The Headwaters of Nemonos

[simster6 0]

This, my friend is one amazing piece of work you have here. I will totally stay with this one!

[Giligone 10]

Welcome to Page 3! I was one post off again... **sigh**

sirgeoj2  Thank you. Yea, my plan really is just that. Its not too big just yet... only 178 000 but it will grow! haha. Thanks for dropping by. Hope to see you again soon. :-)

simster6 Thanks alot! Much appreciated. Come back again next time for hopefully a full update.

[Giligone 10]

Ok, so I just have enough time to do a mini-update. This one will be a re-visit of West Nemonos to see how things have changed since last we were there. Buckle up your seat belts cause we don't have much time (really I don't, gotta go to class in 5 mins)

First Stop is the south side of Central Park. As you'll recall from update 2.2 there were some condos in this area.

Recently this area has seen an influx in new condos and office towers as the city rezoned areas to higher densities to accomodate growth.  You'll also notice the embarassing grass situation at Central park has been fixed. There had been a contracting problem in which 2 different species of grass were used. Due to numerous citizen complaints large areas of the park were re-lawned, at great expense.

Next stop is the now completed University Research Complex.

This facility was not yet completed on our last trip around. To prevent unauthorized access the buildings are surrounded by a thick forest. You'll also note the new appartment buildings to the North.

Just down the street is the West Nemonos Golf Club which was just opening up on our last tour. It's looking much nicer now.

Finally, we'll finish by visiting the new neighbourhood around the Highway 1 and 2 Interchange.

Following trends across the City of Nemonos there is an increased density in this area as well. The abundance of greenery in the area is indicative of post-cairn development in Nemonos.

Ok, thanks for stopping by, Hopefully saturday I'll get the next full update together for the suburban tour. Sorry for all the delays!

[Giligone 10]

Welcome back everyone. Today's tour will be of the Town of Thomasville.

Thomasville is directly West of Maple Heights. Thomasville is the only suburb of Nemonos that has sprawled sufficiently to become physically connected directly to the central area. This is clear on this new satellite image we have of the region

Thomasville formed along the newly completed Highway 3 (cyan). Later Highway 4 (orange) was built to connect the Western suburbs across the river. Although Highway 4 is not yet completed on the Northern shore the Southern shore is fully operational. (click here for the full highway map)

First stop is the "Central Business District"... its not much of anything, but then again, this is a suburb.

From here we'll drive through town as an overview.

Ok, now we'll get off Highway 3 here and head South on Picard Avenue South.

Thomasville has a fairly significant manufacturing and chemical industry. Several transnational chemical companies such as Dow and Exxon Have processing facilities here.

To contrast with this Thomasville is also home to the largest park in Nemonos region (as of current). With hundreds of acres of forested area this is avery popular day-trip spot for tourists from the city. There is also a large fully equipped sporting area at the main entrance. Perhaps the main attraction is the large lake with a fountain. In a sustainability initiative the Town council allocated space for community gardens to grow vegetables for local residents.

Thomasville is a deeply divided community in terms wealth. The West end is filled with large houses on large lots.

While the central, older area is primarily middle-income single detached houses.

And the South-East end (known simply as South Thomasville) is high density apartment buildings.

Thomasville has significant gang activity as well. Local police suspect there are drug grow-ops in the dense forests surrounding the town but have made few significant busts. This has resulted in numerous gang related shootings in the area, particularly around the Redstone Apartments.

On several occasions there have been outbreaks of violence in other areas as well. Just recently there was a gang fight in the backyards of houses belonging to gang leaders just off Picard Avenue North. The police are still investigating this and the chalk outlines are still visible in the grass.

Well, that wraps up our tour today, next stop, Emerald (in the next tour that is). So, now we'll head back up Highway 3 till we get to Highway 4 and head North.

Thanks for coming along on todays tour. Thankfully no-one was mugged at the rest-stop in South Thomasville. And don't worry. Emerald has virtually no gang activity.

[RushHourFreak 1]

The region pics are excellent, the mpas are great and the grid is fantastic. Commenting your mini-update, those parks look awesome and those building are great too. Cant wait for more

[Giligone 10]

Well, I was waiting for more feedback to make a larger feedback reply update thing but since my cj is now on the 4th page I doubt that anyone will find it! haha. So I'll just get to it.

RushHourFreak Well, thank you very much. I must confess, I am a fan of the region shot. What do you mean by "the grid is fantastic"? I'm curious because there is clearly no grid pattern to the roads in my latest update... More pure chaos, haha.

NOTE: Next update will probably be end of the weekish time.

[RushHourFreak 1]

Ohh thats because the transportation grid is awesome!.your welcome

[jacqulina 162]

excellent region pics love the transport map,very nice work you have done,i like the suburbs,the parks are wonderfull,great golf course and sport fields,all in all wonderfull work and pics.

[Giligone 10]

Ok, last feedback before my next update.

RushHourFreakAhhh, ok, I get it. I was thinking a rectilinear grid as opposed to a grid-grid. **insert blushing face** ahahah.

jacqulina Again, thank you very much.

[Giligone 10]

Ahhh, welcome again for yet another trip in the Nemonos 'suburban belt'. Today we are visiting the wealthy suburb of Emerald.

Once again we've managed to secure a recent satellite image of the region showing the continued expansion of the urban area.

You'll note that through continued expansion in West Nemonos there no gap between these areas anymore. The keen eye will also note the effect the Nemonos expressway system is having on growth. Emerald formed around the Highway 1 where it meets Highway 4. (click here for full highway map).

As The name would suggest Emerald is a very lush green area with lots of trees and green space.

As I mentioned earlier Emerald is a very wealthy community as clear from these 2 overviews. It is rumoured that Billionaire Corporate Tycoon Jamie Self III has shown interest in land in the area.

Emerald's main business area is a suburban business park right at the interchange of Highways 1 and 4.

Emerald is also home to one of Nemonos' largest employers, Emerald Industrial Company (EIC). Began as a small industrial operation along the Nemon River the company quickly expanded in the unincorporated lands to the west of Nemonos in what would become Emerald. EIC exploited the limited environmental regulations in the rural area resulting in colossal profits. Once Emerald was incorporated as a town the council cracked down on the company forcing it to diversify. Today it primarily deals with contract manufacturing of electronics for large transnational corporations. Its main base of operations can be found in the sprawling Emerald Industrial park on the west side of town.

Finally, our last stop is the headquarters of EIC. Interestingly enough this architectural anomole managed to pass the council and also the zoning office which had the lands zoned for low density commercial services. The building is the 2nd tallest office building in the whole region behind the Nemonos Financial Building in downtown Nemonos.

Well, thats all for now. Thanks for coming along, join us next time as we conclude our tour of the suburban belt in Terra Cotta, the suburb of Cairn.

[Schulmanator 5,812]

Nice town - this update shows some great new growth

[Giligone 10]

Ahh, welcome to the last part of our suburban belt tour! Yes, its been long and all the houses look the same. But, its almost over.... for now, **cue evil laught**. This one will just be a short tour because our last stop is really not much of anything. Its really just a bunch of big houses...

Welcome, to Terra Cotta.

Terra Cotta is really a suburb of Cairn and not Nemonos. It sprang up around Highway 101 (red) when it was extended west of Cairn. Highway 4 (orange) now connects Terra Cotta directly to the western suburbs of Nemonos across a new bridge (see large bridges in update 4.3) (click here for full list of highways)

The town has a very small commercial retail area at the intersection of 3 main arterial roads.

The businesses here are fairly upscale and cater to the wealthy upper class citizens of this area.

The local water tower is the main landmark in the town. It is also the tallest structure. Right across the street are the local police and fire headquarters.

Above all else Terra Cotta is known for its large lot houses.

As I mentioned the town is formed around Highway 101, which is clear since nothing is very far from the expressway.

Oh, hmm, I seem to have lost track of time ... its night time already... hmm, It is December after all...

The majority of the residents here commute into Cairn and Nemonos to work in the downtown Office buildings. It looks like theres a few stragglers who were working late.

Allrighty, I guess we'd better call it quits and let you all get home. Thanks for coming along on this our last trip in the suburban belt tour.

[IDS2 3,429]

Ooooooooooooooh Emerald is cetrainly the place to be. Thomasville is nice but not quite like Emerald. Emerald seems to give you a more suburban feel compared to Thomasville, which is more urban, but still nice.

[seemurray2 21]

I like your satellite photos, really neat perspective.  Terra Cotta looks very nice, good looking suburbs!

[jacqulina 162]

wonderfull region shot,great transport map,nice job with the commercial,the suburbs are fantastic,beautifull work and pics

[Giligone 10]

Schulmanator Thanks. Yea the region is starting to get pretty big. Lots of empty spots left to fill in though.... that'll keep me busy.

IDS2 Hello again! Yes, I agree. Emerald really is a very nice place. Soo green. I have to thank Simcity Freak for that one. He taught me how to plant trees through god mode once you've started the city. It really speeds things up! haha

seemurray2 Thanks! I've always been a fan of sat photos, on google maps and earth and such. I've seen some other people doing sat pics here. Meinhosen has some great ones of his Ralston Metro Area CJ.

jacqulina Thank you very much once again. You're here so often I might have to figure out some kind of system for honourary citizenships... hahaha. hmmmm **strokes chin**

[nycsc4 5,250]

this looks great, but you need to space out your pics, but them one below the other not next to eachother.

The highways look great, and I like how each update is a different town!

Can't wait to see more!!!

[rodent1989 9]

excellent CJ, I like that it's an easy read with nice pictures of a city that is unique and not a scraper forest.  just great work.

[Giligone 10]

Ahh, wow, lots of feedback today! Exciting.

nycsc4 Thank you! I'm not sure what seems to be the problem with my pictures but on my computer none are side to side... Soo, not too sure whats going on there. Is anyone else having this problem?? Hmmm... I put lots of blank lines between my pics so... **insert totally perplexed face here**. Yea I really don't know. Hopefully that was just a load error and not something more serious...

Rodent1989 Thanks for stopping by! Much appreciated. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Yes, my city really has very few skyscrapers... yet. mwahahahah! It just doesn't make sense to have plethoras of 50 story office towers when my city is only 225 000 people!

Ok, thats all for now.

[Giligone 10]

W00t! Well, I'd just like to start off by saying that my CJ got nominated for Best CJ. Which really surpised me because I just started it pretty much and there's such great competition out there. So, I'd just like to say thanks to whoever voted for it!

Ok, so back to the task at hand.

Yes, I've been dancing around this for a long time now. Maple Heights. The second most populous city in Nemonos region with some 43 000 residents. I'm trying a new strategy here. I'm going to break this down into more smaller updates to make it more manageable so that I can do more, more frequent updates. Things were getting pretty out of hand in terms of numbers of pics (see Cairn and Thomasville updates). I'm going to do all the region pics now and then just do close ups in all subsequent Maple Heights updates (Update 5._) .

So, without furthur adiew (sp?) welcome to Maple Heights.

Maple Heights is  a dense city built at the nexus of the regions expressways system. Highways 2 (yellow) , 3 (cyan) , and 5 (blue) all pass through the central area of the city (click here for full hwy listing)

This means that coming and going to all parts of the region is very easy if you live or work in Maple Heights. It has also led to the bizarre orientation of streets to link to the expressways, which I'm sure you'll note in this update. Those of you who recall update 1 will remember that downtown Maple Heights has many car wrecks because of the confusing road network.

Built adjacent to Highway 3 the central core of downtown contains exclusively commercial office buildings. Several large companies have set up headquarters here such as Nemonos Electrical Company (NEC), which provides electricity for the region. NEC owns the 2 largest towers in the downtown core.

To the South-west of the core is South Downtown. South Downtown is a primarily residential and government area.

In the heart of South Downtown is Maple Heights City Hall. Built at the same time and in the same style as Nemonos City hall.

To the direct west of the core is West Downtown. This is a large area with many condominium, appartment, and commercial towers.

The large blue tower is a new office building and is the Headquarters of the Nemonos Regional Transportation Authority. The government Agency responsible for construction and maintenance of the regions expressways and mass transit systems.

Well, that pretty much covers all of Downtown Maple Heights! As always, thanks for coming along. Hopefully will have at least 1 more update out by weeks end. Kinda busy with exams and such...

EDIT: just passed 1000 pages views!!!!

[GreekMan 246]

nice city.

[jacqulina 162]

hi my friend another great update,very nice work you have done and pics

[Schulmanator 5,812]

Looking good. Maple Heights is the place to be!

[asturianu 4]

WOW! Impressive journal, Giligone. I really like Maple Heights and Downtown!

Why don't you do a neighbourhood in the beach, it would be great!

Love it!!

Cristian

[Giligone 10]

Time to do some replies.

GreekMan Hey, Thanks alot!

jacqulina Once again, thanks alot.

Schulmania Thank you very much. Yes, Maple Heights is a happening place. But just wait till Update 6 when we do a revisit of Downtown Nemonos... some exciting developments there.

asturianu Hey! Thanks for stopping by. Always glad to see a new face (does that work? haha) in my CJ. A beach area eh? Thats a good idea. I tried that once in a previous region... made a miami beach type of thing. It turned out pretty well.... might try that again. If you look back to my region pics you'll see a small town right near the bottom. Its already called Sunset Beach... might be a good spot? haha. Thanks for the idea!

Ok, so, I'm now done school for the term, which means I've got lots of time! But, I'm moving back home tomorrow, and also possibly saturday... so I might not be able to put an update together by saturday sometime... we'll see. Stay tuned!

[Giligone 10]

Welcome back! Time for the 2nd tour of Maple Heights. Today we'll be visiting The Park. This is a very diverse neighbourhood that surrounds the large Park in the centre of Maple Heights.

Before we do, however, there has been significant developments in downtown Maple Heights. The first being that it is now known simply as Midtown. Downtown Nemonos is now just being called Downtown. I guess people just got lazy of having to figure out which downtown they were going to all the time! haha.

As you can see 3 large new office towers have been constructed. Yes, the Thomson in all three is the same person. A Mr. Jim Thomson. He is a very influential Developer in the region. Recently he diversified his company into 3 main categories and built offices for each in Midtown. Thomson Real-Estate is the tallest building in Maple Heights.

Ok, back to the park!

First stop is right smack dab in the middle of the park. The Maple Heights Water-Works pumps water from large wells in the park. There is a no pesticide policy to ensure the infiltration water is as clean as possible.

To the East is a densely packed community known as East Park.

The Park is a very diverse area ranging from low to high densities and poor to wealthy. The crime level is quite low and people walk the streets safely at night.

Now we'll move around to the south side.

There is also diverse ethnic and cultural areas in The Park. During the early 1980s there was a flux of people fleeing the Soviet Union coming to Nemonos Region and many set up shop here. Two large tenements were built to accommodate the influx of people. AMD Inc. has built a research complex to take advantage of the educated workforce coming out of the local University campus.

Finally, on the West side is a pocket of extremely high wealth large lot homes.

Jim Thomson is believed by many to be the richest person living in Nemonos Region.

Ok, well we'd better stop peeking at Mr. Thomson's house, he's been known to call the police on lurkers. Thanks again for coming along!

[Schulmanator 5,812]

A nice update- this part of town is done well - looks like a great neighborhood. I would like to hang out at Mr. Thomson's too!

[crazychickensc12 84]

enough lurking...time for a comment!! first off the way you update is great I love scrolling through all the mosaics and the development looks wonderful, awesome suburbs as well!! wonderful region shot and awesome transportation layouts!! your cities are really coming along keep up the wonderful work here!!

[Giligone 10]

Hey guys! Thanks again for the feedback.

Schulmanator Thanks! It is a great area, its got everything you need: housing, jobs, easy access to transit and transportation systems, and its right near the shopping and employment in Midtown! I guess thats why Mr. Thomson liked it so much too, lol.

crazychickensc12 Hello again. Glad to see you back! Thanks! I really like mosaics myself. Its like you are in the game... without being in the game. haha. Hopefully I'll see you back here more often.

Ok, thats all for now. Sorry, no teaser pics. I will say that there has been substantial new developments to the South of Kongsburg. A new style of development is taking shape and its causing some ruffles down at Nemonos City Hall. Stay tuned to see how things develop!

Oh, and I also put together a Table of Contents on the first post so you can jump right to a specific update now! My sig pic also links to the TOC.

[Giligone 10]

Time again for another update. This one will be of the highly developed stretch of Western Maple Heights that surrounds the Highway 2 thoroughfare.

First we'll start with an historical air-photo that was taken just as this area was beginning to be developed. You'll note that in Nemonos, thanks to the NRTA, Highways come first.

Haha, ok, so the old grain effects are a bit much. But it was fun to do.

Now we'll drive along Highway 2 and see all there is to see. Just one note before we get started. Be sure to have a quick look at the chaotic network or roads, rail and highways as we start. In trying to provide transit for high density that formed around an expressway and was then hemmed in by rail lines can by tough, but they succeeded in this case.

Wow, thats one highly developed strip of land. There are more commercial jobs in this corridor than the whole of Downtown Nemonos! Not only that there are lots of places to live. A truly urban area with a good balance of green.

I hope you enjoyed this tour! Still a few more updates to go in the Maple Heights segment and then we'll get to the crisis facing the region! oooo crisis... dun dun dun