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The City & County of Honolulu

Started by sumwonyuno, July 31, 2009, 01:29:49 PM

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Battlecat

Well that's quite the ambitious project!  It's already coming together quite nicely!  I like the way you've mixed your basic residential in with golf courses in a few places, it looks quite realistic.  Looking forward to the next update!

Earth quake

Beautiful Update, I'm impatient to see the University.

Tomas Neto

Fantastic rural and industrial areas!!  :thumbsup:

sumwonyuno

#83
The Sims of the Leeward Coast of Community Island, in several respects, feel as if they are the first in line for being shortchanged, and the last to be considered for benefits.





There once was the CR&L Co. rail line that provided access around the Vai'anae Mountains, but it is replaced by the Governor Highway.  Because of State policy, the highway is not completed around Ka'ena Point.   Thus, the Leeward Coast only has one way in and out.  It is vulnerable to being cut off from the rest of the island, and often is.



The first thing from Ko'orina, on the mountain-side of the Governor Highway, is Vaipanaro Gulch.  It is currently used today as the City's main landfill.  The ash from the C-Power waste-to-energy plant and the largely unrecycled trash of Capitalis is buried here.



A short distance up the Governor Highway is the Kate Power Plant, the largest of three oil-fired power plants that provide electricity for Community Island.



The Leeward Coast is almost completely comprised of R$ housing; home prices are among the lowest on the island.  There are farms and the local shop, but the overwhelming majority of commuters work elsewhere, along the southern coast of Community Island.  The Leeward Coast has the highest percentage on Community Island of Sims being of Native Paradisian decent or having a multi racial/ethnic background.



Nanakuri is the biggest of the four neighborhoods on the Leeward Coast.  Toward the mountains are farms.



On the other side of a large hill is the neighborhood called Pa'iri.  It is at the mouth of the largest valley of the Vai'anae Mountains.



The area inland from Pa'iri is known as Ruaruarei.  The most visible objects are the powerful twin radio antennas used by the Simerican military for communication.  At 1500 feet, or 458 meters, these two antennas are the tallest man-made structures in the State and in the whole SimPacific region.



Located under the ground and well into the valley is an subterranean network to store and protect munitions used by the Simerican Navy.




Continuing north, there is the neighborhood for which the surrounding mountains are named after, Vai'anae.



Towering over the rest of the land is the highest peak on Community Island, Mount Ka'ara, at 4,020 feet, or 1226 meters.



The last residential neighborhood on the Governor Highway is Pakata.  Though it is the furthest neighborhood away from in-town Capitalis, Pakata is the only place on the Leeward Coast with high-rise condominiums.



Going further north on the Governor Highway, there is the Pakua Valley.  It is a point of controversy between Native Paradisians and the Simerican military.  The military wants to continue using the valley for training, including the use of live ammunition and artillery.  The Native Paradisians want the military to stop, clean up the valley and train somewhere else because of important cultural sites.



A little further up the Governor Highway, the road ends.  The area is known as Ka'ena Point, the western point of Community Island.  A wildlife preserve was established here and is the reason the Governor Highway was never fully completed.



With that note, the Island Tour arc is now completed.  Starting next week, I'll be posting real life pictures to compare and contrast Honolulu with Capitalis.




***Replies***

Battlecat:  Heh, there's like five or six golf courses there in RL, and there's more planned to be built that will create those green belts around housing.

Earth quake:  Goverment officials did the ceremonial groundbreaking this year, but because of the economy, real construction hasn't happened yet.  I saw the area from a plane, and that new campus is going to be huge in terms of area.

Tomas Neto:  Thanks!  I need to replace all that small-lot Maxis stuff with industrial mega lots.  Also, all that farmland will be gone in about 20 RL years.   &cry2


The City & County of Honolulu, a Mayor Diary based on Honolulu, Hawai'i.

mark's memory address - I've created a blog!

Battlecat

I never made it over to this part of the island on my trip, probably because you can't loop around the island along that closed highway.  The really funny thing is, Google Maps actually shows the highway looping around through that Park!  It seems somebody in the mapping department decided to trace out the route of a dirt road that runs along the coast through the park! 

Those high rise buildings are one of the odder things I've ever seen development wise.  If I hadn't confirmed their existence on google maps, I'm not sure I would have believed it!  In any rate, everything looks great and you're still doing a great job of mimicking reality using the tools available in SC4!


emgmod

^I wonder if the people making Street View for Hawaii are getting confused right now.

This is probably the only area on the island that I haven't gone to. We never drove past Ko'olina (Ko'orina)

adroman

Simply fantastic sumwonyuno!

Keep up the excellent work  :thumbsup:
737s, Air Force, Australia... what next?

Tomas Neto

Wow my friend, fantastic update again!!! Your cities are great!!!  &apls &apls

sumwonyuno

#88
From the great Administrator of the Capitalis region, Sum Won Yuno:

For the next two and a half months, I have decided to post real life pictures of Honolulu, Hawai'i to compare and constrast with what I've built in SimCity as Capitalis, Paradise.  I don't have pictures of everywhere possible, but I've taken over 1,000 photos of the island I call home.  The updates will showcase the best pictures I've taken of places that tourists, residents, and locals may see around the island.  I admit, the updates are fillers to keep readers occupied until I have time to do the pictures for the main story.  I don't want this project to just lie in inactivity until mid-January 2010.  I hope that all of you readers will gain a new perspective of Honolulu and better appreciation of the work I've put into Capitalis.

For the Real Island Tour, I will be referencing place names by their real names and including their SimCity name (if any) in the following format:  RealName (SCName)

There will be a lot of single images and some panoramas made from stitching together individual photos (with help with Hugin panorama creator).

Here is an example pair of pictures of Downtown from Punchbowl (Juicebowl) Crater:





The panorams are clickable!  Click to see a larger version.  The larger versions won't be the original quality, due to ImageShack's file size constraints.

I have more ready, but I need to fix issues with the panoramas (manual stitching is sometimes better than automatic).  More will come Friday/Saturday this week.




***Replies*** (almost forgot!)

Battlecat:  Yeah, it's probably the only part of the island where tourists don't go.  Heh, I noticed that Google is imagining if the State completed Farrington (Governor) Highway around Ka'ena.  Yeah, the City Council allowed a lot of weird zoning for high-rise residential around the island (especially back during the 1960's and 1970's when the building boom happened).  Those condos are the only highrises I haven't seen in real life yet.

emgmod:  I actually saw the Google car by Aloha Tower one day.  I haven't looked to see if I'm in Street View.  As for the Leeward Coast, I've been there a few times in my life for field trips, years ago.

adroman:  Thanks for the encouragement!

Tomas Neto:  Thank you very much for that compliment!


The City & County of Honolulu, a Mayor Diary based on Honolulu, Hawai'i.

mark's memory address - I've created a blog!

Battlecat

Well you've certainly got the basics of the layout right on even if the exact buildings and heights aren't!  Pretty hard to get building heights exactly on the nose without specific custom buildings though, you've done a great job capturing the gist of it! 

That's certainly a good photo there, an excellent panorama of the downtown area!  Out of curiosity, what is that building with the pillars surrounded by a pool of water in the center of the photo?

Tomas Neto

You did an amazing job in your city!!! Impressive!!!   &apls &apls &apls

KoV Liberty

Oh, look at that! I haven't posted in a little while. Well, anyways. Great job on those last updates! Btw, on the topic of Mount Ka'ara, is the top flat like that because of the game height limit?

My new MD. Check it out if you wish.

Adrian, I miss you man.

emgmod

Quote from: Battlecat on November 02, 2009, 02:31:15 PMThat's certainly a good photo there, an excellent panorama of the downtown area!  Out of curiosity, what is that building with the pillars surrounded by a pool of water in the center of the photo?

If my long time ago field trip memory serves me correctly, that would be the state capitol.

By the way, what cruise ship was anchored when you took the picture?

Earth quake

Nice update. :thumbsup:
I really like the utilisation of the maxis bat in your city.
Beside, your suburbs as usual beautiful.

sumwonyuno

#94
In-town Capitalis:


In SimCity 4, you have the game's plane-like view, but there's no ground view available.

It's quite easy to find good (and accessible) views of the Honolulu skyline.  Though, it's actually quite hard to find a place where you can get the entire skyline in one shot.

Here are two panoramas of the rest of in-town Honolulu (Capitalis) from Punchbowl (Juicebowl) Crater:


[I'm sorry, something was on my lens...]








Diamond Head (Pearl Head) Crater is the most recognizable landform in Honolulu.  Here are some pictures of the latest hike to the top I took:














***Replies***

Battlecat:  Thanks!  As emgmod replied, it's the Hawaii State Capitol Building.  It's one of the most unique buildings we have.  I chose the game's Palacio Real because it had that open air interior.  The building in RL has an open air design, its columns is suppose to mimic the trunk of the palm tree, its overall design is like a volcano and the water pool surrounding it is suppose to be the ocean.

Tomas Neto:  Thank you!

Driftmaster07:  Heh, thanks for popping back in to see the progress.  Mount Ka'ala (Ka'ara) is actually quite flat at the top in RL.  It's part of the slope of the former Wai'anae (Vai'arae) shield volcano.

emgmod:  I think it's an NCL cruise ship.  I took the Punchbowl and Diamond Head pictures back in 2008, before the cruise ships stopped coming here.

Earth quake:  Thanks!  I'm glad you like how I built things.


The City & County of Honolulu, a Mayor Diary based on Honolulu, Hawai'i.

mark's memory address - I've created a blog!

Tomas Neto

I'm impressed with the size of your cities, and the level of details!!! Fantastic, my friend!!!  &apls &apls

Battlecat

I knew that building looked familiar!  I actually went past the State Capitol on the bus, but didn't have time to stop in to look at the area.  That really is a very cool building, and from your description, sounds like a lot of thought went into it!

The view from the top of Diamond Head really is spectacular!  That shot of Waikiki is a great one, it contains most of the area that I spent a lot of time during my holiday.  Spent a lot of time on the beach just to the right of the pink building on the beach (I think it's the one with the Cheesecake Factory in it). 

These shots really do help illustrate just how well you've done with your recreation.  It's not exact but it's pretty close considering the limitations of the game!

Earth quake

Splendid update.
The recreation of the diamond head is really impressive.

sumwonyuno

There is a roadway called Lagoon Drive by the Honolulu International Airport.  Here is the view of Downtown and Waikiki (Vaikiki):


There are many suburban neighborhoods that sprawl on the Ko'olau (Ko'orau) Mountains.  I did not make them in game because it's difficult to do them, especially if they're on city tile borders.

Kapalama (Kajarapa) Heights is up in the hills above my house:



Looking west toward the airport:



Liliha (Ririta) is located in the top left corner of the following in-game picture:


I went to a park up there sometime ago and I marvelled at the view from there:





The Manoa (Panoa) Valley:



Tantalus is the highest point you can drive in town.  Here's the view of the Manoa Valley, the University of Hawai'i, Diamond Head, and Waikiki:



St. Louis Heights is east of Manoa and is another mountain neighborhood that I haven't built yet in the region.  I stumbled upon this view one day when I took a wrong turn going home:



Kaimuki (Kaipuki) is made up of a large grid of streets, but it's quite hilly:




Next week, we'll travel over the mountains to the windward side of the island.




***Replies***

Tomas Neto:  Thank you for noticing the detail!

Battlecat:  Ahh, I see.  I'll post pictures of the Capitol area and Waikiki later than sooner because I'm posting in approx. order I took the pictures.  I just took them last week.  I'm glad that you've recognized the effort I've done!

Earth quake:  Thanks, glad you like the recreation!


The City & County of Honolulu, a Mayor Diary based on Honolulu, Hawai'i.

mark's memory address - I've created a blog!

Tomas Neto

The way that you do your updates is perfect, alternating pictures of the real city and the images of the game!!! Fantastic update again my friend!!!   &apls

Welcome to the Best Sellers!!!  :thumbsup: