Current Events > How well can you navigate your city without GPS?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I've gotten so spoiled by GPS. I've lived in my city for my entire life and just last night I had to look up how to get home from the middle of the city. I was kinda embarrassed tbh
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I can get around most areas of my city, although there are certainly areas I'm not familiar with
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If I can't find my way, I try to get to 1st or Central or both. From there I know.
But I'm always aware of my general direction while moving, so I can usually point in the right direction and say "my house is in that direction", even if I don't know what streets, terrain features or obstacles are in the way.
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Not well, I only moved here like 6 months back.
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i feel like i should be 100% familiar with all of the major highways and, at any point in the city, i should know which direction to take one to get back to the one i need. last night i couldn't do that and i needed the GPS to tell me to take a specific one east vs west.
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not really a question of if i can

more a question of 'in the modern era of waze and live updated traffic pattern manipulation, why would I?'
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Darkman124 posted...

more a question of 'in the modern era of waze and live updated traffic pattern manipulation, why would I?'

yeah that's true. i often lookup directions to a place even if i know how to get there for that very reason.

i was more thinking about how i don't need to know the major routes/highways/etc anymore because i just look everything up and how spoiled i've gotten.

remember back in the day when you had to print out directions from mapquest and if you missed your turn then it sucks to be you?
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ugh mapquest was a miserable experience

i remember the days of using actual maps though
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Yeah, but I typically use Google Maps any way because it will tell me if there is a faster route than the way I would normally go.
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Darkman124 posted...

i remember the days of using actual maps though

i remember being a passenger for that but by the time i started driving mapquest was a thing. i never had to do the whole "get out a paper map and figure out the route yourself" thing.
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CableZL posted...

Yeah, but I typically use Google Maps any way because it will tell me if there is a faster route than the way I would normally go.

i drove the 'wrong way' to work for the first three years i lived at my house. one morning i just decided to check and Google gave me a route i never would have thought of.
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not good :x

Though I did just move to a new area about a year ago.
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The roads are all curvy and it is easy to lose track what direction you are going, so not really. I know a lot of the major roads well enough, but if dropped into a random section, it can be hard to figure out how to get to one of those.
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uwnim posted...

The roads are all curvy and it is easy to lose track what direction you are going, so not really. I know a lot of the major roads well enough, but if dropped into a random section, it can be hard to figure out how to get to one of those.

i pretty much can't get lost within the limits of my city, or even out in the suburbs. i have a good enough sense of direction that i could eventually get to a major highway, but likely not via the most efficient route.
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Giant_Aspirin posted...

uwnim posted...

The roads are all curvy and it is easy to lose track what direction you are going, so not really. I know a lot of the major roads well enough, but if dropped into a random section, it can be hard to figure out how to get to one of those.

i pretty much can't get lost within the limits of my city, or even out in the suburbs. i have a good enough sense of direction that i could eventually get to a major highway, but likely not via the most efficient route.

Even with a good sense of direction, it would le be pretty much trial and error due to roads not going where youd think they should.
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Downtown I can navigate 100%. North, and South Im pretty good, Id give myself a 75%. 80% on the South Side.
West side/by Cicero Im pretty lost. No river or lake to tell you which direction is which. Couldnt tell you how to get from United Center to Humboldt Park. But its okay cause its not like anything interesting happens in the West side. I rarely have to be there.
Also, I take the train in for school so I walk everywhere. I know for a fact that I wouldnt be as good at navigating if I just drove around everywhere. The extra 5 seconds I spend for crossing the street on foot is 5 extra seconds to look at a sign and say Ok, this is Financial. Right here and Ill be at Roosevelt in about 7 minutes.
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I can navigate my city pretty well. The address system is pretty to understand.
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I can navigate about 80% of NYC without GPS. You can throw me anywhere in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, and I'll find my way around. Staten Island gets tricky outside major roads because I rarely go there. I'm better at most of Long Island than Staten Island.
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Giant_Aspirin posted...

Darkman124 posted...

i remember the days of using actual maps though

i remember being a passenger for that but by the time i started driving mapquest was a thing. i never had to do the whole "get out a paper map and figure out the route yourself" thing.

I've never had to, but after college I did a road trip and was going to do it old school. Mapped out everything on paper.

Then in New Mexico there was new construction that hadn't shown up on the maps (rerouting an interstate or something major like that) and I switched back to GPS. So much easier and more enjoyable tbh
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DoctorVader posted...

I can navigate about 80% of NYC without GPS. You can throw me anywhere in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, and I'll find my way around. Staten Island gets tricky outside major roads because I rarely go there. I'm better at most of Long Island than Staten Island.

the grid layout of Manhattan is pretty damn nice. if you can count you can probably figure out how to get where you want to go.
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oh yeah, for myself, there's not much of a way to get lost in Little Rock, really. I am especially good at navigating downtown and south of 630 because I live and work in those areas.

I guess I do get lost in west little rock if I ever go there but I never go there because it is all a bunch of rich republican WASPs who live in property owner associations with golf courses and shit
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Lived here for years before GPS, so its easy
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Wilmette has a few tricky spots, but not too bad.

Chicago's really easy to get around (aside from traffic) unless I'm going to an obscure street.

Pretty much need a GPS besides that, though.
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Getting home or to a general region is easy. Houston has a wheel and spoke system so if I drive long enough in any direction I'll hit a major road that I know can lead to somewhere else.

But I'm terrible with streetnames so in the absence of a gps I'd probably have a keymap in my car.
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Effortlessly. I have a good sense of direction to begin with, and my city is literally a grid where the street numbers go up as you go north/west so if you see a street sign and know the address you want to get to, you can always get there if you're not a dumb dumb
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I can get around London fairly easily without a nav, but I'd probably have to stop and ask for directions once I get to the general area. For example, I know how to get from my house to, lets say, Kingston, but if yo told me to go to Links Avenue in Kingston I'd have to ask where that was.

My route may not necessarily be the fastest, but I'd be comfortable getting there.
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Luigi and Tails posted...

I can get around London fairly easily without a nav, but I'd probably have to stop and ask for directions once I get to the general area. For example, I know how to get from my house to, lets say, Kingston, but if yo told me to go to Links Avenue in Kingston I'd have to ask where that was.

My route may not necessarily be the fastest, but I'd be comfortable getting there.

doesn't London have areas of the city that are restricted, like only certain vehicles are allowed on certain roads at certain times or something? or am i confusing it with Paris?
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RIP me

If there are more than 20 buildings in a relatively small area, I can't navigate shit
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I can navigate a pretty wide area around my city pretty well, Arizona around Phoenix is pretty easy cause it's mostly all flat and straight and designed like a grid system. Once I get several miles away from my house, though, I need GPS, I just don't travel that far enough to remember what streets are what and where to go. If I go into downtown Phoenix, too, I need some help, since I rarely go there except for occasional sports games or events.

Pretty well, I can't think of an area where I would need GPS
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I see no reason to learn to navigate my city in a world where I can quickly and efficiently find the shortest route from my area to where I want to go, factoring in things like construction and traffic

Darklit_Minuet posted...

I see no reason to learn to navigate my city in a world where I can quickly and efficiently find the shortest route from my area to where I want to go, factoring in things like construction and traffic

what if your phone dies
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Giant_Aspirin posted...

Darklit_Minuet posted...

I see no reason to learn to navigate my city in a world where I can quickly and efficiently find the shortest route from my area to where I want to go, factoring in things like construction and traffic

what if your phone dies
or what if you lose it
or what if the gps breaks
or what if the robot overlords start using gps to send us to our deaths

Switch out the battery, or use backup phone.

Darklit_Minuet posted...

Giant_Aspirin posted...

Darklit_Minuet posted...

I see no reason to learn to navigate my city in a world where I can quickly and efficiently find the shortest route from my area to where I want to go, factoring in things like construction and traffic

what if your phone dies
or what if you lose it
or what if the gps breaks
or what if the robot overlords start using gps to send us to our deaths

Switch out the battery, or use backup phone.

you actually carry a backup battery and backup phone around?
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Not big enough to get lost in
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Giant_Aspirin posted...

Darklit_Minuet posted...

Giant_Aspirin posted...

Darklit_Minuet posted...

I see no reason to learn to navigate my city in a world where I can quickly and efficiently find the shortest route from my area to where I want to go, factoring in things like construction and traffic

what if your phone dies
or what if you lose it
or what if the gps breaks
or what if the robot overlords start using gps to send us to our deaths

Switch out the battery, or use backup phone.

you actually carry a backup battery and backup phone around?

Well yeah. It prevents me from ever getting lost.

Also the car has a GPS in it too

Darklit_Minuet posted...

Giant_Aspirin posted...

Darklit_Minuet posted...

Giant_Aspirin posted...

Darklit_Minuet posted...

I see no reason to learn to navigate my city in a world where I can quickly and efficiently find the shortest route from my area to where I want to go, factoring in things like construction and traffic

what if your phone dies
or what if you lose it
or what if the gps breaks
or what if the robot overlords start using gps to send us to our deaths

Switch out the battery, or use backup phone.

you actually carry a backup battery and backup phone around?

Well yeah. It prevents me from ever getting lost.

Also the car has a GPS in it too

ok so what about when the robots take over and use GPS to send you to the human processing plant, WHAT THEN
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I bicycle around a lot, and there are a ton of places where bikes can go that cars can't (paths/parks/etc) and a bunch of places cars go that I don't like going on my bike (busy streets without bike lane). So having a general idea of where things are and how they connect to each other is pretty important. Not to mention it's a little harder to have a gps navigate every single turn for you on a bike so even if you look at google maps before you leave you still need to think about what you're doing.

That said, the downside of getting all my city layout info from biking is that it drops off pretty sharply into "I have literally no idea where anything is" as you start reaching the limits of how far I'd be willing to bike to go somewhere
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Giant_Aspirin posted...

Darklit_Minuet posted...

Giant_Aspirin posted...

Darklit_Minuet posted...

Giant_Aspirin posted...

Darklit_Minuet posted...

I see no reason to learn to navigate my city in a world where I can quickly and efficiently find the shortest route from my area to where I want to go, factoring in things like construction and traffic

what if your phone dies
or what if you lose it
or what if the gps breaks
or what if the robot overlords start using gps to send us to our deaths

Switch out the battery, or use backup phone.

you actually carry a backup battery and backup phone around?

Well yeah. It prevents me from ever getting lost.

Also the car has a GPS in it too

ok so what about when the robots take over and use GPS to send you to the human processing plant, WHAT THEN

I assume the robots will escort me to the human processing plant themselves, so I won't have to find my way there

Very well. My town is basically a grid with all streets going N/S or E/W.
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Giant_Aspirin posted...

doesn't London have areas of the city that are restricted, like only certain vehicles are allowed on certain roads at certain times or something? or am i confusing it with Paris?

Both cities do, but unless you're driving an artic around then you should be fine. Cars don't factor into this (toll charges notwithstanding).
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I live in a small town so that would be easy

If I tried to drive in Boston without gps that would be another story
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I know how to move around the area where I live since it's basically a grid

I still don't know downtown Portland very well but I've only driven there once
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I'm ashamed to admit that I'm the absolute worst when in comes to remembering how to get anywhere. More than five turns? Yeah I'll need to hit that place about nine to twelve times before I'm confident on the route without guidance.
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I can get to most areas without gps. A quick look at maps is usually good enough.
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DoctorVader posted...

I can navigate about 80% of NYC without GPS. You can throw me anywhere in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, and I'll find my way around. Staten Island gets tricky outside major roads because I rarely go there. I'm better at most of Long Island than Staten Island.

This except I don't know anything about Staten Island and Long Island.If I got kidnapped and dropped off in either of those areas i'd be fucked. Since I don't know where the ferry in staten island or LIRR train stops. I'm pretty good with taking the train between the other four boroughs.
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I basically can't get lost, I will always be able to find my way home.

If you ask me to drive to a specific address or something then yeah I'd be screwed without checking maps first at least.
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