Mapping Los Santos! Building/landmark analysis

[Gifbrah 550]

Welcome to the Mapping Los Santos thread

The goal of this thread is to identify buildings and landmarks of Los Angeles recreated within the world of GTA V.
Many buildings around Los Santos and its countryside have a real life counterpart in Los Angeles and Southern California.
Analysing carefully the various screenshots and trailers, our aim is to understand the geography of Los Santos,
and ultimately, trying to recreate the game map !

Anyone may contribute to this thread.

 

Some websites/software you may find useful :

- Google Maps

- Bing Maps

- Emporis

- Wikipedia

- Google Earth

The Interactive Map :

Check out all the real life buildings present in GTA V overlayed on the game map.

Created by lxr, this map is constantly updated with the latest findings of this thread.

lxr, koeklin, Wayne kerr, Mr Thingus and Fido_le_muet are working on it everyday.

Share your discoveries on this thread and they will be added to the map.

http://grandtheftdata.com/landmarks/#0,0,2,satellite

The Maps (before release) :
Last updated : August 29th 2013


Click for full size (2200x2900)

Click for full size (3500x3500)





Contributors :

GifBrah

Fido_le_muet (Also in charge of updating first post- Special thanks!)

koeklin

Millionsofdeadcops

SonofUgly

J24D

Smaaske

UrinalCake123

jackass2009

VickeX

sabbathfan

kendoyanar

GTAlove

JOSEPH X

BoolCaX

[enforcA]

darkjounin

Vegetarian Piranha

boxmonster

Death2Drugs

jbte

Choco Taco

GTADKNUT

lxr

OUPS

GTAKiwi

zombie elvis

Angeleno

vLx

omawnakw

Wayne Kerr

harryhenry

Thanks a lot guys !
(If I missed you, please PM me and let me know).

Edited July 26, 2014 by Gifbrah

[Millionsofdeadcops 4]

Roosevelt Hotel and Hollywood Boulevard, quoted from an earlier reply i made

 

 

 

Might not be obvious right away but pay attention to the building in the background...

 

 

[Kill Frenzy! 103]

-Capital Records Building in LA:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/442/g...theftautov.jpg/

 

-In the trailer i have seen the same tower, Link:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/254/gtaz.jpg/

 

 

[Millionsofdeadcops 4]

Not a landmark per se, but worth noting:

 

Koreatown

 

 

 

the sign that reads "Little Seoul" is a reference to Koreatown.

[J24D 0]

It's far in the distance but at 00:24 in trailer you can see LAX Control Tower (top of picture, where the sky is)

 

[Gifbrah 550]

 

 

[UrinalCake123 1]

Palm Springs Wind Farm

 

 

[Kill Frenzy! 103]

yeahyeah

[edalad 4]

nice find

[Gifbrah 550]

 

It's far in the distance but at 00:24 in trailer you can see LAX Control Tower (top of picture, where the sky is)

 

That looks like Venice Beach based on the architecture and the 'piercings' sign that is so common in Venice Beach.

 

 

 

Okay, I looked at the HD trailer.

 

 

Sorry dude, it's a palm tree.

Edited November 3, 2011 by Gifbrah

[NYC PATROL 1,530]

It's far in the distance but at 00:24 in trailer you can see LAX Control Tower (top of picture, where the sky is)

 

Can someone ZOOM in on that spot?

[jackass2009 8]

The Tequi-la-la (the place where the drunk dude got thrown out of) has to be a reference to the Whisky A Go Go.

[Fireboyd78 383]

Wow, these are some very interesting places you guys have found! I personally live not too far away from Los Angeles but I wouldn't know the landmarks by heart. Have definitely been there, though.

[RED_ 1]

Anymore of these? Lets see if we can try and get most of the shots, i.e the city and what not.

[J24D 0]

 

 

Okay, I looked at the HD trailer.

 

 

Sorry dude, it's a palm tree.

 

 

 

I agree that there is a palm tree briefly before that but higher up and closer to the foreground.

 

This is what I am looking at:

 

 

And zoomed in...

 

 

And here is the LAX Control Tower:

 

Edited November 3, 2011 by J24D

[GTAlove 2]

Where is Rodeo Drive?

[Chirpy Red 3]

Where is Rodeo Drive?

Gametrailers think when they're robbing that building is Rodeo Drive, I think they could be right.

[J24D 0]

 

Where is Rodeo Drive?

Gametrailers think when they're robbing that building is Rodeo Drive, I think they could be right.

Yes, here is Rodeo Drive:

 

[Gifbrah 550]

 

 

Okay, I looked at the HD trailer.

 

http://i42.tinypic.com/s5lct4.jpg

 

Sorry dude, it's a palm tree.

 

 

 

I agree that there is a palm tree briefly before that but higher up and closer to the foreground.

 

This is what I am looking at:

 

http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/tt79/J24D/Screenshots/LAXTower.jpg

 

And zoomed in...

 

http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/tt79/J24D/Screenshots/LAXTowerZoomed.jpg

 

And here is the LAX Control Tower:

 

http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/ericbvd/ericbvd1007/ericbvd100700152/7361332-air-traffic-control-tower-at-lax-los-angeles.jpg

While you may be right, I looked at the trailer a few times and I only see one palm and to the right, a group of palm trees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, here are buildings I've identified so far and their general zones. I'll update this image every chance I get.

 

*I should note that Doheny Tower is just a guess based on the fact that it's the tallest building at the end of the Sunset Strip.

Edited November 3, 2011 by Gifbrah

[Millionsofdeadcops 4]

 

Okay, I looked at the HD trailer.

 

http://i42.tinypic.com/s5lct4.jpg

 

Sorry dude, it's a palm tree.

 

 

 

I agree that there is a palm tree briefly before that but higher up and closer to the foreground.

 

This is what I am looking at:

 

http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/tt79/J24D/Screenshots/LAXTower.jpg

 

And zoomed in...

 

http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/tt79/J24D/Screenshots/LAXTowerZoomed.jpg

 

And here is the LAX Control Tower:

 

http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/ericbvd/ericbvd1007/ericbvd100700152/7361332-air-traffic-control-tower-at-lax-los-angeles.jpg

While you may be right, I looked at the trailer a few times and I only see one palm and to the right, a group of palm trees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, here are buildings I've identified so far and their general zones. I'll update this image every chance I get.

 

Thats strange. i can roughly make out a building that looks like City Hall on the right side of Downtown. so im guessing city hall is to the east of downtown, as it is in real life. But then that would mean Hollywood in Los Santos is east of Downtown, when it's far west of Downtown in real life. and Hollywood seems to be MUCH closer to downtown than it is in real life. hmm.

[TheIntellectualz 0]

Los Santos Skyline

 

 

[BGModder 39]

Nice work, guys. Are there any apparent similarities between this map and the map from L.A. Noire?

[Millionsofdeadcops 4]

Nice work, guys. Are there any apparent similarities between this map and the map from L.A. Noire?

the map from LA Noire is a nearly 100% exact, street by street recreation of a small portion of Los Angeles. I'm guessing this wont be the case in GTA V because V doesn't actually take place in Los Angeles, it takes place in Los Santos. looking at the trailer it's obvious that Los Santos is not a street by street recreation of LA like LA Noire was.

[Gifbrah 550]

 

Thats strange. i can roughly make out a building that looks like City Hall on the right side of Downtown. so im guessing city hall is to the east of downtown, as it is in real life. But then that would mean Hollywood in Los Santos is east of Downtown, when it's far west of Downtown in real life. and Hollywood seems to be MUCH closer to downtown than it is in real life. hmm.

Now that you mention it, something is a little off with my map.

 

The West Hollywood portion, I'm sure is fine. The actual portion of Hollywood may be off.

 

In the previous scene, it shows the plane flying by the Vinewood sign. I'm gonna have to rethink this a little bit.

[VickeX 19]

 

My good friend found this so don't thank me, i just put the images together...

 

That was what i was going to write, but then before posting i refreshed the topic page and saw that the first post was updated with an image of it aswell.

Either way, my image contains real life and GTA SA comprarison images:

 

[Gifbrah 550]

[GTAlove 2]

Where is Rodeo Drive?

Gametrailers think when they're robbing that building is Rodeo Drive, I think they could be right.

Yes, here is Rodeo Drive:

 

Thank you! Rode Drive looks beautiful!

[sabbathfan 34]

Muscle Beach Recreation Center

 

 

Bins, benches, palm trees, blue metal fence.

[Gifbrah 550]

I played around with the light settings of the original screenshot.

 

Hopefully this gives better outlines of buildings for easier identification.

 

[Fido_le_muet 461]

Great work guys! That's the kind of topic I like during the GTA pre-release hype.

I found some more, let me update the pics.

I'm also working on a map based on the trailer.

I'll update this post soon.