New Westminster Updates

[SpongeG]

i snapped some pics of a new plaza in uptown from a few weeks ago, it was ok, a guy behind us at the McDonalds we were sitting in said at least the druggies and homeless have a nice space to hang out.

PXL_20251030_210609405 by snub_you, on Flickr

PXL_20251030_210558526 by snub_you, on Flickr

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

i snapped some pics of a new plaza in uptown from a few weeks ago, it was ok, a guy behind us at the McDonalds we were sitting in said at least the druggies and homeless have a nice space to hang out.

I just looked at google maps and that space has been in the works for quite awhile - I had to go back to July 2015 to find it as a 'regular' street. You can see work happening in the parking lane in the July 2016 image, and then from Aug 2017 to Oct 2018 it's only one lane with the rest being taken up by patios.

The July 2019 image shows it closer to your current photos, with road space still in the background (but no road connection to 6th St). In June 2024 they finally put concrete barriers up so cars can't physically drive onto it from 6th, and by then it's shown extending further back like your photos. The main difference now is there's a canopy overhead.

If homeless people weren't hanging out here before, I don't know that this upgrade is going to make that much of a difference.

[jollyburger]

There was an interim plaza in 2023 and they finished construction on the permanent one this year. I mean random benches and a Tim Horton's is a druggie paradise.

[CanSpice]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

There was an interim plaza in 2023 and they finished construction on the permanent one this year. I mean random benches and a Tim Horton's is a druggie paradise.

The only druggies I've seen there (and I walk through there almost daily) are caffeine and tobacco addicts.

[SpongeG]

yeah when I was there it seemed fine, just people chilling. But people will complain just to complain.

The tower on the left is still mostly empty/vacant retail units.

[madog222]

Simcoe Elementary, to be built beside Fraser River Middle School.




Images from Thinkspace

[madog222]

611 Agnes

-323 market rental units, 129 being adaptable
-31k sf office space
-daycare, restaurant, and retail

https://www.beheardnewwest.ca/en-CA/projects/611-agnes-street








Images from MCM / Quadreal

[WarrenC12]

Nice that they flattened New West, that will make things easier.

[madog222]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Nice that they flattened New West, that will make things easier.

It’s accurate, save for some perspective distortion perhaps.
Looks like the used commercial satellite overlayed topographic mapping software and simply imported their model.

[Spr0ckets]

They extracted Google Earth 3D geometry from Google Earth maps - probably using Blender and a third party importer addon like RenderDoc, Open Earth Studio or Blender Earth Modeler.

It works okay for far-off or overhead views like this - as long as you don't zoom in too close and then it looks wonky.

That's why the close-up views are just the standard white model context massing without the Google Earth stuff.

It saves you a lot time from modeling of neighbouring context buildings in projects.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by madog222

611 Agnes



Images from MCM / Quadreal

Is it just me or do other people look at those roads and think water / rivers? That's a pretty odd rendering of them.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by Sheba

Is it just me or do other people look at those roads and think water / rivers? That's a pretty odd rendering of them.

For someone that doesn't really follow New West projects can someone tell me what those set of towers next to the bridge are? I don't see them on Google Earth.



Credit: maddog222 https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showpost.php?p=10533263&postcount=247

[madog222]

^I think just generic, there are quite a few towers missing in that direction while on the right of the tower is fairly accurate.

[Spr0ckets]

Originally Posted by Sheba

Is it just me or do other people look at those roads and think water / rivers? That's a pretty odd rendering of them.

Looks like an unforunate rendering choice material by them.
Most likely done to hide the "flattened" cars and road images of the Google Earth Map they used.

It seems like they just used the same 'wet asphalt' look or material for the roads that the close-up views have.

[GMD]

Originally Posted by Sheba

Is it just me or do other people look at those roads and think water / rivers? That's a pretty odd rendering of them.

Not just you, I was contemplating making some comment about how they had made New West so flat that it turned into Venice...

[jollyburger]

Drone flyover of New West waterfront

• Video Link

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

Drone flyover of New West waterfront

• Video Link

Is that your video? I don't think a mini could make it 20 km before the battery runs out. At least judging by your average flight speed. Pretty cool though.

My micro FPV drone does somewhere around 80 km/h at a cruise. I think I've maxed out at around 140 km/h, however the battery tends to drop pretty fast at that point.

I've gotten about 2km out of the video before it starts to get crappy, but could probably do more with a longer sight line.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon

Is that your video? I don't think a mini could make it 20 km before the battery runs out. At least judging by your average flight speed. Pretty cool though.

My micro FPV drone does somewhere around 80 km/h at a cruise. I think I've maxed out at around 140 km/h, however the battery tends to drop pretty fast at that point.

I've gotten about 2km out of the video before it starts to get crappy, but could probably do more with a longer sight line.

No just saw it while searching for videos on the new bridge. I think it was around a 5KM one way flight so not sure what the 20KM is about.

[WarrenC12]

Great video. It's so cool to see drone stuff in 4k.

[gaviscon]

Great video, but I couldn't help but feel a bit jittery when they flew up close to the condos.