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As a European, I agree. US cities are confusing to me because streets all look the same. I find it impossible to locate interesting areas without prior knowledg
by molf 8y ago
As a European, I agree. US cities are confusing to me because streets all look the same. I find it impossible to locate interesting areas without prior knowledge. Maybe what seems easiest to navigate depends on what you’re used to?
- noelwelsh 8y agoI think so. My US colleagues seem to find it very easy to get around unfamiliar US cities but seem to struggle in European cities. I expect we have very different unconscious navigation algorithms.
- bfirsh 8y agoI am from London and lived in the US for a bit. I struggled to navigate. I think it is because I navigate by modelling the shape of the streets. When all the streets are the same shape, that subconscious system stops working. I also tend to find I underestimate distances in grid systems. I think it’s because in European cities I estimate distance by the number of distinct shapes I can remember on the way there. In a grid, I think my brain smushes all those identical block shapes into one. In a similar way to how time flies when doing a repetitive task.
- ghaff 8y agoYou sort of need to know the [scale of] grid in question. In a similar vein, I find the Las Vegas Strip is incredibly disorienting with respect to distance. You're used to buildings being of size approximately X and in Vegas the casinos are 10X. So you think--oh, that's just a couple of buildings away. 30 minutes later you're still walking (in the sweltering heat).
- lotsofpulp 8y agoI found this out the hard way before google maps walking time calculator when I decided to suggest walking a group from Mirage to Rio to watch Penn and Teller. I was not popular that night, especially for those in heels.
- iammiles 8y agoTip for your next visit: The monorail runs on the east side of the the strip and stops off every few buildings or so. There's also a separate free tram that runs between Bellagio, Vdara, and Aria.
- ghaff 8y agoI am (mostly sadly) pretty well aquainted with Vegas. Unfortunately, the monorail/tram systems are pretty disjoint. And even if it just involves walking through a casino can still be quite a hike. And I, by no means mind walking, though there was the time I went to Vegas on a business trip and was on crutches with no weight on foot allowed. Though the high point was that a porter showed me how to use the crutches more effectively; he was an (aspiring?) ballet dancer who had apparently spent more than his share of time on crutches :-)
- TomMarius 8y agoWhat is the secret of crutches?
- xkgt 8y agoI had the same experience in Macau. The entire Cotai strip is just 3 blocks between Old Taipa and Coloane island. But you wouldn't consider crossing it on foot.
- Fnoord 8y agoIronically enough it appears to be very much in contrast with imperial (US) vs metric (EU, generally).