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Letting go of the GPS to learn the art of natural navigation

theguardian.com

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Re: Letting go of the GPS to learn the art of natural navigation

#11

Post by elcapitan »

myroon5 wrote: post #7

"the sun rises in the east, sets in the west and moves through the southern sky" That last part is dependent on your latitude, correct? If you were far enough south, the sun would move through the northern sky, wouldn't it?

Yes, Gooley's books focus mostly on what he experienced in Britain - they would probably be useful in other northern european countries, or maybe in northern parts of America, but (I guess) not so much in New Mexico etc, where vegetation and animals are wildly different. They're interesting reads and good introductions, but if you want that kind of understanding for travels outside that area, you probably need more local information and general knowledge.

Re: Letting go of the GPS to learn the art of natural navigation

#13

Post by sixstringtheory »

Every now and then, when my wife and I leave a place we’ve driven to in our car (rare in the city) we’ll intentionally go out of the way and make a game of finding our way back. You always get to see a new neighborhood with different character.

Since I mentioned biking, thats also another great way to see a place differently and learn your way around.

Re: Letting go of the GPS to learn the art of natural navigation

#14

Post by sksksk »

Something I loved about living in Bogota, was how easy it was to navigate there.

The whole city was built on a grid, with the east-west streets increasing in number as you went north. And the North-south streets increasing in number as you go east to west.

There is a mountain range to the east, so if you can see the mountains, and know what streets you're on, you can always find your way

Re: Letting go of the GPS to learn the art of natural navigation

#15

Post by dingaling »

myroon5 wrote: post #7

"the sun rises in the east, sets in the west and moves through the southern sky" That last part is dependent on your latitude, correct? If you were far enough south, the sun would move through the northern sky, wouldn't it?

Yes, anywhere south of the Tropic of Capricorn

Re: Letting go of the GPS to learn the art of natural navigation

#16

Post by flyingcircus3 »

sixstringtheory wrote: post #13

Every now and then, when my wife and I leave a place we’ve driven to in our car (rare in the city) we’ll intentionally go out of the way and make a game of finding our way back. You always get to see a new neighborhood with different character. Since I mentioned biking, thats also another great way to see a place differently and learn your way around.

Having lived in old cities/towns with high traffic, you adapt by finding shortcuts where you can save time on a frequent commute. The bigger the city, the higher average commute time it seems. The longer of a drive you can accumulate those shortcuts too. After getting used to always being on the lookout for a faster route, moving to a smaller metro area, with better, newer infrastructure, it's been an odd mental adjustment. Almost like I forgot how to relax, and now that I can, I still charge ahead. I can see that being a contentious issue in the future with car ownership, vs giant companies just providing transportation, and what sort of greater good compromises will be made to demand safer and safer transportation.

Re: Letting go of the GPS to learn the art of natural navigation

#17

Post by tokyodude »

sksksk wrote: post #14

Something I loved about living in Bogota, was how easy it was to navigate there. The whole city was built on a grid, with the east-west streets increasing in number as you went north. And the North-south streets increasing in number as you go east to west. There is a mountain range to the east, so if you can see the mountains, and know what streets you're on, you can always find your way

Something i love about much of Tokyo is many of the streets curve and twist which makes walking around feel like an adventure of things to be discovered vs just a utility of getting from here to there. I agree curvy street cities are harder to navigate but I find them much more romantic.

Re: Letting go of the GPS to learn the art of natural navigation

#18

Post by elcapitan »

tokyodude wrote: post #17
sksksk wrote: post #14

Something I loved about living in Bogota, was how easy it was to navigate there. The whole city was built on a grid, with the east-west streets increasing in number as you went north. And the North-south streets increasing in number as you go east to west. There is a mountain range to the east, so if you can see the mountains, and know what streets you're on, you can always find your way

Something i love about much of Tokyo is many of the streets curve and twist which makes walking around feel like an adventure of things to be discovered vs just a utility of getting from here to there. I agree curvy street cities are harder to navigate but I find them much more romantic.

They can both be helpful. The grid system is great for getting from coordinate (a,b) to (c,d). Much better than a natural city core as most older european cities have (and I mean old in the european meaning, i.e. >1000 years). But grids are extremely bad for mental mapping, as they are virtually featureless. So to remember your paths in a city without the coordinate system, it is much more helpful if the place has curves and outstanding features and little weirdnesses and so on (you can have outstanding sites along the way on a grid as well obviously, but because the streets are all just long tunnels, you will almost never see anything of it except for extremely tall parts like the mentioned mountains outside, or very high buildings).

Re: Letting go of the GPS to learn the art of natural navigation

#19

Post by nathancahill »

sksksk wrote: post #14

Something I loved about living in Bogota, was how easy it was to navigate there. The whole city was built on a grid, with the east-west streets increasing in number as you went north. And the North-south streets increasing in number as you go east to west. There is a mountain range to the east, so if you can see the mountains, and know what streets you're on, you can always find your way

That mountain range and Monserrate are super helpful. Similar in Rio de Janeiro, once you know the different rock outcroppings around the city, it's really easy to locate yourself.

Re: Letting go of the GPS to learn the art of natural navigation

#20

Post by nraynaud »

myroon5 wrote: post #7

"the sun rises in the east, sets in the west and moves through the southern sky" That last part is dependent on your latitude, correct? If you were far enough south, the sun would move through the northern sky, wouldn't it?

Yes, and I still hate myself for not specifically looking at this aspect when I spent 6 months in Argentina. Six months with the sun turning in the wrong direction with me not having any clue of it!
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