Surveying the Landscape

I picked up a Seattle waterfront map today at Metsker's Map in the Pike Market.

Scobie gave me the idea of putting a transparent grid over the map. Each box of the grid works out to about 13 minecraft blocks on each side.

We will find a point in our Minecraft world that corresponds to a point on the real map. Then we can create a 13 block grid in the game to locate the edges of the piers and building areas.

Simple, right?

Old Seattle Maps

When the Denny Party arrived here in 1851, about 500 Duwamish Indians lived around Elliott Bay, and hundreds more in villages from Shilshole Bay to present-day Renton. Elliott Bay appears here as drawn by a U.S. Navy coastal survey in 1854. At that time, these shores were blanketed with a coastal forest of Douglas firs, cedars and hemlock, interspersed with open spaces maintained by the natives. (from the Seattle Times).

More maps can be seen here.

Back in the Day

Check out this map of the Native settlements before Seattle was a city. Later land fill and landmarks are included for reference.

Friday Tour Map

Here's the route for Friday. I broke it into four parts.

The first part is getting from school to Queen Anne via bus (in black) That will take about half an hour.

The second part is walking from Queen Anne to the waterfront via Kinner Park and a big footbridge across railroad tracks (in red). That will take about half an hour.

The third part is walking along the waterfront via Myrtle Edwards Park and the Olympic Sculpture Park (in green). That will take about an hour.

The last part is walking along the waterfront via Alaskan Way and through Pioneer Square (in blue). That will take about two hours (including lunch).

USGS Map of Seattle

We will be using the United States Geological Survey topographical map of Seattle to generate our Minecraft world. You can see the map and other cities available by clicking HERE. Thanks to Adam Feuer for finding this resource.

Adam also found a possible way to import the street grid from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics HERE. This will require some file translations that we hope Adam can figure out.