I used to live in the Rocky Mountain west, and prior to that in California. Seems to me that people out west - and I suppose on the east coast - with easily-identified landmarks (mountain range, ocean) tend to know where north, south, east and west are and give directions accordingly. People in the middle don’t seem to have this information as readily.
“Go east on State street for a mile, turn north on Main street past Church street, the Widget store is the next intersection, on the north-east corner of Main and Market.”
This is very clear to me; I have an automatic map in my head with directions like this. I also know which lane I need to be in when approaching the Widget store.
Here in Michigan directions go more like:
“Go up State street for a mile, then turn left on Main street, go past Church, and the Widget store is at Market street next to Halo Burger.”
If I don’t know where the Halo Burger is, this isn’t very specific, and when pressed, most people can’t tell me which corner the store is on. Which is annoying if it’s a busy commercial intersection with stores and strip malls on each corner and you’re trying to find the Halo burger sign and only see it after you realise you’re in the wrong lane and have to make a u-turn and come back.
I’ve started asking people I know here if they can identify the points of the compass, and over half can’t based on my small, informal survey. Which seems astonishing to me, especially since most people have lived here their whole lives and can’t point towards Detroit (an hour south) from their Grand Blanc front yard. Yesterday I asked three friends if their house was on the north, south, east or west side of the street, only one answered immediately; the other two got it right but they had to think about it.
Assuming you’re in familiar territory, can you quickly identify the points of a compass?
I can, but sadly, we are a nation of geographic idiots, and it’s getting worse by the minute now that all these pitifully helpless, ignorant saps are being spoonfed by GPSs.
If I’m in a town or an area I know well, than compass-point directions are okay, but I may have to stop and close my eyes a minute and do some visualization. If I’m visiting someplace that’s new to me, compass directions would have me very lost if there were no other markers.
I’m a reader by nature - I read signs more or less automatically. My sister is a count-er - she does much better being given numbers of blocks or buildings, or how many miles, etc. My husband is the map-guy, he does well with compass directions.
In Milwaukee it’s very easy. Figure out where the lake is (Lake Michigan), that’s East. From there you can figure everything else out. I mean if I’m in the middle of nowhere, I can look at the street direction and which way the address are going (as long as it’s a grid format) and figure it out, but if I know which direction the lake is in, I’m fine.
i’ve only ever heard directions given as left or right, before and after. so, " … and the Widget store is at the corner of the next junction on your right, next to Halo Burger.
I prefer Right/Left type directions, but will switch to NESW type directions when I can tell the person I’m giving them to isn’t so good with the right and left thing.
Him: So I just come down Hill Dr and make a Right on 59th st?
Me: Well, that depends, which way will you be coming from?
If that doesn’t click with them, I found that instead of explaining that if they’re coming from the North they have to turn Right, but if they’re coming from the South they have to turn left, I just tell them to turn West on 59th.
I posted “no.” I’m something akin to dyslexic here: I’m perfectly capable of pointing at the setting sun and calling it “east,” or going round the four directions and saying “north, north, south, west.” I have also gone the wrong direction on the freeway multiple times because I was following the sign that said “north” and the damn road went towards Mexico! (I have also done this on a bicycle.)
The concept is pretty simple, but unless I can see the ocean or a compass, I get it wrong too easily. This is true even in the place I was born and raised. It’s very annoying. Nothing to do with ignorance, though. I don’t know what it is.
I’m somewhere between “always” and “sometimes” - here in Calgary I have no problem with it; towards downtown is south*, towards the mountains is west, towards Saskatchewan is east (and away from downtown is north, of course). In other places where I don’t have such easily identified landmarks, I have to think about it but will still usually have a good sense of which direction is which.
*Reversing these when I’m south of downtown, of course.
In DC the lettered streets run east-west and the numbered streets run north-south. All you have to do is walk one block on any numbered street to see if you went from G to H or H to G. But you have to be able to tell if you’re in the north or south half of the city for that to work. All the street signs have the quadrant on them, so that helps.
If I’m not near the grid, I would hope to be able to tell by looking at the rising or setting sun. I suppose at mid-day I’d be out of luck. I guess I’d have to put a stick in the ground and wait a few minutes to see which way the shadow’s going.
There’s an old adage that says ‘If you’re lost in a forest, remember that moss grows on the north side of trees.’ I posted a joke (which is actually closer to the truth around these parts).
yeah but in my experience they have a blank expression that says, “wtf? i don’t have a compass.” so it’s either powering through with the “which way” question or take a longer route pass a familiar landmark.
The problem sounds more like small town directions vs city directions. I can never get a street name from people when I ask for the location of something in the small town near here. “It’s next to the credit union. What street is that? Well, it’s across from the feed store. That doesn’t help me, is it along the highway? Oh, it’s in downtown. Great, now we are getting somewhere. I think it’s the road with the streetlight. Ok, that helps, but there are two lights; you know what, I’ll just drive around until I find the credit union, thanks.” I’ve since figured out that downtown is only about 6 square blocks so everything there is described as being ‘next to the credit union’. ‘Near the school’ is another area with stores/restaurants and ‘out by the truck stop’ is the commercial area on the eastern edge of town. I have no idea why they bothered to name the streets.
Always. In a city of almost two million I can set off somewhere along a route I’ve never taken before, and once I’m past the inevitable cul-de-sacs and no access highways, always reach my destination, without really thinking about it.
If you grow up in Iowa, you’ll be told that things are left and right since there’s no obvious visual guide. In Colorado, where I live now, I’ll hear “west” and “east” and I reply, “I grew up in Iowa! We say* left *and right!” because I’ll often hear that I’m to ‘head east’ when I’m totally unfamiliar with the area and the mountains or major landmark or interstate is obscured at the moment. Luckily, my car has a handy little button that can tell me what direction my car is headed in.
It isn’t a matter of stupid v. smart. It’s just how a person grows up learning/explaining directions based on their geographical location. I know my maps just fine.
Your joke made me smile. It also reminded me of my disappointment as a child when I wandered off in the forest around my grandparents’ cabin in northern Minnesota and discovered to my dismay that moss does indeed grow on the north side of trees . . . and the east side, and the west side, and the south side. I found my way back to the cabin anyway.
And to answer the poll, yes, in familiar territory I always know which direction is which. Furthermore, I believe I could quickly figure out the points of a compass most anywhere. The N is usually on top.
But seriously, I can usually figure out in at least a general way where east and west lie.
I can in Seattle, and places like NYC. I was in Portland, last week, however, and had no clue.
The op reminded me of something in Seattle that always bugged me. They have sings that say “no parking north ( or south, etc.) of here.”. How the heck do they expect everyone to know which way is North? Is a compas required to use the Seattle streets? I always imagine someone in court saying “I’m sorry, but I lost my sense of direction.”.
As long as I know which direction in which the sun comes up, I’m good.
But having lived out west for most of the last 25 years, I agree it’s a lot easier to do west than east, as I discovered when I lived in Virginia for about 6 years.
It’s easy where I live. People know what direction Lake Ontario is and that’s always going to be north.
That said, I’d probably get screwed up if I moved to some place like Canandaigua or Auburn. I’ve always been able to think of towards Buffalo being west and towards Rochester being east. If I moved east of Rochester, I’d have to literally reorient my brain. And if I moved west of Buffalo, I’d be in Canada and all their compass points are metric - I’m not sure how that works but I think it’s based on ten directions instead of four.
I can generally tell what direction I’m traveling so turning based on a compass direction wouldn’t be a problem. I’d say giving someone compass direction in MA is a really cruel thing to do though, none of the roads go straight and we have plenty of stupid intersections where a few degrees would make it a wrong turn.
