View the rest of the details:
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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Central Park Quilt - North

8/30/2007 || 9:07 am
5 & 605 Quilt

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

Click here to read more about the series “Los Angeles Interchanges”

View the Google Map of the intersection of 5 & 605 in Los Angeles.

View the Google Map of the Los Angeles Interchanges Series

: zoom out from center :

View the rest of the details:
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8/29/2007 || 9:11 am
60 & 710 Quilt

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

Click here to read more about the series “Los Angeles Interchanges”

View the Google Map of the intersection of 60 & 710 in Los Angeles.

View the Google Map of the Los Angeles Interchanges Series

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8/28/2007 || 9:29 am
105 & 605 Quilt

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

Click here to read more about the series “Los Angeles Interchanges”

View the Google Map of the intersection of 105 & 605 in Los Angeles.

View the Google Map of the Los Angeles Interchanges Series

View Details:
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8/27/2007 || 12:26 pm
91 & 605 Quilt

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

Click here to read more about the series “Los Angeles Interchanges”

View the Google Map of the intersection of 91 & 605 in Los Angeles.

View the Google Map of the Los Angeles Interchanges Series

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: University of South Florida Quilt with Clouds

8/26/2007 || 12:38 pm
91 & 710 Quilt

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

Click here to read more about the series “Los Angeles Interchanges”

View the Google Map of the intersection of I-91 & I-710 in Los Angeles.

View the Google Map of the Los Angeles Interchanges Series

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Render A Comment || || Posted One Year Ago: University of South Florida Quilt

8/24/2007 || 8:36 pm
91 & 110 Quilt

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

Click here to read more about the series “Los Angeles Interchanges”

View the Google Map of the intersection of I-91 & I-110 in Los Angeles.

View the Google Map of the Los Angeles Interchanges Series

View Details:
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8/23/2007 || 9:34 am
110 & 405 Quilt

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

Click here to read more about the series “Los Angeles Interchanges”

View the Google Map of the intersection of I-110 & I-405 in Los Angeles.

View the Google Map of the Los Angeles Interchanges Series

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: An Interchange in Omaha

8/22/2007 || 9:20 am
Embedded Google Maps

View Larger Map of the Los Angeles Interchanges Series

Ever since Google Maps became available and I created my first mash-up, I’ve been trying to get the maps to display properly in my blog. It’s currently why the two mash-ups of America & DC sit outside the confines of this Wordpress blog. But not anymore! As you can see above, I can easily add Google Maps anywhere on my blog! In the near future I am probably going to redo these two mash-ups and port them back into the confines of this blog. I know it’s going to take awhile to do this task, and I am not looking forward to it.

==UPDATE==
There is one critical flaw in the Embedded Google Maps I’ve noticed so far. And it’s kinda problematic…. When clicking on the images within the information window, instead of loading a new webpage, they load within the area that map was embedded. Thus the links to their respective blog entries are pretty much useless…. hmmm…

==UPDATE==
It’s been fixed

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8/21/2007 || 1:21 pm
710 & 105 Quilt

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

Click here to read more about the series “Los Angeles Interchanges”

View the Google Map of the intersection of I-710 & I-105 in Los Angeles.

View the Google Map of the Los Angeles Interchanges Series

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Render A Comment || || Posted One Year Ago: 8 Wards on the Wall

8/19/2007 || 1:07 pm
105 & 110 Quilt

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

Click here to read more about the series “Los Angeles Interchanges”

View the Google Map of the intersection of I-105 & I-110 in Los Angeles.

View the Google Map of the Los Angeles Interchanges Series

View Details:
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Render A Comment || || Posted One Year Ago: Video Player, Animation Player

8/18/2007 || 9:15 am
101 & 110 Quilt

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The 101 & 110 interchange is popularly known as the Four Level Interchange and officially known as the Bill Keene Memorial Interchange, named after the KNXT traffic / weather reporter.

Click here to read more about the series “Los Angeles Interchanges”

View the Google Map of the intersection of I-101 & I-110 in Los Angeles.

View the Google Map of the Los Angeles Interchanges Series

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Portsmouth Quilt #3

8/17/2007 || 1:32 pm
5, 10, 60, & 101 Quilt

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

Yesterday’s 5 & 10 Quilt is the northern part of the East Los Angeles Interchange complex and this map is the southern half. I had quite a bit a of trouble trying to properly name this map because I couldn’t really figure out which interchange was which! So instead of selectively naming only a couple of the highways, I decided to name this map using ALL of the highways.

According to the Wikipedia entry:

* Interstate 5 enters the complex from the south as the Santa Ana Freeway, but exits to the north as the Golden State Freeway. The Santa Ana Freeway continues west as U.S. 101 to the Four Level Interchange (Bill Keene Memorial Interchange) in downtown Los Angeles.

* Interstate 10 is not contiguous through the interchange. Heading west into the complex on the San Bernardino Freeway (I-10), the primary road (or trunk) heads to U.S. 101. In order to follow the I-10 alignment, one must exit the trunk road and follow a connector that merges with the alignment of southbound I-5, then exit that trunk and follow another connector to the Santa Monica Freeway (I-10); note also the change in the freeway’s name.

* Heading west into the complex on the Pomona Freeway (CA/SR-60), the primary road (or trunk) heads into the Santa Monica Freeway (I-10).

Up next will be the Four Level Interchange.

Click here to read more about the series “Los Angeles Interchanges”

View the Google Map of the intersection of 5, 10, 60, & 101 in Los Angeles.

View the Google Map of the Los Angeles Interchanges Series

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8/16/2007 || 3:13 pm
5 & 10 Quilt

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This interchange is apart of the East Los Angeles Interchange complex, which is one of the busiest freeway interchanges in the world. I am going to make a few more maps of this interchange in the coming days.

Click here to read more about the series “Los Angeles Interchanges”

View the Google Map of the intersection of I-5 & I-10 in Los Angeles.

View the Google Map of the Los Angeles Interchanges Series

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Portsmouth Quilt #2

8/15/2007 || 2:27 pm
Interchangable Earth

Click the image below to download the .kmz file [7.8 mb] for Google Earth:

Using the center of i-710 & i-405 Quilt, which is in the Los Angeles Interchanges series, I constructed this beautiful globe.

Continue reading:
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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Portsmouth Quilt

8/1/2007 || 9:13 am
10 & 110 Quilt

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

Click here to read more about the series “Los Angeles Interchanges”

View the Google Map of the intersection of I-10 & I-110 in Los Angeles.

View the Google Map of the Los Angeles Interchanges Series

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Gimmicky Green Party Google Maps

7/24/2007 || 10:09 am
710 & 405 Quilt

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

Click here to read more about the series “Los Angeles Interchanges”

View the Google Map of the intersection of I-105 & I-405 in Los Angeles.

View the Google Map of the Los Angeles Interchanges Series

View Details:
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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Howard University Quilt #2

7/21/2007 || 9:42 am
105 & 405 Quilt

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

Click here to read more about the series “Los Angeles Interchanges”

View the Google Map of the intersection of I-105 & I-405 in Los Angeles.

View the Google Map of the Los Angeles Interchanges Series

View Details:
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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: American University Quilt

7/20/2007 || 9:50 am
90 & 405 Quilt

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

Click here to read more about the series “Los Angeles Interchanges”

View the Google Map of the intersection of I-90 & I-405 in Los Angeles.

View the Google Map of the Los Angeles Interchanges Series

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: my internets are down

7/19/2007 || 2:22 pm
10 & 405 Quilt

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A few months ago I conceived this series titled’ “LA Interchanges.” The plan was to make maps of the highway interchanges throughout Los Angeles, California. I’ve made maps using highway interchanges before (MacArthur Maze Quilt and Omaha Intersection) so this concept is not necessarily new, but the idea of having a series dedicated to one geographic region with a focus on one aspect of the built environment is what makes this series interesting to me. Ultimately I’ll make a special Google Map Mashup for this series, but it’s still got a long way to go- there are a lot of interchanges. The plan is to slowly go North to South looking for interesting interchanges.

When obtaining the imagery for this project I discovered that the USGS has removed the 2004 imagery of Los Angeles! This means that I cannot make comparison maps like I did with Dodgers Stadium - 2004 - 2006. Moreover, I think the quality of the 2006 imagery is poor. It’s bleached out and fuzzy looking at the full resolution. After reading the meta-data I know why- its from scanned photographs taken in 2002! So it’s not really new imagery after all, but reprocessed old imagery.

View the Google Map of the intersection of I-10 & I-405 in Los Angeles.

View the Google Map of the Los Angeles Interchanges Series

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: San Juan Quilt #2

5/9/2007 || 11:41 am
Dodgers Stadium Quilt - 2006

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After reading over the meta-data from both the 2004 & 2006 datasets of the Los Angeles orthoimagery, I discovered that the 2006 imagery is scanned from printed photographs taken in 2001! That is, the photography was taken 2001 by the USGS, printed out, then scanned (at 1700 DPI) & processed in 2006 by AirPhotoUSA, and then released into the public domain. I could be wrong, but that is my analysis of the meta-data. I assume this was done because the inferior quality of the 2004 imagery in regards to the shadows. Lastly, when looking at the Google Map of the stadium (which uses the same imagery as this map), they incorrectly state that the imagery is copyrighted to Sanborn.

View the Google Map of Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles, California.

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5/8/2007 || 8:16 am
Dodgers Stadium Quilt - 2004

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I made two tessellations of the Los Angeles Dodgers stadium. One from the 2004 imagery and one from the 2006 imagery. Of note is that Google Maps is currently using the 2006 imagery (it looks like the seats had been taken out of the stadium and were placed in the parking lot). The problem with the 2004 dataset of LA is that the flyover was done in the afternoon and the shadows obscure much of the ground. The best example of this is Los Angeles Quilt, which shows downtown but with too many shadows.

View the Google Map of Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles, California.

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4/27/2007 || 7:43 am
University of Southern California Quilt #2

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Read my brief comments about USC in my previous entry.

Of note, is that after posting the last map I looked at the number of maps I’ve made of Los Angeles and realized that I have enough for a 2008 Calendar! I will definitely put one together in time for this Christmas season. And after even further review, I actually have enough maps for a series of different calendars- DC, California, Texas, various universities, and fractals.

View the Google Map of University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California.

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: C.I.A. Quilt #2

|| 7:33 am
University of Southern California Quilt

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These two maps of the University of Southern California will be the last of Los Angeles for a bit. I am surprised by the amount of maps I have made of this sprawling city! Moreover, I see myself remapping much of the city in the not-so-distant future. There is a lot of places here left to discover. As for USC, I think it’s quite interesting how condensed the University Park Campus is. I thought GWU’s urban location was slighly cramped, but this university was able to fit a lot into a small area.

View the Google Map of University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California.

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