The former World Trade Center in New York discussion

[GEHFileBot]

This is a discussion thread for the following file:

The former World Trade Center in New York

The WTC towers as they stood until September 11th, 2001.



Credit: equitus at bbs.keyhole.com

[jkl]

I'm sorry to resume this old thread but I choose so rather than to open a new thread.

The problem I see with this file about the world trade center is that it isn't so precise.

I looked for the geographic data into the file, and i found these values for the 8 edges of the two towers:

WTC1 (longitude,latitude):
A -74.01372912996717,40.71260764725424
B -74.0137005548784,40.71260985241289
C -74.01303205713893,40.71231182094332
D -74.01302304157183,40.71228940708439
E -74.01337274627421,40.71184417111287
F -74.01340526868839,40.71183868504868
G -74.01407060957935,40.7121373075252
H -74.0140790328641,40.71216046745134

WTC2 (longitude,latitude):
I -74.01358371829376,40.71149350945164
L -74.01354665686255,40.71150288043829
M -74.01288376382151,40.71120124360745
N -74.01287412871099,40.71117644432115
O -74.01322478970275,40.71072951984284
P -74.0132563135176,40.71072370206463
Q -74.01392116370612,40.71102624036947
R -74.01393003162406,40.71104865011551

or also better:

WTC1 (longitude,latitude):
A W 74°00'49.424867881812" N 40°42'45.38753011526396"
B W 74°00'49.32199756224" N 40°42'45.39546868640414"
C W 74°00'46.91540570014801" N 40°42'44.32255539595204"
D W 74°00'46.882949658588" N 40°42'44.24186550380426"
E W 74°00'48.141886587156" N 40°42'42.6390160063319"
F W 74°00'48.258967278204" N 40°42'42.61926617524807"
G W 74°00'50.65419448566" N 40°42'43.69430709071992"
H W 74°00'50.68451831076" N 40°42'43.77768282482378"

WTC2 (longitude,latitude):
I W 74°00'48.901385857536" N 40°42'41.37663402590391"
L W 74°00'48.76796470518" N 40°42'41.41036957784394"
M W 74°00'46.381549757436" N 40°42'40.32447698681992"
N W 74°00'46.346863359564" N 40°42'40.23519955613992"
O W 74°00'47.6092429299" N 40°42'38.62627143422429"
P W 74°00'47.72272866336" N 40°42'38.60532743266788"
Q W 74°00'50.116189342032" N 40°42'39.69446533009204"
R W 74°00'50.148113846616" N 40°42'39.77514041583603"

I changed these coordinates into UTM coordinates (NAD83 ellipsoid) and i got these coordinates (cartesian):

WTC1:
A E 416693.2468035915 N 4507322.410337737
B E 416690.83588134707 N 4507322.682228021
C E 416633.997683971 N 4507290.233113709
D E 416633.20819816703 N 4507287.753588555
E E 416662.19190224883 N 4507237.997668712
F E 416664.93218560563 N 4507237.357822781
G E 416721.5047205809 N 4507269.875774224
H E 416722.24507889734 N 4507272.438688106

WTC2:
I E 416679.57526734204 N 4507198.87182168
L E 416676.45640530234 N 4507199.947219182
M E 416620.0861504688 N 4507167.09266733
N E 416619.24134002463 N 4507164.348934275
O E 416648.3041372371 N 4507114.40463271
P E 416650.9597001741 N 4507113.728907669
Q E 416707.49665151315 N 4507146.681908837
R E 416708.2736485149 N 4507149.1611246625

Using these data I drew the plan of the two towers and I realized something that, at first, I didn't realize: the two plans are not square!

All this was a wasted effort since I could look the two towers with google earth from an high point of view. I did this and really the two plans are rectangular.

This is a problem since the plans should be two perfect squares of 63,13 m (207' 2") with rounded corners.

Is there anyone of you that knows how it is possible to find the correct geographic coordinates of the towers' edges?

Looking around I found this awesome 3D virtual (interactive) reconstruction of the World Trade Center:
3D WTC

Thanks in advance for your answers

[thomsonr]

????? under Ubuntu 6.1