Smith-9th Street View Shed Again: But this time with ARCGIS On-Line

   ARCGIS ESRI has a on line service that although you have to pay for it, has  many interesting features.  One of those that I stumbled across is their analysis section is that of viewshed analysis.  Will the object in question be visible, let us say a power windmill 9 miles away?  How tall shall we make a windmill so less people will object?  How about the Smith-9th Street station, the highest in the NYC subway system?  I used GRASS to calculate this before, but it is cumbersome: You need an X and Y coordinate and getting the resultant map in the proper format is hard.  In ARCGIS on line, you can go to the analytic section and locate Viewshed.  Pan the base map that you choose to the location that you want.  You can use a pointer to add the point of interest.  Add the height of the object, this time the Smith-9th street subway station.  You can get the location by bringing in a NYC subway stop shape file that you need to zip.  The second height is that of the observer.  In the first map above,  I used the default value of either 0 or 6 feet, the size of a person.  You can add a range.  In the second map, I ran the analysis but I added that a ground viewer would be on a 40 foot building.    The results of the first and second analysis is shown on the joint map above.  Being on a higher location will result in a larger range.  In Manhatan, very high buildings will block your view and you will not be able to see the Smith-9th Street station.  The reverse of this analysis is also true:
"If I am at the Smith-9th Street Station, what can I see?"  If the city consisted of 40 foot buildings, the map above is what you can see.  Check out ARCGIS on line if you have an account or if you have a free one.
Tramway Null

Another Look at the Smith-9th Street Area in Brooklyn: 1952

  This picture was taken from a Gowanus Area blog but the original photograph is the property of the Brooklyn Public Library.  It was taken in 1952 under the title of "Vital Waterway".  In this remarkable shot, you are facing north on the Gowanus Canal.  You see the Smith-9th Street elevated subway line crossing the canal.  The station is very high because the 9th Street drawbridge is right under it.  I believe that a year earlier, on February 11, 1951, the Smith Street trolley died.  It ran under the station  and over the  9th Street drawbridge.  You see the movable (adjustable)  gas tank in it's correct position.  Surrounding the canal was various cement and coal companies. I believe Cirillo Brothers was a coal company and they had  branch(es) near the Culver Line at the 13th Avenue Station.  In later years, I believe they became a supplier of fuel oil for heating.  In the right side of the shot, you see the Williamsburg Bank Building, which was for that time and perhaps until recently, the highest building in Brooklyn.  To the left, you see some of the tall office buildings on Court Street Brooklyn.  Manhattan skyscrapers do not show up in this photo.  To this day, this area is industrial with cement companies but there are plans for housing near the canal.  I believe Bob Diamond wants to link this area to the Red Hook Streetcar  as well.

Smith-9th Street Station to Open Soon after Rehabilitation

These two great photos come from subchat.  One from Broadway Lion and one from the MTA.  The large sign of a former tile company is an icon for the area.

Notice the Kentile Floor Sign.  The view is from the unopened Manhattan bound platform facing east.
The Broadway Lion simulated view is facing more north easterly.

Notice in the sumulation that the fence is missing and there is no lighting.  The red subway car is from the IRT Division signed for Number 4 Lexington Avenue Express service and seems to be on the express track..  These cars are here far away from IRT territory.  Where are the gas tanks?  Thank you Broadway Lion for this picture.

Terrain Analysis with GRASS 6.4.1. Test at Smith-9th Street

Visibility Analysis at Smith-9th Street Station -  The pink X is the location of the Smith-9th Street Station and the Red Circle is the location of the Williamburgh Bank Building shown in the picture above.  The dark green areas are areas at street level that are visible from the station.

  In he map above, I added the street grid.  The green area (non-neon) is the area produced by GRASS 6.4.1. in the Terrain Analysis Mode - Visibility Option for the Smith-9th Street station (pink x).  The elevation that I gave for the station was 90 feet.  GRASS 6.4.1 studied the elevation file (neon green color) and calculated the visibility to street level of an observer from the Smith-9th Street elevated station on the F line.  Since I added a street grid, I was able to locate the location of the Williamburgh Saving Bank building which is the the large sandstone pointed building in the center of the picture above obtained from the web.  The bank is indicated by a red circle.  The red circle is near the edge of the green visibility area.   In the photograph above, you can see that it appears on the edge of the viewing area.  If you look above and follow the F train route to the south and west, you can see that the F train splits up (right triangle) near Prospect Park.  Notice that the green area ends at Prospect Park West.  The elevation is very high there and you can see why a person standing at Smith-9th Street station looking west on 9th Street could not see much beyond the park.  The Smith-9th Street is currently going under rehab and it would be interesting to see when the station opens if this analysis is accurate.

Calculating Visibility from the Smith-9th Street Station in Brooklyn using GRASS 6.4.1.

In the attached map, New York Subway station and lines were brought in to produce a map.  The street elevation level was added and GRASS 6.4.1 terrain analysis was conducted to produce the visibility to the street surface from the station itself, which is about 90 feet tall.   The x-y coordinate I used was 985286.93, 184579.87   The green area on the map shows the area, if buildings were not in the way, how far an observer will see the surface.  Of course, you can see much further than the green area if you are looking at tall buildings and other structures.  Notice that the visibility area is not circular because the surface has hills in it that would block the observer's view.

These pictures were taken off the web.  The top picture is serveral years old and shows a southbound R-46 F train approaching the Smith-9th Street after leaving the the tunnel at Carroll Street.  The second picture is also off the web and was taken from the same station and is facing north showing the Culver Viaduct declining into the Carroll Street Station.  Notice the buildings on the hill west of the viaduct.  The above picture shows the viaduct above the Gowanus Canal. The station is above the canal and runs to the right.  Notice that on the terrain analysis diagram, the hill in Carroll gardens is blocking the view of the surface (non green area) , just like in the photograph.

   In the map below, the same GRASS 6.4.1 procedure was run,  except that the range was expanded to 700,000 meters.  I do not know why the analysis stops in middle of the harbor.  The Smith-9th Street station is found on the map as a red X.