City preview · SALT LAKE CITY

Salt Lake City begins at a small survey marker

A small marker at the southeast corner of Temple Square is the zero point for the city’s numbered addresses. At Alta, parts from an aerial mining tram went into the first Collins Lift, turning equipment that carried ore downhill into a way to carry skiers uphill. The filmmakers rented Saltair II for $50 and used it as the empty dance hall in Carnival of Souls. At the University of Utah, Martin Newell measured a household teapot into coordinates; graphics programs have reused the model ever since.

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Great Salt Lake Base and Meridian · Editorial illustration, not a historical photo

From the street grid to the Utah Teapot

A survey marker, mining-tram parts, an empty dance hall, and a teapot

Four complete stories and their public sources are shown here; the rest of the collection is in the app.

01 · Great Salt Lake Base and Meridian

Salt Lake City's addresses start here

Every numbered street points back to this small tablet.

300 South and 900 East on Salt Lake Road signs are not random numbers. The city address is based on the Green Salt Lake Base and Meridian on the south-east corner of Temple Square, increasing in four directions by block. The reference tablet is small and functions like the entire valley at zero: reading the numbers on the sign shows how far away it is.

Source: geology.utah.gov

02 · Alta Ski Area

A ski lift built from mine parts

Alta's first chairlift borrowed hardware from a mining tram.

After Alta's silver mine retreated, the slope did not immediately turn into a ski field. The first generation, Collins Lift, which was launched in 1938, made direct use of parts of the old aerial Mining Tram: the machinery that used to send the ore down the hill was replaced by a skier up the slope. The Collins today are no longer the same equipment, and the line and terrain still connect two mountain industries.

Source: townofalta.utah.gov

03 · The Great Saltair

A film preserved Saltair's second life

Today's pavilion is the third Saltair; film keeps the second on screen.

The 1962 Carnival of Souls filmed an empty dance hall with abandoned Saltair II, and the team rented space for only $50. The building was destroyed in a fire; the Moorish Revival contours of the lake bank were built in 1981 in Saltair III. The film left behind the interior of the previous generation of buildings, and the site continued with the same name.

Source: historytogo.utah.gov Source: catalog.afi.com Source: blog.lib.utah.edu

04 · University of Utah School of Computing

The teapot that taught computers to see

A household pot became the standard test for 3D graphics.

In the 1970s, United of Utah researcher Martin Newell needed a day-to-day object that was suitable for a three-dimensional model, and finally, a calibrated pot at home. The arc, the kettle, the handle and the lid just happened to test the hidden face, the light and the material, and Utah Teapot was called repeatedly by global graphics programs. The school's copper medal placed this item in the same field record as a generation of algorithms and company founders.

Source: cs.utah.edu Source: price.utah.edu

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