1.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
Makati
–
Makati, officially the City of Makati, in the Philippines, is one of the sixteen cities that make up Metro Manila. Makati is the center of the Philippines, it has the highest concentration of multinational and local corporations in the country. Major banks, corporations, department stores as well as foreign embassies are based in Makati, the biggest trading floor of the Philippine Stock Exchange is situated along the citys Ayala Avenue. Makati is also known for being a cultural and entertainment hub in Metro Manila. With a population of 582,602, Makati is the 17th-largest city in the country, tradition holds that a Tagalog at a swamp on the south of the Pasig River was asked by a visitor, who was Miguel López de Legazpi, for the name of the place. As a result of the barrier the question was misinterpreted, and the Tagalog pointed to the receding tide of the Pasig River. Parts of the city were subject to the pre-Hispanic Kingdom of Namayan. It became an independent municipality in 1670, and was christened San Pedro de Macati in honour of the towns patron, the town was also famous for its pottery industry since the 18th century, with skilled potters trained by Jesuit priests. Its strategic location made it a pitstop for pilgrims, travelling by foot or boat, towards the shrine of Our Lady of Peace. In 1851, Don José Bonifacio Roxas purchased the Jesuit estate of Hacienda de San Pedro de Macati for 52,800 pesos, since then, the development of Makati has remained linked with the Zóbel de Ayala family and their company, Ayala Corporation. Culi-Culi is now a barangay named in honour of Del Pilar, by 1898, Spain ceded the Philippines and other overseas possessions to the United States after the formers defeat in the Spanish–American War. That same year, the town, with a population of 25,000, was incorporated from Manila to the new province of Rizal. On February 28,1914, the The Philippine Legislature passed Act 2390, shortening the name, San Pedro de Macati, during that same period, Santa Ana Park, the nations second horse racing facility, opened to expectations from horse racing fans. After the destruction Second World War had brought upon Makati, and the subsequent closure of Nielson Field, the town grew rapidly, the first of the planned communities were established in the 1950s with the efforts of its landowner, Ayala y Compañía. The first office buildings were built on what is now the Makati Central Business District, since the late 1960s, Makati has transformed into the financial and commercial capital of the country. Makatis central location adjacent to the city of Manila also made it a hub for major national and international corporations. Partly as a result a new town hall just miles from the old one was built in 1962 just along J. P. Rizal Avenue. Mayor Bañolas term of office as town executive saw the building up of what is now the Ayala Center with the help of the Ayala firm, which would become the citys central shopping center of today
3.
Philippines
–
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is a sovereign island country in Southeast Asia situated in the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of about 7,641 islands that are categorized broadly under three main geographical divisions from north to south, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, the capital city of the Philippines is Manila and the most populous city is Quezon City, both part of Metro Manila. The Philippines has an area of 300,000 square kilometers, and it is the eighth-most populated country in Asia and the 12th most populated country in the world. As of 2013, approximately 10 million additional Filipinos lived overseas, multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. In prehistoric times, Negritos were some of the archipelagos earliest inhabitants and they were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples. Exchanges with Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Islamic nations occurred, then, various competing maritime states were established under the rule of Datus, Rajahs, Sultans or Lakans. The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in Homonhon, Eastern Samar in 1521 marked the beginning of Hispanic colonization, in 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Philip II of Spain. With the arrival of Miguel López de Legazpi from Mexico City, in 1565, the Philippines became part of the Spanish Empire for more than 300 years. This resulted in Roman Catholicism becoming the dominant religion, during this time, Manila became the western hub of the trans-Pacific trade connecting Asia with Acapulco in the Americas using Manila galleons. Aside from the period of Japanese occupation, the United States retained sovereignty over the islands until after World War II, since then, the Philippines has often had a tumultuous experience with democracy, which included the overthrow of a dictatorship by a non-violent revolution. It is a member of the United Nations, World Trade Organization, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. It also hosts the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank, the Philippines was named in honor of King Philip II of Spain. Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos, during his expedition in 1542, named the islands of Leyte, eventually the name Las Islas Filipinas would be used to cover all the islands of the archipelago. Before that became commonplace, other such as Islas del Poniente. The official name of the Philippines has changed several times in the course of its history, during the Philippine Revolution, the Malolos Congress proclaimed the establishment of the República Filipina or the Philippine Republic. From the 1898 Treaty of Paris, the name Philippines began to appear, since the end of World War II, the official name of the country has been the Republic of the Philippines. The metatarsal of the Callao Man, reliably dated by uranium-series dating to 67,000 years ago is the oldest human remnant found in the archipelago to date and this distinction previously belonged to the Tabon Man of Palawan, carbon-dated to around 26,500 years ago. Negritos were also among the archipelagos earliest inhabitants, but their first settlement in the Philippines has not been reliably dated, there are several opposing theories regarding the origins of ancient Filipinos
4.
Ayala Land
–
Ayala Land, Inc. is a real estate firm based in the Philippines. It is a subsidiary of Ayala Corporation and it began as a division of Ayala Corporation until it was spun off and incorporated in 1988. It became publicly listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange in 1991 and its core businesses are in strategic landbank management, residential development, shopping centers, corporate businesses, and hotels. Support businesses are in construction and property management, ALI also derives other income from its investment activities and sale of non-core assets. Last April 2015, ALI bought a minority stake in Malaysian property developer MCT Bhd. in a P1. 9-billion deal
5.
Urban park
–
The design, operation and maintenance is usually done by government, typically on the local level, but may occasionally be contracted out to a private sector company. A park is an area of space provided for recreational use. Grass is typically kept short to discourage insect pests and to allow for the enjoyment of picnics, trees are chosen for their beauty and to provide shade. An early purpose-built public park, although financed privately, was Princes Park in the Liverpool suburb of Toxteth and this was laid out to the designs of Joseph Paxton from 1842 and opened in 1843. The land on which the park was built was purchased by Richard Vaughan Yates, the creation of Princes Park showed great foresight and introduced a number of highly influential ideas. First and foremost was the provision of space for the benefit of townspeople. Nashs remodelling of St Jamess Park from 1827 and the sequence of processional routes he created to link The Mall with Regents Park completely transformed the appearance of Londons West End. Liverpool had a presence on the scene of global maritime trade before 1800. The latter was commenced in 1843 with the help of public finance, frederick Law Olmsted visited Birkenhead Park in 1850 and praised its qualities. Indeed, Paxton is widely credited as having one of the principal influences on Olmsted. Another early public park is the Peel Park, Salford, England opened on 22 August 1846, in The Politics of Park Design, A History of Urban Parks in America, Professor Galen Cranz identifies four phases of park design in the U. S. As time passed and the area grew around the parks, land in these parks was used for other purposes, such as zoos, golf courses. These parks continue to draw visitors from around the region and are considered regional parks, because they require a higher level of management than smaller local parks. According to the Trust for Public Land, the three most visited parks in the United States are Central Park in New York, Lincoln Park in Chicago. In the early 1900s, according to Cranz, U. S. cities built neighborhood parks with swimming pools, playgrounds and civic buildings and these smaller parks were built in residential neighborhoods, and tried to serve all residents with programs for seniors, adults, teens and children. Green space was of secondary importance, as urban land prices climbed, new urban parks in the 1960s and after have been mainly pocket parks. One such example of a park is Chess Park in Glendale. This award-winning park was given an award by the American Society of Landscape Architects and these small parks provide greenery, a place to sit outdoors, and often a playground for children
6.
Metro Manila
–
These 5 provinces, plus Metro Manila and Pampanga, sum to 30.7 million residents as of the newly counted census of 2015. The region is the center of culture, economy, education, NCR is one of the 12 defined metropolitan areas in the Philippines according to the National Economic and Development Authority. Designated as a global city, NCR exerts a significant impact on commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education. It is the home to all the consulates and embassies in the Philippines and its economic power makes the region the countrys premier center for finance and commerce. NCR accounts for 37. 2% of the domestic product of the Philippines. The Province of Manila, the progenitor to the present-day Metro Manila, is one of the eight provinces that revolted against the Spanish colonial rule in the Philippines. The province was honored as one of the sun rays in the Flag of the Philippines, a historical province known as Manila encompasses the former pre-Hispanic kingdoms of Tondo and Maynila. It became the capital of the colonial Philippines, with Manila serving as the center of colonial power, in 1898, it included the City of Manila and 23 other municipalities. Mariquina also served as the capital from 1898-1899, just as when the sovereignty of the Philippines was transferred to the United States, the province was dissolved and most of it was incorporated to the newly created province of Rizal in 1901. Since the Spanish colonial period, Manila was considered as one of the global cities. Pasig serves as its provincial capital, in 1939, President Quezon established Quezon City with a goal to replace Manila as the capital city of the country. A masterplan for Quezon City was completed, the establishment of Quezon City meant demise of the grand Burnham Plan of Manila, with funds being diverted for the establishment of the new capital. World War II further resulted in the loss most of the developments in the Burnham Plan, but more importantly, later on, Quezon City eventually declared as the national capital from 1948-1976. The tile was re-designated back to Manila through Presidential Decree No.940 owing to its significance as the seat of government of the Philippines since the Spanish colonial period. During the war, President Manuel L. Jorge Vargas was appointed as its mayor, Mayors in the cities and municipalities included in the City of Greater Manila served as vice mayors in their town. This was in order to ensure Vargas, who was Quezons principal lieutenant for administrative matters, the City of Greater Manila was abolished by the Japanese with the formation of the Philippine Executive Commission to govern the occupied regions of the country. The City of Greater Manila served as a model for the present-day Metro Manila, on November 7,1975, Metro Manila was formally established through Presidential Decree No.824. The Metropolitan Manila Commission was also created to manage the region, on June 2,1978, through Presidential Decree No
7.
Makati Central Business District
–
The Makati Central Business District, also known as the Makati CBD, is the leading financial and central business district in the Philippines located at the heart of Makati in Metro Manila. It is politically known аs Central Cluster in the West District of Makati and it is different from the civic center of Makati known as Makati Poblacion which is situated at the north-east portion of the district. It is bounded by EDSA, Gil Puyat Avenue, Arnaiz Avenue, the whole district occupies barangays of San Antonio, San Lorenzo, Bel-Air, and Urdaneta. Many of the skyscrapers in Metro Manila are in this area, PBCom Tower along Ayala Avenue is the countrys tallest building and reaches up 259 meters. It is the headquarters of the Philippine Bank of Communications, or PBCom, the business district is also considered as one of the most vibrant commеrcial districts in Southeast Asia. It contains the Ayala Center, one of the major shopping centers. The financial district is managed by two groups - the Makati Commercial Estates Association and the Ayala Property Management Corporation. Downtown Makati started out as part of the municipality of Santa Ana de Sapa and became a town of its own in 1670, then as San Pedro de Macati in honor of its patron. In 1851, Don José Bonifacio Roxas purchased the estate of Hacienda San Pedro de Macati from the Jesuits for 52,800 pesos. The western portion of the estate is now what is called the downtown, since then, Makati and its development remain close to the Zobel de Ayala family. That same year, the town, with a population of 25,000, was incorporated from Manila to the province of Rizal with Marcelino Magsaysay serving as the town president. In the 1930s, the first airport in Luzon island, Nielson Field, the airport was officially inaugurated in 1938, and Philippine Airlines began its operations there in 1941. After the destruction of World War II that brought upon Makati, the town grew rapidly, as Nieslon Field closed down in 1948 the plan was set for the building of the central business district. The first centrally planned communities from the Ayalas farm estate were established in the 1950s, and some of the gated communities that were developed grew into commercial areas and office parks. The multiple-lane Ayala Avenue was completed in 1958, which part of the runway of the first commercial airport in the country. The downtown was developed into high density residential and commercial areas according to specific zoning regulations, in the early 1960s, Ayala Corporation commissioned some of the first high-rise buildings to rise along Ayala Avenue from one of the countrys best known architects, Leandro V. Locsin. The Makati Stock Exchange was established on May 27,1963 with its trading area located along Ayala Avenue in downtown, in the late 1960s, Downtown Makati has been the financial capital of the Philippines due to urban decay of the City of Manila. Bañolas mayorship saw the building of the Ayala Center complex in the mid 1960s, in 1972, Ferdinand Marcos imposed Martial law in the Philippines
8.
Hyde Park, London
–
Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in London and one of its Royal Parks. The park is divided by the Serpentine and the Long Water, the park is contiguous with Kensington Gardens, which are often assumed to be part of Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens has been separate since 1728, when Queen Caroline divided them. To the southeast, outside the park, is Hyde Park Corner, during daylight, the two parks merge seamlessly into each other, but Kensington Gardens closes at dusk, and Hyde Park remains open throughout the year from 5 a. m. until midnight. The Great Exhibition of 1851 was held in the park, for which the Crystal Palace, the park became a traditional location for mass demonstrations. The Chartists, the Reform League, the suffragettes, and the Stop the War Coalition have all held protests there, many protesters on the Liberty and Livelihood March in 2002 started their march from Hyde Park. Hyde Park is also a ward of the City of Westminster, the population of the ward at the 2011 Census was 12,462. Hyde Park was created for hunting by Henry Vlll in 1536, Charles I created the Ring, and in 1637 he opened the park to the general public. In 1652, during the Interregnum, Parliament ordered the then 620-acre park to be sold for ready money and it realised £17,000 with an additional £765 6s 2d for the resident deer. In 1689, when William III moved his residence to Kensington Palace on the far side of Hyde Park, public transport entering London from the west runs parallel to the Kings private road along Kensington Gore, just outside the park. In the late 1800s, the row was used by the wealthy for horseback rides, the first coherent landscaping was undertaken by Charles Bridgeman for Queen Caroline, under the supervision of Charles Withers, the Surveyor-General of Woods and Forests, who took some credit. It was completed in 1733 at a cost to the public purse of £20,000, the 2nd Viscount Weymouth was made Ranger of Hyde Park in 1739 and shortly after began digging the Serpentine lakes at Longleat. The Serpentine is divided from the Long Water by a bridge designed by George Rennie, one of the most important events to take place in the park was the Great Exhibition of 1851. The Crystal Palace was constructed on the side of the park. The public did not want the building to remain after the closure of the exhibition and he had it moved to Sydenham Hill in South London. At the age of twenty-five, Decimus Burton was commissioned by the Office of Woods and he laid out the paths and driveways and designed a series of lodges, the Screen/Gate at Hyde Park Corner and the Wellington Arch. The Screen and the Arch originally formed a single composition, designed to provide a transition between Hyde Park and Green Park, although the arch was later moved. An early description reports, It consists of a screen of handsome fluted Ionic columns, the extent of the whole frontage is about 107 ft. The two side gateways, in their elevations, present two insulated Ionic columns, flanked by antae, all these entrances are finished by a blocking, the sides of the central one being decorated with a beautiful frieze, representing a naval and military triumphal procession
9.
London
–
London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
10.
Acacia
–
Acacia, commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs, lianas and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australia, controversy erupted in the early 2000s when it became evident that the genus as it stood was not monophyletic, and that several divergent lineages needed to be placed in separate genera. It turned out that one lineage comprising over 900 species mainly native to Australia was not closely related to the mainly African lineage that contained A. nilotica—the first and this meant that the Australian lineage would need to be renamed. Botanist Les Pedley named this group Racosperma, which was inconsistently adopted and this was officially adopted, but many botanists from Africa and elsewhere disagreed that this was necessary. A number of species have been introduced to parts of the world. The heterogeneous group varies considerably in habit, from mat-like subshrubs to canopy trees in forest, the genus was first described from Africa by C. F. P. von Martius in 1829. Several hundred combinations in Acacia were published by Pedley in 2003, the genus of 981 species, Acacia s. l. in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae is monophyletic. All but 10 of its species are native to Australia, where it constitutes the largest plant genus, following a controversial decision to choose a new type for Acacia in 2005, the Australian component of Acacia s. l. now retains the name Acacia. At the 2011 International Botanical Congress held in Melbourne, the decision to use the name Acacia, other Acacia s. l. taxa continue to be called Acacia by those who choose to consider the entire group as one genus. Australian species of the genus Paraserianthes s. l. are deemed its closest relatives, the origin of wattle may be an Old Teutonic word meaning to weave. From around 700 A. D. watul was used in Old English to refer to the branches and sticks which formed fences, walls. Since about 1810 it refers to the Australian legumes that provide these branches, acacias in Australia probably evolved their fire resistance about 20 million years ago when fossilised charcoal deposits show a large increase, indicating that fire was a factor even then. With no major mountain ranges or rivers to prevent their spread and they began to form dry, open forests with species of the genera Casuarina, Eucalyptus and Callitris. The southernmost species in the genus are Acacia dealbata, Acacia longifolia, Acacia mearnsii and they are present in all terrestrial habitats, including alpine settings, rainforests, woodlands, grasslands, coastal dunes and deserts. In drier woodlands or forest they are an important component of the understory, elsewhere they may be dominant, as in the Brigalow Belt, Myall woodlands and the eremaean Mulga woodlands. Several of its species bear vertically oriented phyllodes, which are green, broadened leaf petioles that function like leaf blades, some phyllodinous species have a colourful aril on the seed. A few species have rather than leaves. Aborigines of Australia have traditionally harvested the seeds of species, to be ground into flour
