I moved to Pac Heights (Vallejo near Steiner) about 6 months ago and am very interested in the lay of the land. Does anyone know where I can find a Perspective/3D map/picture of SF WITHOUT any buildings? Sort of like the first missionaries would have seen it if they flew over in a helicopter.

Or, is there any software that can turn a topo map into a Perspective/3D map/picture?

Note: I moved after 30 years in Palo Alto, so I'm not sure I have adapted to the local culture, yet.

Cheers,

Neal

-- Neal Margolis (nim@skillware.com), August 13, 2003

Answers

The man you've got to see is Greg Gaar. This local environmental activist has collected over 3,000 historic photos of what the landscape of San Francisco looked like before everything was built. I've encouraged him to publish a book with his photos, but I doubt he ever will. He gives slide shows in, and for, each neighborhood in the city. Call him (he's listed in the SF phone directory) or talk to him at the HANC Recycling Center (where he works) at Kezar Stadium.

-- David Schmidt (schmidt.david@epa.gov), August 29, 2003.

There very few photos of the City without any buildings (given the 19th century mentality, who would want such a photo?) but there are hundreds of photos in various archives showing relatively undeveloped dunes that became today's San Francisco.

My favorites on-line resources are the Bancroft Library's site at http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CalHeritage/ and the SF Public Library's on-line collection at http://sfpl4.sfpl.org/librarylocations/sfhistory/sfphoto.htm

Searching may be a bit of a task, though, since there are no categories I've seen for "undeveloped SF".

-- John Martini (JAMartini@slip.net), August 29, 2003.