1.
Geographic coordinate system
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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.
Portland, Maine
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Portland is the largest city in the U. S. state of Maine, with a population of 66,881 as of 2015. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to half a million people. The Old Port district is frequented by tourists, while Portland Head Light is also a destination, the city seal depicts a phoenix rising from ashes, which is a reference to the recoveries from four devastating fires. Portland was named for the English Isle of Portland, and the city of Portland, Oregon was in turn named after Portland, Native Americans originally called the Portland peninsula Machigonne. Portland, Maine was named for the English Isle of Portland, the first European settler was Capt. Christopher Levett, an English naval captain granted 6,000 acres in 1623 to found a settlement in Casco Bay. The settlement failed, and the fate of Levetts colonists is unknown, the explorer sailed from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony to meet John Winthrop in 1630, but never returned to Maine. Fort Levett in the harbor is named for him, the peninsula was first permanently settled in 1632 as a fishing and trading village named Casco. When the Massachusetts Bay Colony took over Casco Bay in 1658, in 1676, the village was destroyed by the Abenaki during King Philips War. During King Williams War, a party of French and Native allies attacked. On October 18,1775, Falmouth was burned in the Revolution by the Royal Navy under command of Captain Henry Mowat, following the war, a section of Falmouth called The Neck developed as a commercial port and began to grow rapidly as a shipping center. In 1786, the citizens of Falmouth formed a town in Falmouth Neck and named it Portland, after the isle off the coast of Dorset. Portlands economy was greatly stressed by the Embargo Act of 1807, which ended in 1809, and the War of 1812, in 1820, Maine became a state with Portland as its capital. In 1832, the capital was moved north to Augusta, in 1851, Maine led the nation by passing the first state law prohibiting the sale of alcohol except for medicinal, mechanical or manufacturing purposes. The law subsequently became known as the Maine law, as 18 states quickly followed, on June 2,1855, the Portland Rum Riot occurred. In 1853, upon completion of the Grand Trunk Railway to Montreal, the Portland Company manufactured more than 600 19th-century steam locomotives. Portland became a 20th-century rail hub as five rail lines merged into Portland Terminal Company in 1911. Following nationalization of the Grand Trunk system in 1923, Canadian export traffic was diverted from Portland to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the 20th century, icebreakers later enabled ships to reach Montreal in winter, drastically reducing Portlands role as a winter port for Canada. On June 26,1863, a Confederate raiding party led by Captain Charles Read, entered the harbor at Portland, more than 10,000 people were left homeless
3.
Neighborhoods in Portland, Maine
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Portland, Maine is home to many neighborhoods. Portlands Arts District is based around Congress Street in downtown Portland, the District includes the Portland Museum of Art, the Childrens Museum of Maine, the Maine College of Art and the State Theatre. It is a mixed use neighborhood with both apartments and commercial establishments, Back Cove is a neighborhood off of Portlands peninsula and downtown areas. With views of the Portland skyline across Back Cove, it borders the neighborhoods of Deering Center, North Deering, East Deering, Rosemont, Neighborhood boundaries are, Washington Avenue, Baxter Boulevard, Forest Avenue, and Canco Road. Within the boundaries of the Back Cove neighborhood are Woodfords Corner, Ocean Avenue, Payson Park, Cheverus High School, the map on Barry & Andersons _Deering, A Social and Architectural History_, p.15 is ambiguous as to the neighborhoods precise borders. Among Highlands most notable residents was conservative US Senator Ralph Owen Brewster. The neighborhood is almost entirely residential, but the largest institutional feature of the Highlands is the Maine Medical Centers Brighton Avenue Campus, the complex is now home of the New England Rehabilitation Hospital of Portland and also houses training facilities and an urgent care center. East Deering is the easternmost neighborhood of the city of Portland, the suburban neighborhood is situated between the Munjoy Hill and North Deering neighborhoods of the city, as well as the town of Falmouth. East Deering is a diverse place, featuring both public housing and more expensive single family homes. Much of the neighborhood has views of Casco Bay and nearby Mackworth Island East Deering was bisected by 295 in the 1960s, major landmarks in this neighborhood include the Burnham and Morrill Co. Baked Bean manufacturing plant, Martins Point, Presumpscot School, Payson Park, Payson Park, Presumpscot Elementary School, Bottos Bakery, and Martins Point peninsula are also in the neighborhood. The major throughways in East Deering are Washington Avenue and Veranda Street, Martins Point Bridge connects East Deering to Falmouth. East Bayside is a neighborhood in Portland, Maine and it is bordered by Franklin Street on the west, Washington Avenue on the east, to the north by Marginal Way, and the south by Congress Street. It was first developed a network in the early 19th century. By the 1820s the area was Portlands second seaport via the Back Coves ship channel, much of the debris from the great Portland fire of 1866 was deposited into Back Cove, significantly increasing the size of East Bayside. Maps produced around 1900 show an extension of the out to Marginal Way. The shoreline would not change again until the construction of the Interstate in 1974, the East End is a neighborhood on the far eastern end of Portlands peninsula. It is closely linked with Munjoy Hill and the Eastern Promenade, the East End Community School, located on North Street, serves the area
4.
Peninsula
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A peninsula is a piece of land surrounded by water on the majority of its border, while being connected to a mainland from which it extends out. Examples include the upper and lower peninsulas of the state of Michigan, the surrounding water is usually understood to be continuous, though not necessarily named as a single body of water. Peninsulas are not always named as such, one can also be a headland, cape, island promontory, bill, point, a point is generally considered a tapering piece of land projecting into a body of water that is less prominent than a cape. A river which courses through a very tight meander is also said to form a peninsula within the loop of water. In English, the plural of peninsula is peninsulas or, less commonly, peninsulas can be found on coastlines and in smaller bodies of water throughout the world, ranging in scale from square meters to millions of square kilometers. Theres the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe, and in Southern Europe theres the Iberian Peninsula, the Italian Peninsula, south America has the Brunswick Peninsula, and Antarctica has the Antarctic Peninsula. In Africa, theres the Horn of Africa, and in Australia, asia has the 3 largest peninsulas in the world, the Arabian Peninsula, the Indian Peninsula, and the Indochinese Peninsula
5.
Casco Bay
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Casco Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Maine on the southern coast of Maine, New England, United States. Its easternmost approach is Cape Small and its westernmost approach is Two Lights in Cape Elizabeth, the city of Portland sits along its southern edge and the Port of Portland lies within. There are two theories on the origin of the name Casco Bay, aucocisco is the Abenaki name for the bay, which means place of herons. The Portuguese explorer Estêvão Gomes, mapped the Maine coast in 1525, the first settlement in Casco Bay was that of Capt. Christopher Levett, an English explorer, who built a house on House Island in 1623-24. The United States Coastal Pilot lists 136 islands, leading to the islands being called that Calendar Islands based on the popular myth there are 365 of them. Later, Robert M. York, the former Maine state historian said there are more than two hundred islands. Casco Bay is also home to abandoned military fortifications dating from the War of 1812 through World War II, during World War II, see Forts of Casco Bay below. The State Historic Site of Eagle Island was the home of Arctic explorer Robert Peary. Walter Cronkite stated that, in his opinion, the bay offered some of the best sailing in the world. In 2008, up-and-coming composers Peter J. McLaughlin and Akiva G. Zamcheck wrote a piece in four movements paying homage to the wreck of the Don in Casco Bay in 1941, the piece received critical acclaim from the Portland Press Herald and from fellow Maine composers. Portland has a fleet of deep-sea fishing vessels which offload their catch primarily at the Portland Fish Exchange. Numerous towns and islands serve as ports for lobster boats, recreational fishing boats can also be chartered. During the 1980s and 1990s, Bath Iron Works operated a dry dock in Portland Harbor to repair US Navy vessels, predominant fish in the bay include mackerel, striped bass, and bluefish. Shellfish include lobsters, crabs, mussels, clams and snails, Harbor seals congregate on certain exposed ledges, and whales on occasion swim into the bay, and in a few instances into Portland Harbor. Seagulls, cormorants and varying species of ducks are the most common birds, more rarely osprey, eagles, Casco Bay contains bay mud bottoms and banks in some locations, providing important substrates for biota. The major islands in the bay are served by the Casco Bay Lines ferry service at the Maine State Pier in Portland, peaks Island is served by a car ferry and, during the summer, sees 16 ferries a day. The other islands see fewer ferries and no car transport, great and Little Diamond islands and Long Island are served primarily by the Diamond Pass run, which is popular with tourists in the summer months. Other services offered by Casco Bay Lines include a daily run, a cruise to Bailey Island
6.
Eastern Promenade
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The Eastern Promenade is a historic promenade,68. 2-acre public park and recreation area in Portland, Maine. Construction of the Promenade began in 1836 and continued periodically until 1934, the 1. 5-mile park was designed by the Olmsted Brothers design firm and experienced its greatest expansion from the 1880s to the 1910s. The Promenade rings around the Munjoy Hill neighborhood and occupies the farthest eastern portion of Portlands peninsula, the Eastern Prom Trail is popular with bicyclists. The Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum is also located on the Eastern Promenade, the railway is a popular tourist attraction in the area and transported 30,000 people across the Promenade in 2009-2010. As of September 2010, the railway was considering moving due to financial concerns, Fort Allen Park is a 9.33 acres public park on the Eastern Promenade. It is the site of Fort Allen, which was active in the Revolutionary War and War of 1812, the park is home to an American Civil War monument in the form of a granite bench dedicated in 1929. Fort Allen Park is also the home of the mast of the USS Portland, Portland was then damaged during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in November. 26 of the prisoners were taken to the hospital and a month later,21 of the prisoners had died. The dead soldiers were buried in a grave at the foot of Quebec Street on the Eastern Promenade. In 1887, a plaque was affixed to the stone with the names of the dead soldiers. National Register of Historic Places listings in Portland, Maine Friends of the Eastern Promenade
7.
Lighthouse
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Lighthouses mark dangerous coastlines, hazardous shoals, reefs, and safe entries to harbors, and can assist in aerial navigation. Once widely used, the number of operational lighthouses has declined due to the expense of maintenance, before the development of clearly defined ports, mariners were guided by fires built on hilltops. Since raising the fire would improve the visibility, placing the fire on a platform became a practice that led to the development of the lighthouse. In antiquity, the lighthouse functioned more as a marker to ports than as a warning signal for reefs and promontories. The most famous lighthouse structure from antiquity was the Pharos of Alexandria, coins from Alexandria, Ostia, and Laodicea in Syria also exist. The modern era of lighthouses began at the turn of the 18th century, advances in structural engineering and new and efficient lighting equipment allowed for the creation of larger and more powerful lighthouses, including ones exposed to the sea. The function of lighthouses shifted toward the provision of a warning against shipping hazards. The Eddystone Rocks were a major hazard for mariners sailing through the English Channel. The first lighthouse built there was a wooden structure, anchored by 12 iron stanchions secured in the rock. His lighthouse was the first tower in the world to have been exposed to the open sea. The civil engineer, John Smeaton, rebuilt the lighthouse from 1756–59, his tower marked a step forward in the design of lighthouses. He modelled the shape of his lighthouse on that of an oak tree and he pioneered the use of hydraulic lime, a form of concrete that will set under water, and developed a technique of securing the granite blocks together using dovetail joints and marble dowels. This profile had the advantage of allowing some of the energy of the waves to dissipate on impact with the walls. His lighthouse was the prototype for the lighthouse and influenced all subsequent engineers. One such influence was Robert Stevenson, himself a figure in the development of lighthouse design. His greatest achievement was the construction of the Bell Rock Lighthouse in 1810 and this structure was based upon Smeatons design, but with several improved features, such as the incorporation of rotating lights, alternating between red and white. Stevenson worked for the Northern Lighthouse Board for nearly fifty years during which time he designed and oversaw the construction and he also invented the movable jib and the balance crane as a necessary part for lighthouse construction. Alexander Mitchell designed the first screw-pile lighthouse – his lighthouse was built on piles that were screwed into the sandy or muddy seabed, construction of his design began in 1838 at the mouth of the Thames and was known as the Maplin Sands lighthouse, and first lit in 1841
8.
Fort Gorges
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Fort Gorges is a former United States military fort built on Hog Island Ledge in Casco Bay, Maine. Built from 1858 to 1864, no battles were fought there, advancing military technology, including iron clad ships and long range guns, made the fort obsolete before it could be used. The fort is now a park, accessible only by boat and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. Following the War of 1812, the United States Army Corps of Engineers proposed that a fort be built on Hog Island Ledge, in Casco Bay at the entrance to the harbor at Portland, congress, however, did not fund construction of Fort Gorges until 1857. The walls of the fort were begun the year. The fort was designed by Colonel Reuben Staples Smart, the chief architect in charge of construction was Thomas Lincoln Casey, who later became Chief of Engineers. It is similar in size and construction to Fort Sumter, but is built of granite instead of brick, the fort was completed in 1865 as the war ended. Modern explosives made the fort obsolete by the time it was completed, a modernization plan was begun in 1869, but funding was cut off in 1876, with the third level of the fort still unfinished. During the modernization project, sod-covered sand was added to the top level of the fort to protect gun encasements, the Forts armament consisted of thirty-four 10-inch Rodman guns mounted in the forts casemates. In 1898, all guns were removed from the fort except a large 300-pounder Parrott rifle which was on the top of the fort, the 300-pounder Parrott rifle still remains in place and is one of the largest surviving specimens of Civil War vintage artillery. The fort was last used by the Army during World War II and it was acquired by the city of Portland in 1960 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. It is now open to the public as a park, and is only by private boat. Visitors are recommended to carry a flashlight to enter the powder magazines, the fort is in need of restoration. National Register of Historic Places listings in Portland, Maine This article contains public domain text from Fort Scammel and Fort Gorges, U. S. Senate, Art & History Home. This article contains public domain text from Fort Gorges, Hog Island Ledge, Portland Harbor, Portland, Cumberland County, media related to Fort Gorges at Wikimedia Commons Friends of Fort Gorges Website Article and photos of the fort - Fort Tours Article and photos of the fort
9.
Interstate 295 (Maine)
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Interstate 295 is a 53. 11-mile -long auxiliary route in the U. S. state of Maine from I-95 in Scarborough to I-95 in West Gardiner. The highway was designated the Richard A. Coleman Highway in 2015 by the Maine Legislature. I-295s first exit is in South Portland, giving access to the Maine Mall and U. S.1 in South Portland and Scarborough, its last exit is Exit 51, which gives access to Gardiner. The route starts at Exit 44 of I-95, and it has toll plazas just before its own Exit 1 and he was involved in projects ranging from Maines interstates to the Penobscot Narrows Bridge and Observatory. Coleman declined comment on the naming, only telling the Kennebec Journal that while the naming is humbling, he found it uncomfortable. Maine Sen. Roger Katz, the sponsor of the bill, said Very few people have heard of Dick Coleman, from its inception in 1960 to 2004, I-295 was an 11. 02-mile long route branching off the Maine Turnpike/I-95 to pass through downtown Portland. Four miles north of Portland the through freeway became I-95 at the junction with the Falmouth Spur, in 2004, to clear up confusion, I-95 was re-designated to continue along the Maine Turnpike for its entire length. I-295 was extended past the Falmouth Spur as a redesignation of I-95, the 4-mile long Falmouth Spur officially became I-495 but was left unsigned. At the same time, the exits were re-numbered, previously they had numbered more or less sequentially from south to north—there were skipped numbers, for example. After the changes the exits re-numbered to mile-log in relation to the Scarborough junction, except for the exits in Portland and South Portland, exits on Maines I-95 were similarly re-numbered based on mileage. The speed limit on Interstate 295 on the section past Tukeys Bridge to mile 51 in Gardiner was raised from 65 mph to 70 mph on May 27,2014, I-295 on Kurumi. com Steve Andersons BostonRoads. com, Interstate 295
