Define the 'baseline' in the Major Street Hundred Blocks framework.

• A. The end of the grid.
• B. The starting point of the year’s incident data.
• C. A central reference line or point from which block numbers are measured outward in the grid.
• D. The first block encountered on a street.

Answer: (C)

The baseline is a central reference line from which block numbers are measured outward in the grid. It provides a fixed axis for numbering blocks in hundreds, so you can quickly tell how far a location is from the center and which direction it lies in. This anchoring makes it easy to interpret addresses and coordinate responses across the grid. The end of the grid isn’t the reference, the baseline isn’t tied to yearly data, and the first block on a street isn’t the grid’s measuring point.