(no subject)

[cblj_backup]

I just had to give directions to someone in three dimensions.

Most of the time, when you're telling people how to get somewhere, you can just say "Go this way, make a right, make a left". Two dimensions: length and breadth.

NOT SO IN CHICAGO, especially in the area where I work, because just north of us there's an actual level change in the city -- a portion of Chicago underground literally ends as the two levels, upper and lower, merge into one. So there are streets you can see but can't get to unless you know the secret passages, and places where you can't go any further because the next level up of Chicago gets in the way. When you give directions in the gold coast, you need to account for depth.

So I had to say things like "Well, you can take Michigan to Grand, but you can't turn onto Grand because it's underneath Michigan. You have to take the stairs, but not the wrong stairs. It's easier to just go through the mall."

It does seem to me that if you're trying to get to Evanston from the Gold Coast via the subway, you may want to do some research ahead of time. Maybe look it up the night before, make sure you know where to catch the Purple Line? Just a thought, really.

Comments

[ysabet.livejournal.com]

Here in Tucson we have a set of numbered streets (1st, 2nd, etc.) that intersect with numbered avenues (1st, 2nd, and so on.) Trying to explain how to get to 4th and 4th is always interesting...

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I have actually stood at the corner of 6th and 6th in Tucson! It was a very weird moment.

[ysabet.livejournal.com]

Down by the University! I know that corner! The best pizza place in the WORLD, Zach's, is nearby, and should be marked with a Holy Pizza Shrine.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

WE HAD PIZZA THERE OMG. It was pretty good!

[ysabet.livejournal.com]

**laughs** Goooood place. HUMONGOUS amounts of pizza for the money, too-- it's a major landmark for me. There are way too many bad or just-barely-adequate pizza places in the world.

[eofs.livejournal.com]

Are they at least in numerical order? Witness the Avenues in York (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=york&hl=en&ll=53.96342,-1.058443&spn=0.006072,0.021136&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=12.501051,43.286133&vpsrc=6&z=16).

[ysabet.livejournal.com]

Oh gods, and I thought London was bad, with its streets that change names three or four times... Yeah, they're pretty much in order; Tucson's laid out on a mountain valley floor, mostly, so it's fairly flat until you get to the foothills. Our oldest roads are like any other city's, they follow the watercourses and lead to the mountain passes, but the newer ones are laid out more or less in a grid.