Stunning pictures taken from Rotterdam rooftops

S

Stonelesscutter

Guest
If you would like to see some awesome pictures of Rotterdam, take a look at this site.
http://www.dakvanrotterdam.nl/

Every day somebody puts their camera on the corner of some Rotterdam rooftop and takes a 360° picture of the city.
Today's pic is the second one to be taken and the project should last for 60 days, so that means 60 pictures in total.

By clicking on the little white arrows to the left of the screen you can go back to the previous picture.
Today's pic is pretty damn great though. Well, half of it is.
Half of the picture is a boring rooftop, but the other half is a stunning view of the river, the Erasmus bridge and the Rotterdam skyline.

Be sure to visit the page everyday to see the new photos. :)

I almost forgot...
By clicking your mouse and moving around you can swing the viewpoint in any direction. You can even tilt the "camera" up or down.
And if you use your scrollwheel you can zoom in and out.

By the way, if anyone would like to follow this person on Twitter, the name would be @DakvanRotterdam.
 
Bluce Ree

Bluce Ree

Tech Admin / Council Member
Damn, that is stunningly beautiful!
 
SciphonicStranger

SciphonicStranger

Objects may be closer than they appear
It looks so modern. Do they have any webcams in Amsterdam? :rononwhistle:
 
Overmind One

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
Stonelesscutter said:
If you would like to see some awesome pictures of Rotterdam, take a look at this site.
http://www.dakvanrotterdam.nl/

Every day somebody puts their camera on the corner of some Rotterdam rooftop and takes a 360° picture of the city.
Today's pic is the second one to be taken and the project should last for 60 days, so that means 60 pictures in total.

By clicking on the little white arrows to the left of the screen you can go back to the previous picture.
Today's pic is pretty damn great though. Well, half of it is.
Half of the picture is a boring rooftop, but the other half is a stunning view of the river, the Erasmus bridge and the Rotterdam skyline.

Be sure to visit the page everyday to see the new photos. :)

I almost forgot...
By clicking your mouse and moving around you can swing the viewpoint in any direction. You can even tilt the "camera" up or down.
And if you use your scrollwheel you can zoom in and out.
Click to expand...

What a beautiful city! Its stunningly gorgeous. :)
 
S

Stonelesscutter

Guest
SciphonicStranger said:
It looks so modern. Do they have any webcams in Amsterdam? :rononwhistle:
Click to expand...

The reason it looks modern is because the allied forces accidentally bombed the city in the second world war thinking they were in Germany already. :facepalm:
So most buildings in Rotterdam are relatively new, whereas Amsterdam has a significantly different look and feel due to a much older city core.
This is not a webcam by the way, it's a still picture taken at a specific moment.
If you wanna see Amsterdam webcams they can probably be found somewhere online. ;)
 
S

Stonelesscutter

Guest
Today's picture is a bit weird. It looks like there were a lot of spotlights placed around town all directed up at the sky.
They were probably meant to depict something but I can't quite make it out. There's no explanation either.
You'll have to tilt the camera downwards to get an idea of what you're looking at first.
 
Joelist

Joelist

What ship is this?
Staff member
Doesn't that depend on which area of the city you're talking about?

The short bombing by the US (I think it gets called the Forgotten Bombing) was more towards the harbor, with overcast weather causing the bomb pattern to drift into nearby areas. But the center of the city (including almost all of the medieval era buildings) was leveled by the Germans 1940 bombings which caused a firestorm.
 
S

Stonelesscutter

Guest
Joelist said:
Doesn't that depend on which area of the city you're talking about?

The short bombing by the US (I think it gets called the Forgotten Bombing) was more towards the harbor, with overcast weather causing the bomb pattern to drift into nearby areas. But the center of the city (including almost all of the medieval era buildings) was leveled by the Germans 1940 bombings which caused a firestorm.
Click to expand...

You are correct. Seemed like neither the allied nor the axis forces liked Rotterdam very much. :) In any case the city was leveled.
I've just learned that the lights aimed at the sky represent the area of the city that was on fire because of that bombing.
 
S

Stonelesscutter

Guest
Just a little information about things you can see on the pictures on www.dakvanrotterdam.nl.

On picture 1 (from the site) you can see the following things.

View attachment 5989

The building with the yellow tubes is the Rotterdam Central Library. Don't ask me what the yellow tubes do. They're probably just decoration.
On the far right of the picture you can see part of a building that's unofficially called the pencil because of it's shape.
What you can't see on the picture from the site, because it's blocked from view by other buildings, are the cubes. I bet they'll eventuall be visible on a different picture so I'll get back to those then.
In front of the library is where the weekly market takes place. That means lots and lots of stalls with all kinds of junk and food.

View attachment 5990

The shiny modern building in the middle is part of the Rotterdam World Trade Centre. At least I suspect it is because I've never actually been inside the tower.
In front of that building, but non-visible on this picture, is the "koopgoot". I'd describe it as a canyonlike shoppingstreet. Part of it can be seen in the Jackie Chan film "Who Am I?" along with other parts of Rotterdam, only they pretend that they're in South Africa at that time. :)
In the back you can see a building with an orange logo on it. That building has been the highest office-building in Rotterdam for a long time. I'm not sure if it is anymore though. It's an insurance company by the way.
Right next to that building, but also non-visible on this picture, is Rotterdam's Central Station, which has been undergoing major reconstruction since a couple of years. Basically they're building an entirely new station in the place where the old station is without even shutting it down. I wouldn't wanna be the project manager for that one. :)

View attachment 5991

Here you can see part of an old harbour, I think it's called "Leuvehaven".
In the bottomright corner is the Rotterdam Maritime Museum. I've been there once but most of what I saw couldn't really interest me.
In the topright you can see a spire called the "Euromast". I think this is the highest building (non-office) in Rotterdam. There is a restaurant in it somewhere halfway up which offers a spectacular view. You can also go all the way up to the top for an even better view. It's been a long time since I've been there. In fact it's been so long that I really don't remember anything about it.
Somewhere on the topleft corner you can see two identical tall black buildings which are called "De Hooge Heren" (loosely translated, the high gentlemen :)). They are expensive appartments with an amazing view of the river and bridges. On the next pic you can see them better from the other side.
 
S

Stonelesscutter

Guest
On picture 2 from the site you can see the following.

View attachment 5992

This picture offers a good view of the Erasmus bridge. It looks particularly nice at night with the spotlights on it. If you'd walk across it you would also notice sparkling coming from the pavement as I think they put small pieces of glass in the asfalt.
As I mentioned in the previous post, you can see the "Hooge Heren" here from the other side.
If you look closely you can also see the tall building with the orange logo somewhere in the background.
The white building on the left is part of the "Dijkzicht" hospital.

View attachment 5993

Here you can again see the spire called "Euromast" from another side.
Next to the Euromast is a tunnel to the other side of the river which ofcourse can't be seen here.
The building on the left is called "Port of Rotterdam" which I believe to be the offices where they handle most port-related things.
In the far distance is part of the extensive Rotterdam harbour but unfortunately it's too distant to make out in this picture.
 
S

Stonelesscutter

Guest
On picture 3 from the site you can see the following.

View attachment 5994

Here you can see the wonderful "Willemsbrug", at least you could if it wasn't blocked by that stupid flag. I hope there'll be other pictures that show this bridge as it's meant to be seen.
A little to the right of the bridge you can see a strange structure which is called "De Hef" and is a part of an old railway bridge they left standing as a monument. Instead of a bridge there is now a tunnel which stretches from the southside of the river all the way to Rotterdam Central station.
On the leftside there is a small riverside building with all the lights on it. That used to be a 'tropical swimming paradise' but what it is now I'm not sure. I believe there was also a discotheque in there at some point.
There's really not a lot to be seen on this picture because it was meant to portray the lights in the sky which mark the area of the city that was on fire after the bombing in WWII.
If there's anything else you'd like to know about what you can see on this picture (from the site) just let me know and I shall do my best to answer.
 
OMNI

OMNI

My avatar speaks for itself.
anyway one can download the full 360degree panorama image or is it limited to only being viewed in the panorama viewer?
 
S

Stonelesscutter

Guest
OMNI said:
anyway one can download the full 360degree panorama image or is it limited to only being viewed in the panorama viewer?
Click to expand...

I don't know. So far I've thought one could only view the pictures.
 
Bluce Ree

Bluce Ree

Tech Admin / Council Member
Stonelesscutter said:
On picture 3 from the site you can see the following.

View attachment 5994

Here you can see the wonderful "Willemsbrug", at least you could if it wasn't blocked by that stupid flag. I hope there'll be other pictures that show this bridge as it's meant to be seen.
A little to the right of the bridge you can see a strange structure which is called "De Hef" and is a part of an old railway bridge they left standing as a monument. Instead of a bridge there is now a tunnel which stretches from the southside of the river all the way to Rotterdam Central station.
On the leftside there is a small riverside building with all the lights on it. That used to be a 'tropical swimming paradise' but what it is now I'm not sure. I believe there was also a discotheque in there at some point.
There's really not a lot to be seen on this picture because it was meant to portray the lights in the sky which mark the area of the city that was on fire after the bombing in WWII.
If there's anything else you'd like to know about what you can see on this picture (from the site) just let me know and I shall do my best to answer.
Click to expand...

This is really entertaining. You're like a tour bus operator. When is the next tour?

Loving the panoramic photos.
 
S

Stonelesscutter

Guest
Like I said this picture was taken rather close to one of the previous ones.

View attachment 6004

This slice offers a view of the southside of Rotterdam. As you can see it looks rather different from what you saw on the other side of the river in that there are no highrise buildings like in the centre.
In the bottomleft corner you can see pebblestones which make up a layer of the roof of whatever building this picture was taken from. (which is probably the courthouse)
In the bottomright corner you can see part of a small harbour. I don't know if they still use it for anything else than laying away boats.

View attachment 6005

The red building on the foreground is the new Luxor Theatre. There is an old Luxor theatre in the centre of town. At least there used to be, it has probably received a new destination. I spent a couple of weeks in the new theatre here when I was touring with a famous (in Holland) Dutch comedian.
The building to the right and behind the theatre is a KPN office. KPN is a Dutch telecom provider. That building is the one where picture number 2 from www.dakvanrotterdam.nl was taken from.
I'll make a little close-up of the buildings on the far end of the peninsula.

View attachment 6006

The taller building on the right is the Port of Rotterdam building I mentioned in an earlier post.
I have no idea what the taller building on the left is.
The most interesting thing here though is the smaller building in between them (with the two little towers with the green roofing). That is Hotel New York. It was the startingpoint of the Holland-Amerika cruise line. Today it still does service as a hotel and restaurant. The location is absolutely great. I've never dined there though so I don't know what the food is like, though I expect it to be quite nice.
The building with the roof shaped like arches is Cafe Rotterdam. It's another eating establishment with a nice river view.

View attachment 6007

The part with the smaller buildings is an island in the middle of the river. It's connected to the north part of the river with the Willemsbrug (that's the bridge that was partially blocked by the flag in image 3 from the site). All you have there is housing and an Italian restaurant that makes very nice pizzas. :)
In the background on the right you can see the Nedlloyd building, at least it used to be Nedlloyd but I'm not sure now coz the logo seems different. Anyway. You can see that building in the Jackie Chan film "Who Am I?" as mr. Chan is running down the sloped glass area of the building. It's insane to me as I've seen it from up close ans I wouldn't dream of being up there.

View attachment 6008

A close-up image of some of the pebbles on the roof lit up by some wonderful sunrays.
 
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