The Greater Terran Region

[Haljackey 17,385]

Welcome to The Greater Terran Region! (GTR for Short)

 

For all those who are new to the Greater Terran Region (or have not been to the here in some time), the SC4 Wiki article may be of some use.

Link to GTR SC4 Wiki Article

Since May 27th, 2008, the GTR is also regularly updated at SC4 Devotion.

Link to the Greater Terran Region at SC4D

The GTR is also showcased at Skyscrapercity!

Link to Showcase

All the GTR's videos on Youtube can be found here:

List of Videos

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Introduction

Well, hello there everyone! I have been here at Simtropolis for over two years now, although I am relatively new in the City Journals Area. I have had several members ask me if I have a city Journal, and until this moment, THIS was all that I had. Pretty sad eh?

Anyways, lets get on with this city journal, eh? My planning style is quite simple, but has complex results. I am a very leaninent mayor because I zone high-density nearly 100% of the time. This allows the sims decide what they want to put in the zones, anything from a shack to a towering skyscraper. I am not one who plops too many buildings, however I do when they fit the right environment.

There are two primary modes of transportation in the Greater Terran Region: a complex highway network and several bullet train lines. I prefer bullet trains to monorails or high speed rail because they have a very realistic speed and capacity and look great in urban areas. There are other modes used as well, including a vast bus system, rail lines, subways/ground light rail/elevated rail, and ferry transport.

You will not see a whole lot of industrial zones or farms in this region, because the vast majority of the population is employed in the commercial sector (both services and offices). Also, industry doesn't provide a lot of jobs and takes up quite a lot of space. I would rather have tall office buildings occupying these areas, wouldn't you?

Industry also pollutes a lot (excluding high-tech of course) and the region has strict environmental policies, well ahead of the rest of Simnation. Power comes from clean energy sources, mainly fusion and microwave. Every car, truck, bus, train, etc in the Greater Terran region must have been fitted with a hydrogen fuel cell or another form of clean energy in order to operate in the region. Cars with internal combustion engines are towed if they use gas as a fuel source, however, they are permitted to run on ethanol or another clean biofuel. The only exceptions to the rule are cars from out of town, so that the tourism sector doesn't suffer from these strict rules.

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Click me!

Table Of Contents

Major Mods Used

Downloads **NEW!**

Playlists **NEW!**

Picture Information

Statistics, History, and Other Information **NEW!**

GTR 2.0 **NEW!**

[nottheboss 1]

Wow thats a great start

[anarchy0029 2]

A very densely populated city. But it would look alot better if there were some close-ups.

[nihonkaranws 88]

Nice! But how did you show the transportation map of a single city rather than the whole region?

[Ded 30]

The cities look good... I'd reccomend showing some large pictures (the limits are 800x600 - make use of them), and showing finished areas of your city, rather then unfinished. Other then that, good introduction. At least you've begun at CJ with some images, which is more then I can say for some of the people around these parts.

[sims co. 0]

Magnificent start. That looks like a very well laid out city, and densely populated aswell!

It looks like they get a lot of shipping traffic too!

[jacqulina 162]

great start and intro my friend allready looking good

[sebbyb07 2]

nice start! i cannot wait for more detailed pics! your transport maps look awesome!

[bbfan02 23]

Hey, great to see you here! I know your cities will be fantastic as well as your interchanges! Eager to see more!

-bbfan02-

[Hamish 1,370]

Good to see you started a CJ. I look forward to seeing your cities and highways!

[Schulmanator 5,799]

NICE!

That's a big ol' city! Good work.

[JCarter 0]

Looks awesome!

[suplado! 23]

awesome region view and trans map!! i like the huge cities...would like to see some closeup pics soon...

[vilbe 6]

finally! you've got plenty of grow room, so make use of it. i'd suggest in future updates [one's that focus on a specific area] if possible to include "growing pictures". it'd be a nice before/after effect. but hey great intro man, gonna keep my eye on this one. good luck, and remember have fun

[Haljackey 17,385]

Replies:

nottheboss:  Thanks, like I said, this is my first City Journal and I really wasn't sure how to start it.  I'm glad you think its great!

anarchy0029: Yes it is a dense city.  Don't you worry though, close-ups will be coming in future updates.  This was just the intro, and was intended to be an overview of the region.

nihonkaranws: Thanks!  To show the transportation map of a single city, (in the region census), select your region, and then select your city from the left panel.  From there, it should give you stats for your city, as well as an image.  On the image panel, select transport view just as you would in the region view and you should get a transport map for a single city.

Ded: Thanks!  Don't worry, I will be including larger pictures in future updates.  These images were from the region census, and these pictures are not too large.  I will also include a link for members to view the images in its full resolution, which is much larger than the 800x600 limit here on ST.  I will indeed be showing the finished/developing areas of my city!

sims co.: Thanks!  Its a dense city, so it needs to be well laid out in order to prevent things like traffic congestion.  The city is large, so there is constant shipping traffic just like any large coastal/lakefront city in real life.

jacqulina:  Thanks!  I am not too sure how to begin a CJ, but I guess this was a great way to begin.

sebbyb07: Thanks for letting me know that I had a nice start!  More detailed pictures and transportation photos are coming, I gurantee it!

bbfan02: Thanks, glad to see you found it!  I hope I can satisfy your high hopes for my cities and my interchanges.

hamish: Nice to see you over here!  I will do my best to show you my cities and highways!

Schulmanator:  Thanks!  Its big, and its only going to grow even more!

JCarter: You made it over here too? Wow.   I hope I can keep it awesome!

suplado!: Thanks for the feedback (coming from a trixie winner), it is really appreciated.  Closeups are coming up!

vilbe:  Its finally here!  This city will be growing, you can count on that! I will take development pictures into consideration for future updates.  Thanks for letting me know that I had a great intro, a great CJ needs a great foundation.

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(Coming in with a BANG!)

First of all, a BIG thank-you to everyone for viewing my intro and to those who commented.  I am very happy that you are pleased with the introduction because I wasn't too sure how to start this city journal.  Any feedback that you can give me is always appreciated, weather you like my city journal or not.  This can help me improve it in ways beyond that which I could ever think of, so every single comment is vital to the quality of this City Journal.

The city that I am going to show in this update is:    ...Downtown!

History/overview:  Downtown was named as such because it is located in the centre of the region's lakefront.  Although only a fraction of the city itself is actually connected to the lake, it is the centre of commerce for the entire region and a major transport hub.  The northern part of the city is the oldest area as well as the financial capital of the region.  Because of the high density in this part of the city (as well as the rest of the city), there are several highway belts that both encircle and bypass this area.  In addition, bullet train and rail lines carve themselves through the sea of skyscrapers, and massive amounts of subway tubes are located below the surface.

The small lakefront contains both ferry terminals and several recreation docks, but no actual seaport.  In the western part of the city, there is a airport transit terminal that links the city with other airports in the region because Downtown itself does not actually contain an airport.

In the other sections of the city, there are vast amounts of high-rise housing for mainly middle-class and rich sims.  There are some apartments for the lower-class in the city's east side, which is currently being restored to make the area more appealing. 

About 95% of the city is developed in some way, with most remaining space located in the northwest part of the city.  Developers have taken notice to this remaining area, and its land value is astronomical.  Once the area is sold to the "highest bidder", development of the area will commence, making the city at least 99% developed, which in turn will make the remaining 1% that much more valuable to developers.

Here is the current overview of the city: (taken from the introduction for easy reference)

City:

Transport:

Residential population: 2,645,404

Commercial: 1,918,495

Industrial: 7,199

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Picture Information:

NOTICE:  Please Read!

    Before I post some pictures of my cities, please know that I strive for the best quality of my images possible.  Every picture from here on-in is not photoshopped in any way, and is taken directly from the game to show you exactly what I see in the game.  The only editing done is converting the .PNG file to .JPEG.

***IMPORTANT***    Also, please know that my pictures are COMPRESSED, and are NOT RESIZED! When you resize a picture, a ton of the image's quality is lost, and is shrunk to comply with ST's picture size limits.  Compressing the image retains the quality, but looks terrible when squeezed to comply with site limits.

But, I have found a loophole in this problem.  Each compressed picture displayed will be linked to the actual uncompressed, true image.  All you have to do to view the image in its FULL RESOLUTION (1440x900) is to simply click on the compressed image displayed in this city journal (800x500).  The reason that the images are not 800x600 is because I present my pictures in widescreen (16:10 aspect ratio), making the image much more appealing for the human eye's stereoscopic vision.

If you have any questions or comments about how I display my images, feel free to post a reply.

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Pictures:

Click On The Images To View Them In FULL RESOLUTION!

A major artery and junction.  A baseball diamond and a large intersection is on the right, and Times Square and a rail station is near the top.

A major interchange in the centre of town

Arteries carve through the dense city

The dominant skyline swallows up the majority of this image

A hockey arena and an expensive golf course.  Bullet train and GLR lines provide excellent links with the arena

A "super" avenue

Landmark row

8 lane highway

The triplet towers

Elevated avenue

Collector and express lanes

Bullet train junction

Parclo interchange

A typical bullet train line

Residential high-rises and a small bullet train junction

The buildings scrape the sky

A stack interchange.  This particular interchange has become a landmark for the city!

An old cloverleaf.  It was going to be demolished, but the city instead eliminated the weaving lanes and added eyecandy to the interchange

The gateway to downtown Downtown

The sleeping city

A major stadium and the end of a highway at the crack of dawn

A volleyball interchange.  The RHW has a wide median, allowing it to be widened from 4 to 8 lanes if needed.

A partial interchange along the RHW.  It was designed to have a very positive approach to the city, increasing demand around it.  Most people don't want to live near a highway in real life, thats why this one was built with that in mind.

A complex intersection

A whirlpool interchange.  When it was built, it was designed to have 4 lanes pass under it.  However, when the RHW was widened from 4 to 8 lanes, this design flaw resulted in massive bottlenecks.  The outer lanes of the RHW now lead to the connecting ramps while the inner lanes pass under it.

A GLR to elevated rail transition

A typical neighbourhood

Elevated rail junctions

RHW interchange.  South of this junction the RHW doubles its capacity from 4 to 8 lanes, allowing it to handle its large volumes of traffic with ease.  The outer lanes start/end here to connect with various roads in the area.

A central park

An avenue with a elevated highway beside it with a rail line/interchange beside it

A cruise ship preparing to dock with the terminal

A medley of RHWs shown at night

Up, down, right, left.  Theres a road/highway going everywhere!

The Greater Terran Region's favorite casino!

RHW intersection with GLR routes and stations at sunset

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Whew!  I went a little overboard for the first update of chapter 1.  Oh well, I hope you liked it.  Future updates may not be as big as this one.  I wanted my first update to be huge, so I made it huge.

If you have any comments about anything, please post below.

Best,

-Haljackey

[The Big Z 103]

Great work. I love your downtown layout, and the cool park. Everything looks very well planned!

[sims co. 0]

The mother of all updates! bloody hell there are a lot of pictures, all great too! Just as you said the roads are laid out extremely wells same with the rapid transit system.

Great use of the RHW and motorways. Blimey its all good!

[jacqulina 162]

excellent transport system my friend a wonderfull update and loads of excellent pics

[bbfan02 23]

Wow, you still impress me! I love the city! You have some very good bat's in there. You have an excellent transportation system! Amazed is an understatement!

-bbfan02-

[penguin007 27]

Nice start cant wait for more

Will

[Palpatine001 57]

My crappy dial up wont let me see the shots

I'll wait til Summer School resumes at Uni on Jan 8 where I have 400mbps at my disposal to give a full "review"

[Kongars 1]

What is the round tower in pic "Arteries carve through the dense city" which has circle around it?

[suplado! 23]

wow -- a lot of pretty pics...really like the cool intersections and highways and it looks so busy!! amazing update!!

[Fresh Prince of Wmbg 44]

Truly , sim city 4 at some of it's best. Excellent . work

[Godzillaman 21]

This will tickle your mind...what's the tallest building in the region?

And where do you get the stadium hanging over the water?

[crazyyaya 4]

It's about time you started a cj. Great job. Very nice use of your own highway systems. I like your picture format too. That's alot of pictures, nice job!

[Hamish 1,370]

Wow, I'm impressed with the amount of pictures for your first update. The Whirlpool interchange would be the one that impressed me the most.

[galees 0]

nice region haljacky and i like your citys

[Haljackey 17,385]

Replies:

The Big Z: Thanks! I'm glad you like my park and my layout!

sims co.: I wanted to have a nice, big first update, so I made a nice, big first update.  Glad you think my roads/transit system are well laid out!

jacqulina:  Thanks!  That means a lot coming from a CJ connoisseur!

bbfan02: Thank you!  If amazed is an understatement, then I expect you grab a dictionary and find a nice big word to say by the next update

penguin007:  Thanks for the feedback! I hope you stay tuned!

Palpatine001: Sorry about your dial up connection.  Trust me when I say this, head back to my first update on Jan 8th, I think you will like it!

Kongars:  That big black building?  Sadly I don't remember.  The next time I load up the city I will get the name of the building, do a search, and see if I can find it.  I will get back to you with a PM or something.

suplado!: Thanks!  Your feedback is always appreciated!

Fresh Prince of Wmbg: Nice to see you here!  Thanks for your comments, its an honour to read those words!

Godzillaman:  Oh... Geese.  This does tickle my mind.  I have the CN Tower in that city (the picture with the stack interchange), and I think that is the tallest thing right now.  Once the Burj Dubai is released, you can bet that I will plop that sucker in somewhere where it feels right at home with the other skyscrapers.

-Oh and about the stadium, I think its called Tokyo Stadium.  I vaguely remember where I downloaded it, but I think it was from the Japanese BAT gallery here at ST.  If you can't find it in that thread, then leave a post there and you may get directed.  Hope this helps!

crazyyaya: Ya, I know it is about time. I am glad you like my highway systems and my picture format.  I hope you stay tuned!

hamish: It was a lot of pictures.  I wanted my first update to come in with a BANG so I did!  I am glad you liked the whrilpool interchange because I know that my commuters HATE it! There are always bottlenecks there and the traffic query always shows red congestion.

galees:  Glad you like my region and my pictures.  I hope you stay tuned for further updates!

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Some new Info

Okay, everyone, I am coming close to update "1.1" which will come sometime soon.  Things are getting a little busy for me nowadays with the holiday season fast approaching.  I hope update 1.0 makes up for the time it will take me to get another update out. 

However, I do have something new to show you, I have made an image in my signature for this City Journal.  Its not the best, I know, but let me know what you think about it and how I can improve.

Here it is: (2 pixels wider than my signature image for some reason)

Best,

-Haljackey

[sims co. 0]

Looking forward to see the next update and that signature picture is cool!