# Police directionality **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 13, 2010, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-directionality/539245 "2010-05-13T01:16:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-directionality/539245/21 "2010-05-13T05:28:57Z")
As for direction, I typically orient by direction. I suppose it helps that you can’t be hardly anywhere in Southern California without seeing some recognizable mountains, but even in the flat and brown Midwest I never had much difficulty knowing which direction was north. Stranger [/QUOTE] When I moved to Omaha after having lived the first 40 years of my life in the Pacific Northwest I had a hell of a time getting oriented without mountains on the horizon. After living there a while I learned to use the sun more, and also knowing where I was in relation to the Missouri River, which runs North/South on the east edge of town. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-directionality/539245/22 "2010-05-13T05:51:46Z")
You know what’s really weird? Growing up in Cleveland, I always had an intuitive sense of where the lake was, and that way’s North. Unsurprisingly, I get confused in Chicago or Toronto, but my direction sense still points toward the lake; I just have to remember which way that is. But what’s odd is, my same direction sense works just fine here in Bozeman, without a lake. ---
**Author:** ![Thalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f475e1/32.png) [@Thalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thalion)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-directionality/539245/23 "2010-05-13T06:39:30Z")
I’m a cop, and it is 99% familiarity with your area. I know every street and what direction they run. I do have a compass on the dash display, but I can’t imagine having to look at it to know what direction I’m travelling. When I was a brand-new recruit, I was riding along with a veteran officer (who is now my Chief of Police). In the middle of the night, on a deserted street, he suddenly asked me what the next cross street would be. I didn’t know. He suddenly yelled, “Bam!! You’re dead!”, reminding me that I had to always know exactly where I was if I ever needed help. I never forgot that. Even off-duty, if I’m driving in some other town I am always reading street signs and making a mental note of where I am. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-directionality/539245/24 "2010-05-13T09:24:07Z")
Well, the Sun would help in getting E/W. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-directionality/539245/25 "2010-05-13T09:36:05Z")
Wouldn’t work here! I can’t think of a single straight road in my town at all. I’d have to stop and think to actually work out what direction I’m facing in, and still probably get it wrong. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-directionality/539245/26 "2010-05-13T10:18:28Z")
I am with Chronos, coming from a lake area [just outside Rochester NY] I think of water as North … It sort of screwed me up when I lived in Norfolk VA, even though it was 8 years, I always thought of the ocean as west, but in Norfolk proper it is actually North … I mentally thought ['map of the eastern coastline US](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=map+of+virginia+beach&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Virginia+Beach,+VA&gl=us&ei=sdDrS4XzOIO8lQfJ_rm1CA&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CB4Q8gEwAA)’ which has Va Beach at the western end of the cluster of Portsmouth/Norfolk/Va Beach. The three city area is oriented sort of in a crescent. So mentally, I was thinking of Norfolk as north, and Va Beach as south … :smack: For bonus points, I can NOT watch Navy Seals without practically falling out of my chair laughing because of his deciding to swim to the amphib base by jumping off the James River Bridge between Portsmouth and Norfolk, going from Va Beach … 😃 [Not that anybody in their right mind would actually want to swim in the industrial waste sump that is the James River…] ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-directionality/539245/27 "2010-05-13T10:27:06Z")
Just by the way, almost any Muslim knows which way to pray after a day or so in a new town. Unless they are in Mecca, as all the all the mosques face the Grand Mosque, and so it is oddly disorienting. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-directionality/539245/28 "2010-05-13T13:58:59Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > You know what’s really weird? Growing up in Cleveland, I always had an intuitive sense of where the lake was, and that way’s North. Unsurprisingly, I get confused in Chicago or Toronto, but my direction sense still points toward the lake; I just have to remember which way that is. But what’s odd is, my same direction sense works just fine here in Bozeman, without a lake. Yeah, but if you’re lost in Bozeman you probably need more help than a map and compass can offer. The place redefines vanishingly small and obtrusively friendly western college town; I stayed there once for three days and by the end of the trip waitresses I didn’t even recognize were calling me by name and giving me tips on getting down Elk Park Ridge without getting bogged in fluff. I’d live there in a heartbeat if the town wouldn’t drive me insane by shutting down at eight-thirty every night. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![JerseyFrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bcef8e/32.png) [@JerseyFrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerseyFrank)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-directionality/539245/29 "2010-05-13T14:56:09Z")
Has it been mentioned that true direction is often irrelevant in such exchanges? I-95 through most of Connecticut heads East-West, but you would always describe your direction as “Northbound” (or Southbound) because that’s the way the road goes. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-directionality/539245/30 "2010-05-13T15:53:38Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > There is a defined pattern for Interstate freeways; you can tell the direction just from the number. [ul] > [li]even numbered freeways run from east to west. Low numbers start in the south, and get higher as you go north. From I-10 in Florida to southern California, to I-94 going across MN, ND, & MT just below the Canadian border.[/li][li]odd numbered freeways go from north to south. Like I-35 which goes from near Canada in Minnesota roughly down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico.[/li][li]3-digit numbers starting with an even number identify beltways running around a city. The last 2 digits are the same as the main freeway running through the city.[/li][li]3-digit numbers starting with an odd number identify spokes going outward from the city central area. Again, the last 2 digits are the same as the main freeway running through the city. So I-94 is the main E-W freeway in Minneapolis, 494 & 694 are the beltway around the city, and 394 is a spoke going west from downtown to the beltway.[/li][/ul] > > Obviously, this is a general, overall pattern. Individual roads don’t follow exactly in the cardinal directions, but vary a bit to match the terrain and destinations. For example, I-94 goes west through Minneapolis-St. Paul, then it heads heads for Fargo, ND, about 200 miles north. So obviously it is really going northwest across most of Minnesota. When it gets to Fargo, it straightens out and goes pretty much straight west from there, until in Montana it drifts southwest to merge up with I-90. But the basic directional pattern of the road matches the number. > [@Chronos](#): > > 33, 81, and 87 run north-south, 90 and 88 run east-west, and 190, 990, 490, and 390 are all bypass loops around a city. They may run diagonally in places, or even twist around backwards, but every road that’s part of the interstate highway system either has one direction that’s officially east and the other direction is officially west, or one that’s officially north and the other is officially south. And you can tell what it is by whether it’s 2 or 3 digits, and whether it’s even or odd. I love maps. I love looking at them and reading them and following routes around them. Maps are fun. So, yeah, I know all that stuff about Interstate conventions. I even know that Interstates have to begin and end at other Interstates, so that 590 in Rochester continues on without a pause after 490, but suddenly you are driving on a state road marked 590 rather than Interstate 590. The change in symbols confuses strangers who wonder why there are two 590s and how to get from one to the other. And the directionality is just as much an issue on the state level. Drive around New York State and you see that every state numbered route has an official direction, either north south or east west. But the numbered routes often follow older roads. So you can be driving south and make a right turn to drive due west for a while, but the signage will still read route number south. Freeways do the same thing. People do arbitrarily designate one direction by a NSEW name but it sometimes has little to do with reality. Before 590 and 390 were connected both halves of the system were called 47. They both ran north-south on opposite sides of the city, except where they curved east-west to try to meet one another. Try explaining that to an outside. Reality and our words have tangential relationships to one another more than we like to realize. I find that fun too, when it isn’t totally frustrating. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-directionality/539245/31 "2010-05-13T16:34:37Z")
I’m from Boston, streets give you no clue since they are so twisted. > [@](#): > > The geographical center of Boston is in Roxbury. Due north of the center we find the South End. This is not to be confused with South Boston, which lies directly east from the South End. North of the South End is East Boston and southwest of East Boston is the North End. Backbay was filled in years ago. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-directionality/539245/32 "2010-05-13T16:37:07Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Yeah, but if you’re lost in Bozeman you probably need more help than a map and compass can offer. The place redefines vanishingly small and obtrusively friendly western college town; I stayed there once for three days and by the end of the trip waitresses I didn’t even recognize were calling me by name and giving me tips on getting down Elk Park Ridge without getting bogged in fluff. I’d live there in a heartbeat if the town wouldn’t drive me insane by shutting down at eight-thirty every night. > > Stranger Maybe that’s why the waitresses were so friendly, they wanted \*something \*to do after 8:30. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-directionality/539245/33 "2010-05-13T16:38:27Z")
I think this may have started years ago with the railroads (like time zones did). Years ago, when I worked for Great Northern Railroad, all trains were classified as eastbound or westbound. Which was reasonable when GN ran mainly across the US toward Seattle, Washington. But with mergers & expansion, suddenly they had routes running north-south. Their signaling & paperwork systems couldn’t handle that, it was all built on eastbound/westbound. So they (rather arbitrarily) designated the new routes that way. So a train running from Minneapolis to Texas was _westbound_. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-directionality/539245/34 "2010-05-13T16:44:22Z")
> [@](#): > > I’d live there in a heartbeat if the town wouldn’t drive me insane by shutting down at eight-thirty every night. That, you get used to (though there are still plenty of places catering to students staying up all night). What’s really annoying, though, is national holidays, when absolutely everything closes. But you’re right, it is hard to get lost here, especially if you know your US history (a large chunk of roads are named after presidents Grant through Cleveland, in order). ---
**Author:** ![BobArrgh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobarrgh/32/2881_2.png) [@BobArrgh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobArrgh)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-directionality/539245/35 "2010-05-13T17:49:07Z")
We moved from the Los Angeles area to the Kansas City area some time back. The 2nd week we were here, we got helplessly and hopelessly lost late at night, primarily due to not having any sort of tall landmarks. I never realized how important the hills and mountains of Los Angeles help in orienting one’s direction. Finally, we stumbled across I-435, the beltway that loops around the city. By that time, though, I had no idea which way I was supposed to go on that road, and was prepared to go around the entire city, if need be. The main problem was that I **knew** that I-35 was a north-south freeway. Except for 200 miles or so where it is a diagonal (SW-NE) freeway through most of Kansas. Which explains why some north-south streets (which I thought were parallel to I-35) were either north of it or south of it. We were here for about 3 months before I finally figured out that I couldn’t consider I-35 to be a north-south freeway through this part of the world. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-directionality/539245/36 "2010-05-13T18:43:56Z")
Albuquerque is really easy to know what direction you are facing. Just east of the city is Sandia peak rising 4000 feet above the city. The mountain runs north south for the length of the city. A quick glance from almost anywhere in the city and you know east. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-directionality/539245/37 "2010-05-13T18:54:19Z")
I’ve always wondered how crime victims are able to estimate the weight of suspects. Whenever I hear about a suspect on the loose, they always mention the height and weight. How do you know what all different heights and weights looks like? Do people go around asking random strangers their weight? I only know the weight of a handful of people I know, not enough to get an idea of what all different weights (at different heights) look like. Of course some people in organized athletics might acquire the skill, but even then it would probably only apply to people who are in shape. I have no idea how to look at a guy and say if he’s 200 or 220, or something like that. With height, at least I can compare it directly to my own, by whether I’m looking up or down at a person. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-directionality/539245/38 "2010-05-13T20:13:11Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Well, the Sun would help in getting E/W. It could help a lot more than that. You can determine any direction [using a watch](http://lifehacker.com/289805/use-your-wristwatch-as-a-compass)and pointing it at the sun. I dare say that with experience you can do it in your head instantly if you know the approximate time to the nearest hour. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-directionality/539245/39 "2010-05-13T20:31:47Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > You know what’s really weird? Growing up in Cleveland, I always had an intuitive sense of where the lake was, and that way’s North. Unsurprisingly, I get confused in Chicago or Toronto, but my direction sense still points toward the lake; I just have to remember which way that is. But what’s odd is, my same direction sense works just fine here in Bozeman, without a lake. Same with me - growing up in the northwest I always knew which direction the Pacific Ocean was, even when I was hundreds of miles inland. What I didn’t realize until I moved to Nebraska was that I was using the mountainous topography to fix the “ocean direction.” I liked Omaha OK, but never got used to the flatness of the plains. When we moved back to the left coast I remember how relieved I felt as we crossed the Cascades – “Hey, I know where I am!” ---
**Author:** ![Any\_Other\_Name](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f17d59/32.png) [@Any\_Other\_Name](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Any_Other_Name)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-directionality/539245/40 "2010-05-13T20:47:06Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I love maps. I love looking at them and reading them and following routes around them. Maps are fun. > > So, yeah, I know all that stuff about Interstate conventions. I even know that Interstates have to begin and end at other Interstates, so that 590 in Rochester continues on without a pause after 490, but suddenly you are driving on a state road marked 590 rather than Interstate 590. The change in symbols confuses strangers who wonder why there are two 590s and how to get from one to the other. I love maps too. I’ve found a few good map stores that I’ve literaly had to be dragged from. I wasn’t aware of the rule that Interstates must begin and end at other Interstates. I know that the Long Island Expressway (in New York) was designated an Interstate even though it didn’t fit the rules, but I thought the rule it broke was that it wasn’t “inter-state”. Looking back, I should have realized that was wrong; I think there are several Interstates that are within a single state. The rule it was violating must have been the one you’re stating. And the LIE violates another rule; originating from New York City, it’s clearly an Interstate spur, not a loop; yet the route number starts with an even number, which would designate a loop road. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-directionality/539245.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-directionality/539245.md?page=3)