SPACEPHOTOS

The dynamic infrastructure of the industrial and economic center for British Columbia, the port city of Vancouver, with more than 1.6 million residents, is revealed in this closeup photograph. The Fraser River produces two peninsulas and two large islands that comprise the greater Vancouver metropolitan area. The northern peninsula shows the dense grid street pattern that constitutes the downtown commercial district and surrounding residential areas. Vancouver International Airport is located on Sea Island, the small island south of downtown. Lulu Island (Richmond area), the largest island, has a dense residential and commercial area along the coast, and large cultivated fields are found toward the eastern part of the island. Toward the end of the large peninsula south of Lulu Island, generally known as the Delta area, is an undeveloped, heavily vegetated area (dark area). Large cultivated field patterns and the dark, undeveloped area jutting out from the southwest coast of the Delta are two linear manmade features—the north facility is a superport terminal for oceangoing vessels, and the south facility is a ferry terminal for the numerous ferries linking the mainland with Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. The 49th parallel, the United States-Canada border, bisects the smaller peninsula south of the ferry terminals; the southern half of the peninsula actually belongs to the United States.