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Seen from Space 2006

San Francisco and the Bay Area

 
Fig. 1. San Francisco and the Bay Area
San Francisco (kmz, 1.82MB, Low Resolution) as seen on Google Earth.
Figure 1 depicts San Francisco and the Bay Area of California, U.S.A., as observed by the Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping (PRISM) on board the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) "Daichi" in July 2006.

San Francisco is located on the tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, which projects upward from the bottom of the image. The Pacific Ocean is to the west of the peninsula, and to the east is the central portion of San Francisco Bay, which juts into the continent, dividing the north from the south. The urban areas of Richmond, Berkley, and Oakland extend along the east side of the bay. Large artificial structures in the bay, including four big bridges, three airports, and one artificial island, are visible in the figure. The bridge across the mouth of the bay from the cusps of the peninsula is the Golden Gate Bridge. The bridges spanning San Francisco Bay, from north to south, are the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, and the San Mateo (-Hayward) Bridge.

San Francisco International Airport is located to the west of the bay, and Oakland International Airport is on the opposite side. Alameda Naval Air Station (closed in 1997) is south of the Bay Bridge. Just north of the middle of the Bay Bridge is the man-made Treasure Island.

Fig. 2. Close-up Image of San Francisco
A sylvan park called Presidio lies at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge, in the upper left of the figure. It has the most beautiful forests in the city, and golf courses are visible among the black trees. Presidio was a Spanish fortress built in 1776, but now it is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The long, rectangular Golden Gate Park lies east to west, south of Presidio and extending to the west coast of the peninsula. The public park is a place of recreation and relaxation.

On the east shore of Presidio, a fishhook-shaped breakwater is visible, where the San Francisco Maritime Museum is located in a circular cove. Fisherman's Wharf is to its east, where the coastline begins to turn. It is the most popular sightseeing spot in San Francisco, known for its prosperous, historic waterfront developed by Italian fishermen. The ship-shaped Alcatraz Island is located 3 km off the coast of Fisherman's Wharf. The island is surrounded by steep bluffs and was once a federal prison.

San Francisco is renowned for its rolling hills and iconic cable cars. The Powell-Hyde line runs south on Hyde Street from the terminal near the San Francisco Maritime Museum. The Powell-Mason line runs south on Mason Street. All join on Powell Street going south. Yellow-green lines in the figure indicate the cable-car routes.

AT&T Park (formerly SBC Park or Pacific Bell Park) is the home field of the Major League Baseball team, the "San Francisco Giants," and is visible near the center of the figure, south of the Bay Bridge. Further south, near the bottom of the figure, is Monster Park (formerly Candlestick Park) where the American football team, the "San Francisco 49'ers" (frequently referred to as the Niners), play their home games. Forty-niners (49'ers) can be traced back to the gold miners during the California Gold Rush that began in 1849.

Fig. 3. Three-Dimensional View of San Francisco
(Staring at the image for a long time may cause eyestrain. A color print is available in pdf format. Pdf files for the left and right eyes are also available.)
San Francisco can be enjoyed in three dimensions if viewed with a blue glass over the right eye and red glass over the left eye. Some topographical relief of the city may be recognizable, such as hills near the lower left (southeast) corner of Golden Gate Park and hills along the cable-car lines.



Referenced Site:
How to make the red and blue colored glasses: See Appendix of Three-Dimensional View of Mt. Haruna

Explanation of the Images:
(Figs. 1 to 3)
Satellite: Advanced Land-Observing Satellite (ALOS) (Daichi)
Sensor: Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping (PRISM)
Date: 1903 (UTC) on July 18, 2006
Ground resolution 2.5 m
Map Projection: Universal Transversal Mercator (UTM)
Figures 1 and 2 are nadir view images and Figure 3 combines backward (red) and nadir (green and blue) images. As for Figure 3, left eye sees backward image and right eye sees nadir image, which turns out the left side corresponds the satellite flight direction (south). Note that upward is north in Figures 1 and 2, whereas right hand side is north in Figure 3.

Related Sites:
Stereoscopy of Topography with Anaglyph Technology(The site of Numazu National College of Technology)
ALOS Research and Application Page
Land, Seen from Space
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