# Generally speaking, do you know your directions (i.e., north, south, east, & west) while driving? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 14, 2013, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-do-you-know-your-directions-i-e-north-south-east-west-while-driving/661024 "2013-06-14T20:53:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-do-you-know-your-directions-i-e-north-south-east-west-while-driving/661024/41 "2013-06-15T11:52:43Z")
I usually have a good sense of direction, but when I travel the 110 freeway north into Pasadena I become totally disoriented. I have been traveling to Pasadena several times a year for at least 40 years and I still experience the same problem. A few other places do the same thing to me but no so persistently. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-do-you-know-your-directions-i-e-north-south-east-west-while-driving/661024/42 "2013-06-15T14:12:12Z")
Roads in northern Virginia do not map easily onto cardinal directions. For instance, if you map Washington Blvd and Arlington Blvd (in Arlington) together where they approach each other ajnd cross, they look like a pair of pliers, with Wash. Blvd coming ESE then forming the bottom half of a circle, with Arlington Blvd. doing the opposite. There is another point in Arlington where S Glebe Road, coming from the north, meets W Glebe Road and continues east, while W Glebe Rd continues to the south. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-do-you-know-your-directions-i-e-north-south-east-west-while-driving/661024/43 "2013-06-15T14:21:34Z")
> [@DataX](#): > > That seems complicated to me. I remember seeing “we” for west east used before. I think when I was younger - even real young - north/south didn’t confuse me. Santa lives at the North Pole after all. And that is “up”. West/east I think I would think west coast/ east coast and know which one was which. I (male, for what it’s worth info-wise), am probably in the same league. Because there are North and South Poles, I have no problem with north and south. East and West, I quite often have to think about, and point a finger – “right, East, that’s that way” – left, West, ditto. I have a friend who is a bit Sheldon-Cooper-like – thinks himself big on navigation while travelling, and relies a lot on the sun. Including – when conditions are overcast and the sun not to be seen – “OK, where would the sun be if it were visible? – work things out from that.” AAAAAAUUUUGGGHHH !!! ---
**Author:** ![akennett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee59a6/32.png) [@akennett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akennett)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-do-you-know-your-directions-i-e-north-south-east-west-while-driving/661024/44 "2013-06-15T14:33:59Z")
I’m somewhere between Skald and baby sister. It used to be subconsciously ingrained, but then I moved across 2/3 of the continent. Now rivers flow the wrong way and I live in a valley with visible mountains on all sides. It takes a little bit of thought if I’m in an unfamiliar place. ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-do-you-know-your-directions-i-e-north-south-east-west-while-driving/661024/45 "2013-06-15T15:24:05Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > No idea. I could possibly tell east from west according to the sun and time of day, but north and south would be a crapshoot. I also get lost a lot- I think these things are related. Same here. I hated the couple of times I had to fill out car accident reports and it would ask for orientation. I dunno. I was going up a hill so that’s north, right? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-do-you-know-your-directions-i-e-north-south-east-west-while-driving/661024/46 "2013-06-18T18:33:56Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > If the sun is rising or setting, I’ll know. Midday or night, as far as I’m concerned, north could be anywhere. I do know where the cardinal directions are relative to each other - so if I were told “you’re facing SSW, head NW,” I could absolutely do that. But I never know where I’m facing in the first place. Along the same lines, I’m quite good with maps. If you give me a map, I can figure out where I am, figure out where I want to go, and get there. My mother, OTOH, always knows her cardinal directions and is pretty good at knowing where she is relative to a place she’s already been. She cannot navigate by map at all. Do you live in the northern hemisphere? If so, for the greater part of the afternoon, the sun should be in the southern sky. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-do-you-know-your-directions-i-e-north-south-east-west-while-driving/661024/47 "2013-06-18T19:02:53Z")
I’m okay with north/south, but for whatever reason I get east/west easily mixed up. I’m always saying to myself things like “okay, north is on the right so… **N** ever **E** at **S** hredded **W** heat…that means west is straight ahead”. In Toronto, north/south is also fairly easy because south is towards the lake/downtown and north is away from the lake/uptown. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-do-you-know-your-directions-i-e-north-south-east-west-while-driving/661024/48 "2013-06-18T19:25:57Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Roads in northern Virginia do not map easily onto cardinal directions. > > For instance, if you map Washington Blvd and Arlington Blvd (in Arlington) together where they approach each other ajnd cross, they look like a pair of pliers, with Wash. Blvd coming ESE then forming the bottom half of a circle, with Arlington Blvd. doing the opposite. There is another point in Arlington where S Glebe Road, coming from the north, meets W Glebe Road and continues east, while W Glebe Rd continues to the south. If you’re in Arlington headed towards the city you are going north (erly); away from the city south. Heading towards Alexandria is east and towards Mclean, west. Those are general directions though… it’s more like NNE and SSW. it’s the river that makes it imprecise. On a related note I have issue with how they describe the beltway. Say, from Springfield, I want to go to Tysons. The sign says Beltway West. Well there is more to it than that! Sure… it goes westerly for a little while but then turns northerly and then easterly and then southerly. It’s a circle, get it! Just say inner loop and outer loop and everyone will go the direction they want. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-do-you-know-your-directions-i-e-north-south-east-west-while-driving/661024/49 "2013-06-18T19:26:00Z")
I am generally oriented well, although I will try to sight the sun in a new location. The one place I am always confused in is Seattle. Because I do know where the ocean is, but my experience is that oceans always lie to the east. I remember a guidebook to Chicago titled, “The Lake is on the East”. Of course, I said to myself, where else would you put it? However, giving directions in Montreal creates a problem. It sits on an island in the St. Lawrence River. And the river generally runs EW. More exactly downriver is about 15 deg north of east. But it runs closer to NS by the island. Check any map. Nonetheless, streets that run parallel to the river are called NS streets and the perpendicular ones called EW. The street I live on is nominally an EW street but when I sight the north star it looks about 15 deg north of the street. Now when you are giving directions do you use nominal directions or actual ones? I use the so-called northbound train to go home. If you look at the line on a real map, it is really the westbound train and a substantial part of its trajectory is actually towards south of west. But it is still the northbound line. Some years ago, AMTRAK decided to call its northbound line Philly-NY-Boston eastbound. If you measure carefully, yes a rhumb line does go slightly more east than north, but it must have confused the hell out of the users. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-do-you-know-your-directions-i-e-north-south-east-west-while-driving/661024/50 "2013-06-18T19:37:06Z")
Directions in the UK don’t usually mention points of the compass, and with good reason because the roads usually curve in all directions. I can see why you might talk about driving north then east [here](https://www.google.co.uk/maps?q=miami&hl=en&ll=25.813182,-80.217276&spn=0.049682,0.071754&sll=29.74396,-95.372829&sspn=0.047918,0.071754&hnear=Miami,+Miami-Dade,+Florida,+United+States&t=m&z=14), but not so much [here](https://www.google.co.uk/maps?q=bristol&hl=en&ll=51.454675,-2.588654&spn=0.017195,0.035877&sll=53.4811,-2.251253&sspn=0.016421,0.035877&hnear=Bristol,+City+of+Bristol,+United+Kingdom&t=m&z=15). So no, I don’t usually even think about directions in that way. Instead I think I’m heading towards town X. Road signs in the UK tend to point towards a selection of major destinations in that direction, rather than “North” or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-do-you-know-your-directions-i-e-north-south-east-west-while-driving/661024/51 "2013-06-18T20:12:07Z")
I do in my city, and I do on major highways. The US highway system is amazing - people who have never left the country have no idea how good they’ve got it. But I don’t on the whole otherwise. One Doper once scoffed and told me to just “look at the sun”. I asked him where he lived, and he said “Florida” or some shit. I guess he doesn’t know that when you live up North, YOU CAN’T ALWAYS SEE THE SUN! Clouds! Rain! Or it’s just hidden! Anyway that being said, where I live, Albany, we border a river. The river is always east of me. When the river is west of me, (i.e., if I am in Rensselaer) I have to really remember which direction that is. That being said, I am fairly decent at directions…but I have to consciously think to visualize a map in my head. I don’t just have one. Aaah! First on second page! I hate that! ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-do-you-know-your-directions-i-e-north-south-east-west-while-driving/661024/52 "2013-06-18T20:13:55Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Aaah! First on second page! I hate that! You can blame me for not giving you the customary heads-up, I 'spose. ---
**Author:** ![RoniaBorkason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9dc877/32.png) [@RoniaBorkason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RoniaBorkason)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-do-you-know-your-directions-i-e-north-south-east-west-while-driving/661024/53 "2013-06-18T20:47:05Z")
I can always tell what direction I am facing, NSEW-wise, but I do not know my left from my right, due to a horrible combination of a little dyslexia and being left handed. As for knowing the cardinal directions, don’t Roman Catholics cross themselves in a NSEW pattern? And Eastern Orthodox in a NSWE? ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-do-you-know-your-directions-i-e-north-south-east-west-while-driving/661024/54 "2013-06-18T20:50:45Z")
I’m curious if most of you would know which way north was when visting a friend or relatives house. I somehow always have sort of a feel which way is north. Its a weird feeling that I can’t explain. Maybe I was a bird in a previous life. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-do-you-know-your-directions-i-e-north-south-east-west-while-driving/661024/55 "2013-06-18T22:11:13Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Do you live in the northern hemisphere? If so, for the greater part of the afternoon, the sun should be in the southern sky. Yes, I’m in the northern hemisphere, but in a part of the world where for 2/3rds of the year the sun isn’t actually visible in the afternoon. Also, how would I know if it were part of the greater part of the afternoon or if it were the lesser part and what about mornings? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-do-you-know-your-directions-i-e-north-south-east-west-while-driving/661024/56 "2013-06-18T22:43:38Z")
Weirdly, although I’ve always loved maps and could draw you a pretty accurate map of my town from memory, I still have to mentally correct myself as to which direction I’m going when I drive out of town. The road heads uphill out of the valley and it just feels like it should be north, but it’s actually due south. I know that I turn left at the top to head towards London, which is to the east, but it still feels wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-do-you-know-your-directions-i-e-north-south-east-west-while-driving/661024/57 "2013-06-18T23:25:27Z")
I’m somewhere between automatically knowing and having to orient myself, like Skald. However, my sense of direction is more attuned to the street grid wherever I happen to be. In downtown L.A. the street grid is about 45 degrees askew of the astronomical cardinal points, and in Palms where I live they’re skewed almost as much the other way. So when it comes to finding true north, like to position a sundial, I have to stop and think for a moment or two. ---
**Author:** ![Silvorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Silvorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silvorange)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-do-you-know-your-directions-i-e-north-south-east-west-while-driving/661024/58 "2013-06-19T00:53:06Z")
I voted “deliberately orient myself,” but that has taken years of practice. I didn’t learn how to orient myself by cardinal directions when I was young, and was slower than average in really internalizing left/right. Everybody in my family has a terrible sense of direction, including my former-cop dad. It doesn’t help that the directions that people use can be so arbitrary. The streets downtown are mostly a grid, so that is easy enough. Then there is the major road that runs closest to my house, which is called N-S, even though it is really NW-SE, and the stretch closest to me is very close to W-E. Oh, and the expressway that goes in a circle, but you never go north or south on it. There is way too much of that kind of silliness for me. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-do-you-know-your-directions-i-e-north-south-east-west-while-driving/661024/59 "2013-06-19T02:59:02Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > The US highway system is amazing - people who have never left the country have no idea how good they’ve got it. Stay on I-280 South in San Jose, California and you will suddenly find yourself, without even a bend in the road at that point, on I-680 North. (This happens on a stretch of the freeway where you’re roughly heading East.) Does this happen on other Interstates? ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-do-you-know-your-directions-i-e-north-south-east-west-while-driving/661024/60 "2013-06-19T03:09:57Z")
Only if there are proper landmarks (so I guess that would be option 2?). In the Seattle area? I rarely had a clue, the area is hilly and down in trees and you can never (or rarely) ever see any landmarks. In Anchorage, I knew the darned place like the back of my hand, so I rarely had to think about it, but if asked, I knew “mountains are east, base is north, Cook Inlet is West”. And if I needed to give or receive directions based on NESW, I could. Colorado is much easier because I know “mountains are west” but after a lifetime where “mountains are east” I sometimes have to re-orient myself. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-do-you-know-your-directions-i-e-north-south-east-west-while-driving/661024.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-do-you-know-your-directions-i-e-north-south-east-west-while-driving/661024.md?page=4)