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.
Canyon
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A canyon or gorge is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from the erosive activity of a river over geologic timescales. A canyon may also refer to a rift between two peaks, such as those in ranges including the Rocky Mountains, the Alps. Usually a river or stream and erosion carve out such splits between mountains, examples of mountain-type canyons are Provo Canyon in Utah or Yosemite National Park in Californias Sierra Nevada. Canyons within mountains, or gorges that have an opening on one side are called box canyons. Slot canyons are very narrow canyons, often with smooth walls, steep-sided valleys in the seabed of the continental slope underwater are referred to as submarine canyons. Unlike canyons on land, submarine canyons are thought to be formed by turbidity currents, the word canyon is Spanish in origin, with the same meaning. The word canyon is used in North America while the words gorge and ravine are used in Europe and Oceania, though gorge. In the United States, place names generally use canyon in the southwest and gorge in the northeast, in Canada, a gorge is usually narrow while a ravine is more open and often wooded. The military-derived word defile is occasionally used in the United Kingdom, most canyons were formed by a process of long-time erosion from a plateau or table-land level. The cliffs form because harder rock strata that are resistant to erosion, Canyons are much more common in arid than in wet areas because physical weathering has a more localized effect in arid zones. The wind and water from the combine to erode and cut away less resistant materials such as shales. The freezing and expansion of water also serves to help form canyons, water seeps into cracks between the rocks and freezes, pushing the rocks apart and eventually causing large chunks to break off the canyon walls, in a process known as frost wedging. Canyon walls are formed of resistant sandstones or granite. Sometimes large rivers run through canyons as the result of geological uplift. These are called entrenched rivers, because they are unable to alter their course. In the United States, the Colorado River in the Southwest, Canyons often form in areas of limestone rock. As limestone is soluble to an extent, cave systems form in the rock. When these collapse, a canyon is left, as in the Mendip Hills in Somerset and Yorkshire Dales in Yorkshire, England
3.
Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles
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The area currently has about 27,000 residents. It is primarily an area, with a mixture of large private homes, small houses, condominiums. The district also includes some large parklands and many hiking trails, in 1911, film director Thomas Ince created his Western film factory, Inceville, which at its peak employed nearly 600 people. Believers snapped up choice lots and lived in tents during construction, by 1925, the Palisades had 100 homes. In one subdivision, streets were named for Methodist missionaries, the tents eventually were replaced by cabins, then by bungalows, and ultimately by multimillion-dollar homes. The climate of the area was a big selling point, temperatures are much cooler than inland Los Angeles during summer, but usually sunnier and less foggy than areas south along the coast. Adorno, Vicki Baum, Oskar Homolka and Emil Ludwig, Villa Aurora on Paseo Miramar, the Spanish colonial home of Feuchtwanger and his wife, Marta, became the focal point of the expatriate community, which was nicknamed Weimar by the Sea. For many decades there was a ban on drinking alcohol in the district. The Methodist Church created a Chautauqua Conference Grounds in Temescal Canyon, the Village is the Pacific Palisades central business district, centered at Sunset Boulevard and Via de la Paz. The Via Mesa and The Huntington Palisades are the neighborhoods that border the village proper to the south of Sunset Boulevard, both of these neighborhoods are easy walking distance to The Village and sit upon high bluffs that look out over the Pacific Ocean. Many of the homes in neighborhoods are accordingly afforded beautiful ocean views. The El Medio Mesa is located south of Sunset Boulevard beginning about a mile west of The Village. The El Medio Mesa extends for a distance from Temescal Canyon all the way to where Sunset Boulevard meets the Pacific Coast Highway. Castellammare is located along the Pacific Coast Highway on small bluffs much closer to sea-level and this is the home of the Getty Villa and the narrow, winding streets in this neighborhood have Italian names and ocean breezes. Palisades Highlands is a community near the end of Sunset Blvd, bordering Topanga, about five minutes away from the center of Pacific Palisades. The Highlands could almost be considered its own separate community high up the hill overlooking the ocean, Rustic Canyon is the neighborhood east of Chautauqua Boulevard that dips into Santa Monica Canyon and includes the Will Rogers State Historic Park. The neighborhood features post-war homes located on the polo field of The Uplifters, the original site of The Uplifters clubhouse. This area is known as Uplifters Ranch
4.
Los Angeles
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Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L. A. is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. With a census-estimated 2015 population of 3,971,883, it is the second-most populous city in the United States, Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States. The citys inhabitants are referred to as Angelenos, historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was founded on September 4,1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence, in 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4,1850, the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California, nicknamed the City of Angels, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, and sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles also has an economy in culture, media, fashion, science, sports, technology, education, medicine. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index, the city is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. The Los Angeles combined statistical area has a gross metropolitan product of $831 billion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Greater Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. The city has hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984 and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and thus become the second city after London to have hosted the Games three times. The Los Angeles area also hosted the 1994 FIFA mens World Cup final match as well as the 1999 FIFA womens World Cup final match, the mens event was watched on television by over 700 million people worldwide. The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva, a Gabrielino settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning poison oak place. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2,1769, in 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. The Queen of the Angels is an honorific of the Virgin Mary, two-thirds of the settlers were mestizo or mulatto with a mixture of African, indigenous and European ancestry. The settlement remained a small town for decades, but by 1820. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, during Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta Californias regional capital
5.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
6.
Santa Monica Mountains
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The Santa Monica Mountains is a coastal mountain range in Southern California, paralleling the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Transverse Ranges, because of its proximity to densely populated regions, it is one of the most visited natural areas in California. Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is located in this mountain range, the range extends approximately 40 miles east-west from the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles to Point Mugu in Ventura County. The mountain range contributed to the isolation of this vast coastal plain before regular transportation routes reached western Ventura County, the eastern mountains form a barrier between the San Fernando Valley and the Los Angeles Basin, separating the Valley on the north and west-central Los Angeles on the south. The Santa Monica Mountains are parallel to Santa Susana Mountains, which are located north of the mountains across the San Fernando Valley. The range is of height, with no particularly craggy or prominent peaks outside the Sandstone Peak. While often rugged and wild, the hosts a substantial amount of human activity. Houses, roads, businesses, and recreational centers are dotted throughout the Santa Monica Mountains, a number of creeks in the Santa Monica Mountains are part of the Los Angeles River watershed. Beginning at the end of the San Fernando Valley the river runs to the north of the mountains. After passing between the range and the Verdugo Mountains it flows south around Elysian Park defining the easternmost extent of the mountains, the Santa Monica Mountains have more than 1,000 archeology sites of significance, primarily from the Californian Native American cultures of the Tongva and Chumash people. The mountains were part of their homelands for over eight thousand years before the arrival of the Spanish. The Spanish mission system had a impact on their culture and by 1831. Geologists consider the northern Channel Islands to be an extension of the Santa Monicas into the Pacific Ocean. The range was created by repeated episodes of uplifting and submergence by the Raymond Fault that created complex layers of sedimentary rock, volcanic intrusions have been exposed, including the poorly named, andesitic, Sandstone Peak the highest in the range at 3,111 feet. Malibu Creek, which eroded its own channel while the mountains were slowly uplifted, the Santa Monica Mountains have dry summers with frequent coastal fog on the ocean side of the range and wet, cooler winters. In the summer, the climate is dry, which makes the range prone to wildfires. Snow is unusual in the Santa Monica Mountains, since they are not as high as the nearby San Gabriel Mountains. The highest slopes of the central and western Santa Monica Mountains average as much as 27 inches of rain per year, the bulk of the rain falls between November and March
7.
Sunset Boulevard
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From Downtown Los Angeles, it heads northwest, to Hollywood, through which it travels due west for several miles before it bends southwest towards the ocean. It passes through or near Echo Park, Silver Lake, Los Feliz, Hollywood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, in Bel-Air, Sunset Boulevard runs along the northern boundary of UCLAs Westwood campus. The boulevard continues through Brentwood to Pacific Palisades where it terminates at the Pacific Coast Highway intersection, the boulevard has curvaceous winding stretches, and can be treacherous for unaware drivers in some sections. It is at least four lanes wide along its entire route, Sunset is frequently congested with traffic loads beyond its design capacity. Sunset Boulevard historically extended farther east than it now does, starting at Alameda Street near Union Station and beside Olvera Street in the historic section of Downtown. In 1877, one of the real estate owners from back East Horace H. Wilcox, decided to subdivide his more than 20 acres of land along Sunset Boulevard, including what is today Hollywood. In 1890, Belgian diplomat Victor Ponet bought 240 acres of the former Rancho La Brea land grant and his son-in-law, Francis S. Montgomery, inherited this property and created Sunset Plaza. According to a 1901 article in the Los Angeles Herald, Sunset only extended from Hollywood in the west to Marion Avenue in the Echo Park district in the east. In late 1912 several properties along the route were condemned so that the boulevard could be changed in both its width and its alignment, with these changes completed, Sunset Boulevard now reached North Main Street and continued as Marchessault along the northern end of the Plaza. This section, variously marked and signed as Marchessault Street or East Sunset Boulevard, at that time Sunset was realigned one block north and Marchessault was closed to motor traffic. In 1921, an expansion of Sunset began, extending the road from the then-current terminus at Sullivan Canyon through Santa Monica to the coast. This land, a portion of the original 1838 holdings of Fransisco Marquez, stretched across a mesa, will Rogers, who had bought much of this land as an investment, later donated it to the State of California creating Will Rogers State Historic Park. Circa 1931, Sunset was a road from Horn Avenue to Havenhurst Avenue. The Sunset Strip portion of Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood has been famous for its active nightlife at least since the 1950s, in the 1970s, the area between Gardner Street and Western Avenue was a center for street prostitution. Shortly after a well publicized June 1995 incident, police raids drove out the majority of prostitutes on the Boulevard, the portion of Sunset Boulevard that passes through Beverly Hills was once named Beverly Boulevard. The boulevard is commemorated in Billy Wilders 1950 film Sunset Boulevard, the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical of the name. Jan and Deans 1960s hit song Dead Mans Curve refers to a section of the road near Bel Air estates just north of UCLAs Drake Stadium where Jan Berry almost died in an accident in 1966. The Buffalo Springfield song For What Its Worth was written about a riot at Pandoras Box, Metro Local lines 2,175 and 302 operate on Sunset Boulevard
8.
Brentwood, Los Angeles
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Brentwood is an affluent neighborhood in the Westside of Los Angeles, California. It is the home of seven private and two public schools, originally part of a Mexican land grant, the neighborhood began its modern development in the 1880s and hosted part of the pentathlon in the 1932 Summer Olympics. It was the site of the 1994 O. J. Simpson murder case, Brentwood is also home to many celebrities such as actors and actresses. Brentwood was part of the Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica, Modern development began after the establishment of the 600-acre Pacific Branch of the National Home for Disabled Soldiers and Sailors in the 1880s. A small community sprang up outside that facilitys west gate, taking on the name Westgate, annexed by the City of Los Angeles on June 14,1916, Westgates 49 square miles included large parts of what is now the Pacific Palisades and a small portion of todays Bel-Air. Westgate Avenue is one of the last reminders of that namesake, the Sunset Fields Golf Club, known as the Brentwood Country Club since 1941, hosted the running part of the modern pentathlon event in the 1932 Summer Olympics. The preceding statement is incorrect and caused by a confusion of Olympic events & locations, Brentwood Country Club was known as Brentwood Country Club at the time of the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. It appears as Brentwood Country Club at 590 Burlingame Avenue in the Los Angeles City Directory for 1933, a 1927 Los Angeles Times article describes the beginning of construction on Sunset Fields Golf Course near Crenshaw Boulevard between Vernon Avenue and Santa Barbara Avenue. The book, Leimert Park, states, The Sunset Fields Golf Course in Leimert Park was also the location of another official Olympic venue, the close proximity of the Olympic games to the neighboring community of Leimert Park brought much attention to the development. The Xth Olympiad, Los Angeles,1932 - Official Report says, The Cross Country Run of the Modern Pentathlon was held at 9,00 A. M. on the course of Sunset Fields Golf Club of Los Angeles. The remainder involved the climbing of a steep hill, to the level of the Olympic Village, thence down a narrow draw by a winding path. The start and finish were a short distance in front of the clubhouse, the confusion may have arisen because part of the route of the Equestrian Cross Country portion of Modern Pentathlon may have crossed Brentwood Country Club. This event used the route of Phase D of the Cross Country portion of the Equestrian Three-Day Event competition, as in 1932, the address of Brentwood Country Club of Los Angeles is still 590 South Burlingame Avenue. This building was the establishing shot for the Mar Vista Rest Home that provided a key scene in the 1974 film Chinatown. Within minutes, Santa Ana winds gusting up to 60 mph sent burning brush aloft, more than 300 police officers helped evacuate 3,500 residents during the 12-hour fire, and some 2,500 firefighters battled the blaze, pumping water from neighborhood swimming pools to douse flames. Pockets of the fire smoldered for several days, even as firefighters battled what was to become a Bel Air disaster, another fire erupted in Santa Ynez Canyon to the west. That blaze was contained the next day after consuming nearly 10,000 acres and nine structures and burning to within a mile of Bel Air, Brentwood was the site of the 1994 stabbing death of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, outside Simpsons Bundy Drive condominium. Nicoles ex-husband, football player and actor O. J, Simpson, was acquitted of the murders, but was later found liable for the deaths in a civil trial
9.
Santa Monica, California
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Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, United States. The Census Bureau population for Santa Monica in 2010 was 89,736, due in part to an agreeable climate, Santa Monica became a famed resort town by the early 20th century. The city has experienced a boom since the late 1980s through the revitalization of its core, significant job growth. The Santa Monica Pier remains a popular and iconic destination, Santa Monica was long inhabited by the Tongva people. Santa Monica was called Kecheek in the Tongva language, the first non-indigenous group to set foot in the area was the party of explorer Gaspar de Portolà, who camped near the present-day intersection of Barrington and Ohio Avenues on August 3,1769. Named after the Christian saint Monica, there are two different accounts of how the name came to be. One says it was named in honor of the feast day of Saint Monica, another version says it was named by Juan Crespí on account of a pair of springs, the Kuruvungna Springs, that were reminiscent of the tears Saint Monica shed over her sons early impiety. In Los Angeles, several battles were fought by the Californios, following the Mexican–American War, Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which gave Mexicans and Californios living in state certain unalienable rights. US government sovereignty in California began on February 2,1848, in the 1870s the Los Angeles and Independence Railroad, connected Santa Monica with Los Angeles, and a wharf out into the bay. The first town hall was a modest 1873 brick building, later a beer hall and it is Santa Monicas oldest extant structure. By 1885, the towns first hotel was the Santa Monica Hotel, around the start of the 20th century, a growing population of Asian Americans lived in and around Santa Monica and Venice. A Japanese fishing village was near the Long Wharf while small numbers of Chinese lived or worked in Santa Monica, the two ethnic minorities were often viewed differently by White Americans who were often well-disposed towards the Japanese but condescending towards the Chinese. The Japanese village fishermen were an economic part of the Santa Monica Bay community. Donald Wills Douglas, Sr. built a plant in 1922 at Clover Field for the Douglas Aircraft Company, in 1924, four Douglas-built planes took off from Clover Field to attempt the first aerial circumnavigation of the world. Two planes returned after covering 27,553 miles in 175 days, the Douglas Company kept facilities in the city until the 1960s. The Great Depression hit Santa Monica deeply, one report gives citywide employment in 1933 of just 1,000. Hotels and office building owners went bankrupt, in the 1930s, corruption infected Santa Monica. The federal Works Project Administration helped build several buildings, most notably City Hall, the main Post Office and Barnum Hall were also among other WPA projects
10.
Will Rogers State Historic Park
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Will Rogers State Historic Park is the former estate of American humorist Will Rogers. It lies in the Santa Monica mountains in Los Angeles, in the Pacific Palisades area, in what is now the town of Pacific Palisades, Rogers built his ranch, where he lived with his wife Betty and their three children, Will Jr. Mary and James. The ranch became a State Park in 1944 after the death of Mrs. Rogers, California State Parks has completed a major renovation of the ranch house. The project included reconstruction of areas that surround the house, seismic safety work, replacement of electrical systems and installation of a new heating. The house has reopened to the public as of March 2006, beyond the ranch and the stables are the trails that lead to spectacular views of the countryside around the park. Since Will Rogers State Historic Park is on the tip of the Santa Monica Mountains, visitors can hike to Inspiration Point, take the Rogers trail around the perimeter of the park or continue on into Topanga State Park via the Backbone Trail System. The ranch reflects Will Rogers roots in horsemanship, starting with the polo field, the field is the only outdoor polo field in Los Angeles County, and the only field that is regulation size. The ranch has been in movies and television shows, including Star Trek IV. The polo field features a slope that forms an area for viewing the polo action. Up from the area are the ranch buildings, including the visitor center. The visitor center features a film on the life of Will Rogers, literature, the ranch buildings and grounds are maintained as they were when the Rogers family lived there in the late 1920s and 1930s. The north wing of the house contains the bedrooms, Rogers study. Will Rogers State Historic Park was one of the 48 California state parks proposed for closure in January 2008 by Californias Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as part of a deficit reduction program, Backbone Trail System Santa Monica Mountains topics index Will Rogers State Beach Official website
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