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View Full Version : Future Rail Station Panoramics



RobertB
21 December 2004, 05:33 PM
I had the opportunity to try again at taking panoramic shots of a couple of future station locations.

First is Carrollton Square Station, which will be located behind the Racetrac gas station. This will be an elevated station with a skybridge across Belt Line to Downtown Carrollton. The north end will join with a future Cotton Belt Line station, according to DART's current plans. The Cotton Belt tracks extend off to the right of the pano.

Next is the empty field that will eventually be home to Frankford Station. Ironically, this station is across the street from another Racetrac. There's nothing else nearby but industrial buildings, the Racetrac, and a Shell station down the street with a small strip center attached. Perfect for future TOD catering to commuters from Denton County. Note that DART will replace the freight RR's grade crossing with a bridge.

And just for completeness, I'm including the pano of Deep Ellum station, previously posted in another thread.

These aren't the best -- they're just stitched together from digital camera shots taken as I pivoted in place. I've learned since the Deep Ellum series to set the camera to full-manual, to avoid differences in exposure and focus. Someone with the proper tools would probably be able to stitch the images together much better. I do have the original pix if anyone would like to take a shot!

Now, I'm outta here... won't be back until January. Have a blessed holiday season!

freewaytincan
21 December 2004, 05:38 PM
Man, up there in Carollton, that sure is depressing. I'd hate to live there. DART really is their only hope.

texman
21 December 2004, 07:28 PM
Wow, Deep Ellum and LRT will sure look good together. I wish it was elevated though, make its more urban..or am I mistaken?

drumguy8800
21 December 2004, 09:44 PM
Carrollton in that area is pretty grungy.. but the new center (in the left on the first pano) is very nice, and they are going to rebuild Belt Line, and at some point, I-35E. They are also rebuilding all the rundown shopping centers in that area. In other parts, Carrollton is a very nice suburb. It's also great because it isn't a little corporation leech, like *cough* other ones (Richardson?).

freewaytincan
22 December 2004, 06:38 AM
Richardson: at least we're not Frisco!

texman
29 December 2004, 08:31 PM
Ok I drove up through this area today following the future NW corridor and whoah, Denton Drive is really needing some help, especially between SWA headqaurters and Farmer's Branch. I dont really see TOD coming to the area either since its just way to seedy, but who know things can change. Did anyone know Kinki Sharyo, the DART railcar maunfacturer, owns a plant in along the future line?

rantanamo
29 December 2004, 09:09 PM
If its near a station, and there is space, there can be TOD. There are brand new pricey apt complexes in some super high crime areas all over the city. Especially on the east side of Love Field.

RobertB
27 December 2006, 02:09 PM
I just ran across a link to an absolutely awesome program. You dump a bunch of pictures into it, and it *creates* a panorama! The sample files that come with it show how amazing it is... seven pictures of a mountain, all with different angles and lighting conditions. All you do is select the files, and poof! The program figures out which images match up, and it creates a mosaic image that you'll never guess came from multiple pictures.

The program is called AutoStich. It was invented by a couple of Canadian college students, and the algorithm is licensed to a handful of commercial products (as well as to George Lucas' special effects studio). AutoStitch itself is more of a demo, without a lot of bells and whistles, but what a demo!

Get it here: http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.html

Here are the panos from the beginning of the thread, except this time they're run through AutoStitch. The difference is night and day. It even handled the changing traffic on Belt Line Road in Carrollton (one semi disappears into nothingness!).

darkblood
28 December 2006, 02:27 AM
That's a very interesting program, though it did seem to mutate the green truck at the Frankford station. :not_ripe: