Transamerica Pyramid

The Transamerica Pyramid is the tallest and most recognizable skyscraper in the San Francisco skyline.

Built on the location of the historic Montgomery Block, it has a structural height of 260 meters (853 feet) and contains 48 stories of retail and office space. Construction began in 1969 and finished in 1972. Although it no longer houses the headquarters of the Transamerica Corporation, it is still strongly associated with the company and is depicted in the company's logo. The building itself is evocative of San Francisco and has become one of the many symbols of the city. Designed by architect William Pereira, it faced considerable opposition during its planning and construction, and was sometimes referred to by detractors as "Pereira's Prick". In 1999, Transamerica was acquired by Dutch insurance company AEGON. When most of Transamerica was later sold to GE Capital, AEGON retained the building.

Credits: Wikipedia: Transamerica Pyramid

tags: transamerica pyramid san_francisco sf geotagged

adr: 600 Montgomery Street, San Francisco, CA

Space Needle

The Space Needle is the Pacific Northwest's most recognizable landmark and is the symbol of the U.S. city of Seattle, Washington. Located on the grounds of Seattle Center, it was built for the 1962 World's Fair, during which time nearly 20,000 people a day used the elevators — 2.3 million visitors in all for the World Fair. It is now privately owned. The Space Needle is a tower 184 m (605 feet) high and 42 m (138 feet) wide at its widest point and weighs 9,550 tons. It is built to withstand winds of up to 200 mph (320 km/h) and earthquakes up to 9.1 magnitude, and has 25 lightning rods on the roof to withstand lightning strikes.

Credits: Wikipedia: Space Needle

tags: space_needle seattle geotagged

geo: (47.620424 -122.348903)

Canary Wharf

Canary Wharf in Tower Hamlets, London, United Kingdom, is a large business development on the Isle of Dogs, centred on the old West India Docks in the London Docklands.

Rivalling London's traditional financial centre, The Square Mile, Canary Wharf contains the UK's three tallest buildings: One Canada Square (commonly known as the Canary Wharf Tower or simply Canary Wharf) at 235.1m; and the HSBC Tower and the Citigroup Centre joint second tallest at 199.5m.

Credits: Wikipedia: Canary Wharf

tags: canary_wharf docklands london geotagged

geo: (51.505063 -0.01928)

Great Pyramid of Giza

The Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest and last remaining of the Seven Wonders of the World. Egyptologists generally agree the pyramid was constructed over a 20 year period concluding around 2560 BC. It is generally believed the Great Pyramid was built as the tomb of Fourth dynasty Egyptian pharoah Khufu (Cheops), after whom it is sometimes called Khufu's Pyramid or the Pyramid of Khufu. Khufu's vizier, Hemiunu, is credited as the architect of the Great Pyramid.

Credits: Wikipedia: Great Pyramid of Giza

tags: pyramid giza egypt geotagged

geo: (29.975959 31.130404)

Empire State Building

The Empire State Building is a 102-story contemporary Art Deco style building in New York City, declared by the ASCE to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.

Designed by Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, it was finished in 1931. The tower takes its name from the nickname of New York State. Since the September 11th attacks, it is again the tallest building in New York City.

Credits: Wikipedia: Empire State Building

tags: empire_state_building nyc new_york geotagged

geo: (40.748611, -73.986389)

Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower (French: La Tour Eiffel) is an iron tower built on the Champ de Mars beside the River Seine in Paris. It is the tallest structure in Paris and among the most recognized symbols in the world. Named after its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel, it is a premier tourist destination.

Credits: Wikipedia: Eiffel Tower

tags: eiffel_tower paris geotagged

geo: (48.858249, 2.294469)

Petronas Towers

The Petronas Towers (also known as the Petronas Twin Towers), in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, were once the world's tallest buildings when measured from the level of the main entrance to the structural or architectural top.

Credits: Wikipedia: Petronas Towers

tags: petronas_towers kl kuala_lumpur geotagged

geo: (3.15785, 101.71165)

Burj Dubai

Scheduled to be completed in 2008, the Burj Dubai is widely expected to be the tallest building in the world.

Credits: Wikipedia: Burj Dubai

tags: burj dubai geotagged

geo: (25.199539, 55.272406)

Mashup of Tall Buildings

This is a proof-of-concept blog to show what can be done by combining 'my local guru' (www.mylocalguru.com) with a standard blog authoring tool, in this case Blogger. The aim is to produce something that could be described as a Google maps mashup without having to write any code. This blog takes as its subject matter 'tall buildings'.

The steps required to build this demo:

• Create this blog
• Register as a user on mylocalguru and add this blog as one of my feeds
• Grab the map URL from mylocalguru for this feed/blog
• Include the map URL in a blog post
  (use it as the src for an <iframe>, remembering to add the &iframe=1 parameter to the map URL)
• Write blog posts about individual buildings and 'geotag' them ... then just sit back and let mylocalguru keep everything woven together.

Credits: for the purposes of this demo I have borrowed heavily from Wikipedia.