5 ms·

No he's saying the opposite. The UK does have a lot of narrow bending rounds and tiny country lanes :)

dm2 12y ago
That's what I assumed but did a quick Google Maps search and it appears to be mostly a grid at first glance, unclear wording, "The UK's roads are quite a different test bed to many West coast US cities where there is no grid pattern, roads are smaller, and curvey."
- lmm 12y ago
  Where were you looking at, Milton Keynes? Peterborough? I'm struggling to think of anywhere gridlike in the UK, though I'm sure some of the '60s towns have them.
  - dm2 12y ago
    Around Liverpool and Birkenhead were the only places I looked, they're not perfect grids of course, I don't know hardly anything about European street layouts though, that might be considered very gridlike compared to other places in the area.
  - pjc50 12y ago
    Glasgow is gridlike; I was there for the Games and it felt like a very un-British street layout. But I don't think anywhere in the UK has grid numbering ("42nd street" etc). We don't do the continental thing of naming streets after significant dates either. The UK certainly has plenty of surprising road layout, often involving roundabouts, oneway systems, medieval street plans, and roadworks.
    - smcl 12y ago
      I was gonna say that Glasgow city centre is pretty atypical - resembling US cities close enough that a few parts of World War Z (which were meant to be Philadelphia I think) were filmed there. But then I realised that Edinburgh's "New Town" (actually hundreds of years old) is a grid-layout too.
      - gsnedders 12y ago
        New Town in Edinburgh and the modern city centre of Glasgow both date back to the mid-18th century. They're very unusual for the time insofar as they had a large plan for a large area.
  - 7952 12y ago
    Salisbury had a grid pattern back in the 13th century. But mostly small roads follow old field boundaries that can be very old and bendy. Even new developments will fit into old field layouts and have curved roads.
    - pbhjpbhj 12y ago
      >* But mostly small roads follow old field boundaries that can be very old and bendy.* // The places I know of - Lincolnshire and East Lothian - where roads follow field boundaries have a lot of straight roads with 90deg bends. Interesting you suggest that field boundary following would make roads more "bendy" (suggesting non-straight edges and non right-angles). Perhaps the fields of Salisbury weren't dissected for inheritance purposes or are older and follow more natural lines?
      - 7952 12y ago
        It depends how old the field is. Around villages you can see very irregular fields that are very old. But a lot of the larger fields have straighter boundaries as a result of intentional enclosure. In lowlying parts a lot of the land is drained, and smaller drainage channels will follow straight lines.
- zimpenfish 12y ago
  Take a look at London - basically the kind of road layout you'd get if you threw a bunch of toothpicks on the floor and used those as the guidelines for random branching.
- viraptor 12y ago
  This isn't an uncommon view once you get off the motorway and drive to towns: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.366804,-2.602688,3a,75y,243.68h,91.11t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sJvCtVqYT5mTDHgYiIf8aGA!2e0 https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.366804,-2.602688,3a,75y,24... Two wide cars can't pass there, one of you has to go back to a place without the hedge. I'd like to see how that kind of negotiation is handled by self-driving cars.
  - mpclark 12y ago
    That is the main road to Bristol Airport from where I used to live in south Somerset :)
    - viraptor 12y ago
      Yes it is, that's why I knew where to look ;) (currently based in Bath)
  - DanBC 12y ago
    Not too far away is Bath. Here's a road https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.383309,-2.361499,3a,75y,96.26h,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sCkpdOkon4nxfT-iVKat6sw!2e0 https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.383309,-2.361499,3a,75y,96... (I wonder if you can tell any of the digits of someone's ATM card by their hand positioning?) I love the idea of self driving cars and they should make roads like that a bit safer.
informatimago 12y ago
Not counting driving on the wrong side of the roads. I wonder if google cars' AI only needs a "Drive on the wrong side of the road in this country" command, or if some more complex programming is needed.
- andyhmltn 12y ago
  If you look at Google Maps (at least on the desktop,) there's usually directional indicators on odd roads and in any directions in the UK you'll notice how the blue line goes clockwise around roundabouts instead of counter-clockwise like our friends in the rest of the world

dm2 12y ago

That's what I assumed but did a quick Google Maps search and it appears to be mostly a grid at first glance, unclear wording, "The UK's roads are quite a different test bed to many West coast US cities where there is no grid pattern, roads are smaller, and curvey."

lmm 12y ago
Where were you looking at, Milton Keynes? Peterborough? I'm struggling to think of anywhere gridlike in the UK, though I'm sure some of the '60s towns have them.
- dm2 12y ago
  Around Liverpool and Birkenhead were the only places I looked, they're not perfect grids of course, I don't know hardly anything about European street layouts though, that might be considered very gridlike compared to other places in the area.
- pjc50 12y ago
  Glasgow is gridlike; I was there for the Games and it felt like a very un-British street layout. But I don't think anywhere in the UK has grid numbering ("42nd street" etc). We don't do the continental thing of naming streets after significant dates either. The UK certainly has plenty of surprising road layout, often involving roundabouts, oneway systems, medieval street plans, and roadworks.
  - smcl 12y ago
    I was gonna say that Glasgow city centre is pretty atypical - resembling US cities close enough that a few parts of World War Z (which were meant to be Philadelphia I think) were filmed there. But then I realised that Edinburgh's "New Town" (actually hundreds of years old) is a grid-layout too.
    - gsnedders 12y ago
      New Town in Edinburgh and the modern city centre of Glasgow both date back to the mid-18th century. They're very unusual for the time insofar as they had a large plan for a large area.
- 7952 12y ago
  Salisbury had a grid pattern back in the 13th century. But mostly small roads follow old field boundaries that can be very old and bendy. Even new developments will fit into old field layouts and have curved roads.
  - pbhjpbhj 12y ago
    >* But mostly small roads follow old field boundaries that can be very old and bendy.* // The places I know of - Lincolnshire and East Lothian - where roads follow field boundaries have a lot of straight roads with 90deg bends. Interesting you suggest that field boundary following would make roads more "bendy" (suggesting non-straight edges and non right-angles). Perhaps the fields of Salisbury weren't dissected for inheritance purposes or are older and follow more natural lines?
    - 7952 12y ago
      It depends how old the field is. Around villages you can see very irregular fields that are very old. But a lot of the larger fields have straighter boundaries as a result of intentional enclosure. In lowlying parts a lot of the land is drained, and smaller drainage channels will follow straight lines.
zimpenfish 12y ago
Take a look at London - basically the kind of road layout you'd get if you threw a bunch of toothpicks on the floor and used those as the guidelines for random branching.
viraptor 12y ago
This isn't an uncommon view once you get off the motorway and drive to towns: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.366804,-2.602688,3a,75y,243.68h,91.11t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sJvCtVqYT5mTDHgYiIf8aGA!2e0 https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.366804,-2.602688,3a,75y,24... Two wide cars can't pass there, one of you has to go back to a place without the hedge. I'd like to see how that kind of negotiation is handled by self-driving cars.
- mpclark 12y ago
  That is the main road to Bristol Airport from where I used to live in south Somerset :)
  - viraptor 12y ago
    Yes it is, that's why I knew where to look ;) (currently based in Bath)
- DanBC 12y ago
  Not too far away is Bath. Here's a road https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.383309,-2.361499,3a,75y,96.26h,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sCkpdOkon4nxfT-iVKat6sw!2e0 https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.383309,-2.361499,3a,75y,96... (I wonder if you can tell any of the digits of someone's ATM card by their hand positioning?) I love the idea of self driving cars and they should make roads like that a bit safer.

informatimago 12y ago

Not counting driving on the wrong side of the roads. I wonder if google cars' AI only needs a "Drive on the wrong side of the road in this country" command, or if some more complex programming is needed.

andyhmltn 12y ago
If you look at Google Maps (at least on the desktop,) there's usually directional indicators on odd roads and in any directions in the UK you'll notice how the blue line goes clockwise around roundabouts instead of counter-clockwise like our friends in the rest of the world