1.
New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
2.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
3.
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
4.
Sofitel
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Sofitel is a French hotel chain under AccorHotels. It opened its first property in Strasbourg in 1964 and its first overseas opening was in 1974. In 1995, Sofitel had 100 hotels in 40 countries and employed 12,500 people, two years later, Sofitel joined the Accor Group, founded in 1983 and in 2000, opened properties in Philadelphia and New York. In 2005, Sofitel continued its expansion with Sofitel Asia Pacific, in 2008, Sofitel became its own unit in the Accor group with 120 Hotels worldwide. The same magazine voted the Sofitel Berlin Gendarmenmarkt the Worlds Best Small City Hotel in 2009, the Sofitel Buenos Aires, Sofitel Cartagena Santa Clara, Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi, Sofitel Angkor Phokeethra Golf and Spa Resort can be found on the Condé Nast Traveler Gold List 2010. Sofitel London St. James was ranked the 8th in UK business hotels of the Readers Travel Awards 2010
5.
Emporis Skyscraper Award
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The Emporis Skyscraper Award is an award for architectural excellence regarding the design of buildings and their functionality. The award is presented annually by Emporis to the representing the Best new skyscraper for design. To qualify, nominated buildings must have completed during the year of the award. The award for each year is announced the following January and is presented at the following spring or summer. For 2000 and before, the award was known as the Skyscrapers. com Award, Emporis List of architecture prizes Emporis Awards Official Site
6.
Hotel
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A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Small, lower-priced hotels may offer only the most basic guest services and facilities, Hotel rooms are usually numbered to allow guests to identify their room. Some boutique, high-end hotels have custom decorated rooms, some hotels offer meals as part of a room and board arrangement. In the United Kingdom, a hotel is required by law to serve food, in Japan, capsule hotels provide a tiny room suitable only for sleeping and shared bathroom facilities. The precursor to the hotel was the inn of medieval Europe. For a period of about 200 years from the mid-17th century, inns began to cater to richer clients in the mid-18th century. One of the first hotels in a sense was opened in Exeter in 1768. Hotels proliferated throughout Western Europe and North America in the early 19th century, Hotel operations vary in size, function, and cost. Most hotels and major hospitality companies have set standards to classify hotel types. Full service hotels often contain upscale full-service facilities with a number of full service accommodations, an on-site full service restaurant. Boutique hotels are independent, non-branded hotels that often contain upscale facilities. Small to medium-sized hotel establishments offer a limited amount of on-site amenities, economy hotels are small to medium-sized hotel establishments that offer basic accommodations with little to no services. Extended stay hotels are small to medium-sized hotels that offer full service accommodations compared to a traditional hotel. Timeshare and destination clubs are a form of property ownership involving ownership of a unit of accommodation for seasonal usage. A motel is a small-sized low-rise lodging with direct access to rooms from the car park. Boutique hotels are typically hotels with an environment or intimate setting. A number of hotels have entered the public consciousness through popular culture, some hotels are built specifically as a destination in itself, for example at casinos and holiday resorts. The organizational chart and volume of job positions and hierarchy varies by size, function and class
7.
44th Street (Manhattan)
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The New York City borough of Manhattan contains 228 numbered east–west streets, the majority of them created by the Commissioners Plan of 1811. These streets do not run exactly east–west, because the plan is aligned with the Hudson River, rather than with the cardinal direction. Thus, the grids west is approximately 29 degrees north of true west, the grid covers the length of the island from 14th Street north. All numbered streets carry an East or West prefix, which changes from one to the other at Broadway below 8th Street, the numbered streets carry crosstown traffic. In general, but with exceptions, even-numbered streets are one-way eastbound. Most wider streets, and a few of the narrow ones, some streets in that area that do continue farther west change direction before reaching the Hudson River. 220th Street is the highest numbered street on Manhattan Island, but Marble Hill is also within the borough of Manhattan, the numbering system continues in the Bronx, up to 263rd Street. The lowest numbered street in Manhattan is East First Street, which runs through Alphabet City near East Houston Street, there is also a First Place in Battery Park City. East 1st Street begins just north of East Houston Street at Avenue A, peretz Square, a small triangular sliver park where Houston Street, First Street and First Avenue meet marks the spot where the grid takes hold. East 2nd Street begins just north of East Houston Street at Avenue C, the East end of East 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 7th Streets is Avenue D, with East 6th Street continuing further Eastward and connecting to FDR Drive. The west end of these streets is the Bowery and Third Avenue, except for 3rd Street and 4th Street, great Jones Street connects East 3rd to West 3rd. For 4th Street, see 4th Street, East 5th Street goes west to Cooper Square, but is interrupted between Avenues B and C by The Earth School, Public School 364, and between First Avenue and Avenue A by the Village View Apartments. West 8th Street is an important local shopping street, 8th Street between Avenue A and Third Avenue is called St Marks Place, but it is counted in the length below. M8 bus route operates eastbound on 8th Street and westbound on 9th Street between Avenue A and Sixth Avenue, 10th Street begins at the FDR Drive and Avenue C. West of Sixth Avenue, it turns southward about 40 degrees to join the Greenwich Village street grid, because West 4th Street turns northward at Sixth Avenue, it intersects 10th, 11th and 12th and 13th Streets in the West Village. The M8 bus operates on 10th Street in both directions between Avenue D and Avenue A, and eastbound between West Street and Sixth Avenue, 10th Street has an eastbound bike lane from West Street to the East River. In 2009, the section of 10th Street between Avenue A and the East River had bicycle markings and sharrows installed, but it still has no dedicated bike lane. West 10th Street was previously named Amos Street for Charles Chistopher Amos, the end of West 10th Street toward the Hudson River was once the home of Newgate Prison, New York Citys first prison and the United States second
8.
Midtown Manhattan
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Midtown Manhattan, or Midtown, represents the central lengthwise portion of the borough and island of Manhattan in New York City. Along Manhattans north-south long axis, Midtown Manhattan separates Lower Manhattan from Upper Manhattan, the majority of New York Citys skyscrapers, including its tallest hotels and apartment towers, lie within Midtown. Midtown spans the island of Manhattan along an east-west axis, being bounded by the East River on its east. The Encyclopedia of New York City defines Midtown as being from 34th Street to 59th Street and it is sometimes broken into Midtown East and Midtown West, or north and south as in the New York City Police Departments Midtown North and Midtown South precincts. Midtown South can refer to the part of Midtown between 23rd Street and around 42nd Street, Midtown West can refer to the area between 34th and 59th Streets, and between 5th and 12th Avenues. Midtown East can refer to the area between 42nd and 59th Streets, and between 5th Avenue and the East River, in other sources these districts are referred to as separate central business districts. Midtown Manhattan, along with Lower Manhattan, is one of the leading financial centers. Midtown Manhattan is the countrys largest central business district and it has the headquarters of major companies, including 4Kids Entertainment, Barnes & Noble, Bloomberg L. P. The New York Institute of Finance is located in Midtown Manhattan, Haier operates its United States offices in the Haier Building at 1356 Broadway, the building used to be a building of the Greenwich Savings Bank. Haier held the ceremony on March 4,2002. Sumitomo Corporation operates its New York Office, the headquarters of the corporations United States operations, el Als North American headquarters are in Midtown. The Air France USA regional headquarters are in 125 West 55th Street in Midtown Manhattan, hachette Book Group USA has its headquarters in 237 Park Avenue. In 1994 Alitalia considered moving its USA headquarters from Midtown to Lower Manhattan, global Infrastructure Partners has an office in Midtown Manhattan. Biotechnology is emerging in Midtown Manhattan, bolstered by the strength in academic scientific research and public. Aer Lingus had its United States offices in Midtown, in 1997, Aer Lingus announced that it was moving its North American headquarters to Melville, New York, in Suffolk County. New York City Department of Education public schools in Midtown Manhattan include Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School, private schools include The Beekman School, Rebecca School, and a number of private language and music centers. The La Scuola dItalia Guglielmo Marconi Italian international school will move to West Midtown in 2016, in addition to its well-known Main Branch research library—now known as the Stephen A. Pennsylvania Station and Grand Central Terminal are major railroad stations located in Midtown Manhattan, the Port Authority Bus Terminal is also in Midtown
9.
Bryant Park
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Bryant Park is a 9. 603-acre privately managed public park located in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located between Fifth and Sixth Avenues and between 40th and 42nd Streets in Midtown Manhattan, even though it is part of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, Bryant Park is managed by the private not-for-profit corporation Bryant Park Corporation. The park is cited as a model for the success of public-private partnerships, in 1686, when the area was still a wilderness, New Yorks colonial governor, Thomas Dongan, designated the area now known as Bryant Park as a public space. George Washingtons troops crossed the area while retreating from the Battle of Long Island in 1776, beginning in 1823, Bryant Park was designated a potters field and remained so until 1840, when thousands of bodies were moved to Wards Island. The first park at this site opened in 1847 as Reservoir Square and it was named after its neighbor, the Croton Distributing Reservoir. In 1853, the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations with the New York Crystal Palace, featuring thousands of exhibitors, the Crystal Palace]], also known as the Great Exhibition Hall, burned down in 1858. In 1884, Reservoir Square was renamed Bryant Park, to honor the New York Evening Post editor, in 1899, the Reservoir structure was removed and construction of the New York Public Library building began. Terrace gardens, public facilities, and kiosks were added to the park, the park was redesigned in 1933–4 as a Great Depression public works project under the leadership of Robert Moses. The new park featured a great lawn, and added hedges, the park was temporarily degraded in the late 1930s by the tearing down of the El and the construction of the New York City Subways underground Sixth Avenue line. On October 15,1969, a rally attended by 40,000 people was held in Bryant Park as part of the nationwide Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam. Tony Conrad captured the event live from the window of his 42nd Street apartment, by the 1970s, Bryant Park had been taken over by drug dealers, prostitutes and the homeless and was considered a no-go area by ordinary citizens and visitors. The re-design was drafted by Hanna/Olin Ltd. and Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates, the Bryant Park Restoration Corporation was founded in 1980 by Dan Biederman and Andrew Heiskell, chairman of Time Inc. and the New York Public Library. The BPRC immediately brought significant changes made the park once again a place that people wanted to visit. BPRC also created a security staff to confront unlawful behavior immediately. BPRC’s plan also included restoring of the monuments, and renovating its long-closed restrooms. In the effort, Biederman worked with William H. Whyte, an American sociologist, whyte’s influence led them to implement two decisions essential to making the park the successful public space that it is. The second decision was to lower the park itself, because Bryant Park had been elevated from the street and isolated by tall hedges prior to the 1988 redesign, the 1988 renovation lowered the park to nearly street level and tore out the hedges. The parks restrooms, which had closed for 35 years, were renovated as well
10.
New York Public Library
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The New York Public Library is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States and it is a private, non-governmental, independently managed, nonprofit corporation operating with both private and public financing. The library has branches in the boroughs of Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island, the City of New Yorks other two boroughs, Brooklyn and Queens, are served by the Brooklyn Public Library and the Queens Library, respectively. The branch libraries are open to the public and consist of circulating libraries. The New York Public Library also has four libraries which are open to the general public as well. At the behest of Joseph Cogswell, John Jacob Astor placed a codicil in his will to bequeath $400,000 for the creation of a public library. After Astors death in 1848, the board of trustees executed the wills conditions. The library created was a reference library, its books were not permitted to circulate. An act of the New York State Legislature incorporated the Lenox Library in 1870, the library was built on Fifth Avenue, between 40th and 42nd streets, in 1877. Bibliophile and philanthropist James Lenox donated a vast collection of his Americana, art works, manuscripts, at its inception, the library charged admission and did not permit physical access to any literary items. Both the Astor and Lenox libraries were struggling financially, although New York City already had numerous libraries in the 19th century, almost all of them were privately funded and many charged admission or usage fees. On May 23,1895, Bigelow and representatives of the two agreed to create The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. The plan was hailed as an example of philanthropy for the public good. The newly established library consolidated with the grass-roots New York Free Circulating Library in February 1901, the trustees hired McKim, Mead & White, Carrère and Hastings, and Walter Cook to design all the branch libraries. The notable New York author Washington Irving was a friend of Astor for decades and had helped the philanthropist design the Astor Library. They saw their role as protecting the librarys autonomy from politicians as well as bestowing upon it status, resources, representative of many major board decisions was the purchase in 1931 of the private library of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, uncle of the last tsar. This was one of the largest acquisitions of Russian books and photographic materials, at the time, the military drew extensively from the librarys map and book collections in the world wars, including hiring its staff. For example, the Map Divisions chief Walter Ristow was appointed as head of the section of the War Departments New York Office of Military Intelligence from 1942 to 1945
