When you're given driving directions, do you want landmarks or street names?

[kranky]

If someone is giving me directions to get somewhere, I prefer to know what is at the intersections where I will need to turn. Saying "go about 3 miles then make a right on Spring Street" isn't as helpful to me as "go about 3 miles then make a right at the 7-11". If I only have a street name I have to slow down at every intersection to get a look at the signs, and I can spot a 7-11 much easier.

I don't let my wife give anyone directions because she tends to turn it into a travelogue. "When you get on Grant St. you go up a long hill, then it bends to the right, and you'll pass a couple of gas stations, then you go a while and pass a shopping center on the right, then a school and a library, then go through a traffic light... (20 minutes later) then turn left on Anderson." Me: "Get on Grant St., go about 2 miles then turn left on Anderson which is the first street after the 2nd traffic light. There's a Italia Pizza at that corner."

Of course, this assumes you aren't using a GPS.

 

[Anubis]

Landmarks because I don?t remember street names

I?m actually really really really bad a giving directions because i never remember then, I just know where to go without thinking about it.

Its like muscle memory, as long as I?ve been there once I can get back again with no directions, but I cant tell someone how to get there

 

[Riverhound777]

Both. What is best for me is an address and then general directions/land marks. That way I can print my own map and follow that, but use the landmarks if the map doesn't show something unexpected like a hidden street sign.

 

[vi edit]

I give and prefer to receive directions in the hybrid method.

Landmarks key you off to look for the street name. This way protects you from turning at the wrong 7-11 and keeps your eyes on the road so you aren't trying to scour every intersection for the street names.

 

[1sikbITCH]

Originally posted by: kranky
If someone is giving me directions to get somewhere, I prefer to know what is at the intersections where I will need to turn. Saying "go about 3 miles then make a right on Spring Street" isn't as helpful to me as "go about 3 miles then make a right at the 7-11". If I only have a street name I have to slow down at every intersection to get a look at the signs, and I can spot a 7-11 much easier.

I don't let my wife give anyone directions because she tends to turn it into a travelogue. "When you get on Grant St. you go up a long hill, then it bends to the right, and you'll pass a couple of gas stations, then you go a while and pass a shopping center on the right, then a school and a library, then go through a traffic light... (20 minutes later) then turn left on Anderson." Me: "Get on Grant St., go about 2 miles then turn left on Anderson which is the first street after the 2nd traffic light. There's a Italia Pizza at that corner."

Of course, this assumes you aren't using a GPS.

Just give me the address and I'll google it myself thanks.

Edit- if I must use your directions I would prefer the hybrid method as well. Sometimes street names are easier because the sign is 5 feet long and dangling in the middle of the intersection and then other times the sign is hard to spot and a landmark is better.

 

[OdiN]

Street names. I have good vision so I don't need to slow down unless they are using 4pt font on the signs.

I don't have, nor ever see myself owning, a GPS for driving. I have a handheld for geocaching is all.

 

[JohnCU]

i use a GPS but if it's broken then i want both

 

[Jeff7]

Landmarks.
1) Like Anubis, I don't remember street names. Even places I've driven through literally hundreds of times, I might not remember the street name. It's simply not information that warrants retention.

2) Street signs, if they're even there at all, are often printed in too small of a font, and are rarely in plain view. You only see them as you're passing through the intersection. Kind of like exit signs in Pennsylvania - they're right at the turnoff point, instead of ahead of where the ramp begins. In some other states I've driven in, they do this. The sign is right where the ramp starts, so you know right then if it's the correct ramp, instead of seeing a sign way up ahead, by which time you're already off the highway, and it's too late to correct your mistake.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: Jeff7
Landmarks.
1) Like Anubis, I don't remember street names. Even places I've driven through literally hundreds of times, I might not remember the street name. It's simply not information that warrants retention.

sweet im not alone

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Having both is the best option, but if I only get to choose 1, I'm going with street names. Landmarks is a very "country" way of giving directions: go down this road apiece tell you come to a big red barn with a llama outside it, you're gonna make a left there and drive til you come to the gnarled tree hanging over the road, Zeke's smellhound is usually laying out under that on a Thursday... is this Thursday?

Landmark directions don't work as well in a city. K, drive down 82nd and turn right at the 7-11... There are a dozen 7-11s along that street. Not helpful. So people end up giving you landmarks that aren't repeated throughout a city. Great, I'm not looking for a 7-11, I'm looking for Polly's Greasy Spoon. Well that's just as easy to remember as "Burnside Street." On the plus side, streets in Portland follow a pretty easy pattern; there's a section of streets that build alphabetically, there's a section of streets named for trees, there's a section of streets named for States, etc. Virtually every street running North/South is a number that goes up sequentially, even out into the surrounding suburbs and outlying towns. If I need to find SE 187th, there's no mystery about which direction I need to drive.

 

[nakedfrog]

Both. Some places don't bother to put the street name at every intersection, which is stupid and sucks for people who don't live there.

 

[Epic Fail]

I give out longitude and latitude.

 

[So]

I need an option for me. I refuse directions, demand an address and google maps it. If I can't get to a computer, I use my phone.

 

[dainthomas]

Originally posted by: Epic Fail
I give out longitude and latitude.

Too easy. I give out state plane coordinates and make them guess the zone and datum.

 

[Baked]

I plan ahead and use google maps.

 

[Atvar]

If I don't have gps I want both. I am terrible with directions and need to have all my bases covered.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: Jeff7
Landmarks.
1) Like Anubis, I don't remember street names. Even places I've driven through literally hundreds of times, I might not remember the street name. It's simply not information that warrants retention.

sweet im not alone

Yep, I'm the same way. I have a photographic memory, and names are worthless for me. Once I've been somewhere, I navigate to it by memory of surroundings, not by street names. That, and if I am told street names AND remember them, I often get screwed over by the signs being obstructed from view or being too small to read in time...

 

[imported_Lothar]

I don't rely on peoples directions.

I go to googlemaps or use a friends GPS unit.

 

[compman25]

I want landmarks, street name, and direction (N,E,S,W).

 

[FoBoT]

i prefer a printout from maps.google.com

 

[Turin39789]

a compass and paced coordinates

 

[Freejack2]

I just want an address, plug that into the google maps on the phone, start it's gps and go.

 

[jupiter57]

I remember once, years ago, I stopped in rural KY & asked for directions at an old Country store.
The old Geezer says something to the effect of "Go down about 1/2 mile from where John's barn burned down and make a left where they cut down the old Maple tree back in '72"!

Yeah, Google Maps or Mapquest for me.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: So
I need an option for me. I refuse directions, demand an address and google maps it. If I can't get to a computer, I use my phone.

I get directions and the address, and compare the directions with the map and see if I would prefer another route.

 

[kranky]

Originally posted by: jupiter57
I remember once, years ago, I stopped in rural KY & asked for directions at an old Country store.
The old Geezer says something to the effect of "Go down about 1/2 mile from where John's barn burned down and make a left where they cut down the old Maple tree back in '72"!

"...and take the fork on the right 5 miles before the sawmill."