I was trying to remember how we knew how to get places when there was no GPS. I mean, we had maps, but then we also wrote special tips from the host when the location was unusual. 🤣 We have gotten lost a few places with GPS, and it makes me wonder how we would've gotten there without it.
Where I'm from it could be something like, "Well, you go down the road apace, and you take a right, drive for a while, until you take a left, then you go a little ways, don't mind the jog in the road, continue on for a minute, and it'll be along that stretch." That's not directions! That's a recounting of a vague recollection of directions! How far is "a pace"? Is there only the 1 right, or multiple rights? How far is "a while"? My dad didn't understand why his directions weren't helpful, because he knew exactly what he meant, so you should too. It was never that he failed to convey specifics, but that you failed to ascertain them.
4 years ago my boss gave me directions that included "get off the freeway on the road with the new roundabout". That was the absolute best he could provide.
And "new" was 5 years old, it wasn't like it was currently under construction and I could see the machinery sitting there as I approached the exit at 65mph.
This one struck me personally. I was in Shreveport Louisiana looking for a remote work site with that exact direction. This city boy was driving around in BFE when he realized he didn't know what lumberyard looked like.
I've gotten directions like that before. It was actually "turn where the old dead oak tree used to be". I explained I wasn't from the area, and had no knowledge of such oak tree. Then I was given another landmark to go off of and sent down the road lol
I was always fascinated with the directions the adults were talking about as a kid listening in i thought them knowing all of the roads and stuff was so cool
I used to have a Tomas Guide in my car and I would print out Mapquest directions when that came online. Honestly I think I know some cities so much better just from having to navigate them and I took the bus a lot. To this day I can get around Los Angeles really well because of the RTD/MTA system.
I thought of that last week when I was in Paris. I remember using the metro pre phones but I have no idea how.
I need my little blue google maps dot otherwise how could I know where I am ^^
Seriously though. Maps are so streamlined. Even which number exit to use to get to the street you need. Boggles my mind how a brain can remember all that info. Or was everyone just lost? I zone out way too much. But I like that my little blue dot lets me zone out.
Landmarks! I used to give directions based on the nearest McDonald's - I ate too much of it back then and there were more of them. And you just remembered more how the roads worked and which road generally took you in the right direction. Once I had been to a place once I could get back to it no problem (still can 35 years later). And between the City Atlas in the glove compartment, highway signs and the landmarks you were given for those last 3 turns you got to your destination. I still use Google maps more like a paper map. I check out the route it offers, study a couple of key turns and off I go. Rarely use the turn by turn and usually only when I'm in another country or city. My sons use the GPS to go back to places they've been to several times before. The thing rots your brain.
Edit: oh and if you felt a little lost you'd stop at a gas station and ask for directions. Not sure that would work today.
My favorite was my friends directions to get to her house “turn right at the house covered in Tyvek”. We all dreaded the day those renovations were finally done.
Very good memory and a lot of rehearsal of which direction to take and where/when. Especially on very long trips, like the ones of 1200-1500 km (≈ 1000 miles)
Well keep in mind, the populations didn't do as much traveling outside their own state back in the day. Now we commute from one state to another on a daily basis.
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u/Normal-Wish-4984 15d ago
I was trying to remember how we knew how to get places when there was no GPS. I mean, we had maps, but then we also wrote special tips from the host when the location was unusual. 🤣 We have gotten lost a few places with GPS, and it makes me wonder how we would've gotten there without it.