Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2023 January 18

= January 18 =

an unusually irrational street grid
One small old city in Italy has a street grid in which one set are equally spaced and the perpendicular set are spaced in proportion to the square roots of the integers; that is, if the first set are one unit apart, the other set are 1, √2, √3, 2, √5 units from a baseline. Do you happen to know which city that is? I have forgotten. —Tamfang (talk) 04:12, 18 January 2023 (UTC)

ADD: Perhaps I dreamt it, but I halfway think I saw a diagram in Frank Ching's book Architecture: Form, Space & Order (which I no longer have). —Tamfang (talk) 19:52, 20 January 2023 (UTC)


 * I was not able to find it. Searching for Italy strange street grid led to our article on Orvieto for some reason, though it doesn't immediately seem to have what you're looking for. Quick thought - are the ratios you provided the result of physical geography? Like, do the roads appear to have that relationship because they're running parallel to a gradually increasing slope? Matt Deres (talk) 19:22, 19 January 2023 (UTC)


 * I also looked for a while and couldn't find anything. My question is: Was the city planned to have those ratios for its street grid, or was the grid laid out as it was for whatever unrelated reason (including, possibly, no reason at all) and was discovered later that it happened to have that layout?  -- Jayron 32 19:32, 19 January 2023 (UTC)


 * Two planned Italian cities are Palmanova and Pienza. I don't know if they fit your request. --80.104.181.60 (talk) 07:17, 20 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Palmanova has a rather circular, or more precisely an enneagonal grid. The grid of the medieval town Pienza is somewhat irregular and does not have the indicated type of spacing. --Lambiam 10:28, 20 January 2023 (UTC)

White Sands, NM, USA---Corrected Information Needed
Why does this service list White Sands as being solely in Dona Ana County NM? This is not correct. White Sands is a geographical and natural area that is in both Dona Ana and Otero Counties in NM. In fact, the section that is actually in Dona Ana County is not open to the public and is on the Dept. of Defense federal missile range, and is unattainable for exploration or viewing within that county, with only a highway where stopping is not allowed going through that area. The White Sands National Park is the only public access area and that section of the geographical area is the half of the White Sands that is solely in Otero County, NM, approximately 13 miles southwest of Alamogordo, NM. You need to get this corrected. It brings visitors to the park from the closed side of the area, and even that highway is closed during federal missile testing from Dona Ana County. It incorrectly identifies Dona Ana county as the only county of record. Please correct this. 69.130.164.255 (talk) 22:52, 18 January 2023 (UTC)
 * If you can find a valid source, you can do it yourself. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 23:19, 18 January 2023 (UTC)
 * So, there are several different things in New Mexico named "White Sands". First, there is the census designated place named "White Sands", whose article is at White Sands, New Mexico.  This is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau for statistical purposes, and is indeed only located in Dona Ana County.  There is also the White Sands Missile Range, which as noted in the article is parts of 4 counties, and there is also White Sands National Park, which is located in parts of two counties.  There also may be other things called White Sands, including postal addresses, which may or may not be covered by Wikipedia articles.  -- Jayron 32 12:53, 19 January 2023 (UTC)