Reading a street directory

may become a forgotten art - unless of course you do not drive a car.

I was reminded of this when Middle Cat and I took our friend H... to the railway museum. Middle Cat was driving of course. She did not turn on that irritating voice but relied on H... to follow the map. 

H... is very competent at such things - but then she has lived in more than one city on more than one competent. She has done this before the advent of GPS and other such things.

I knew where we were going of course. I also thought to myself, "This is not the way I would go." 

Yesterday I had a chance to look at both the street directory and the Google map. Would my choice have been a valid one? 

I looked at the street directory first. Yes, that was the route I would have chosen. There are a couple of turns along the edge of the CBD but it is the way I would have directed someone without actually looking at the directory. 

Then I looked at Google maps. Their first suggestion was different - and slightly longer. It might look more direct but it also means travelling along a very busy road which carries a lot of heavy transport - to be avoided if possible? I would have thought so. It was the route we had taken. The second suggestion, slightly shorter and much quieter, was the route I would have taken. Interesting.

At that point a neighbour and one of her children came in to see me about something. While we were talking M... was looking at the street directory. He had never seen one before. It turned out he didn't even really understand the purpose of a map. His mother looked at me and shrugged. I said, "If you have a moment longer I'll explain."

So I explained. He was still puzzled so we talked about how he goes to school. In his case it is an ideal example as it is very simple. There is only one turn involved. Then his mother said, "If that's a picture of how you go to school can you put in Granny's house?"

He had to think very hard about that. It took three tries to get to the next street and then turning left or right again confused him until I said, "You have the right street. Is school in front of you or behind you when you go out the gate?"

"Behind."

"Good. Now if you start walking to Granny with Mum..."

He thought about this and then grinned and waved his left hand. "We go this way." 

His mother finished the little map for him and he went off holding it. I know his parents will follow the mini-lesson up.

I wondered about all this after he left. It could be said that I have some visual perceptive challenges but I like maps. I find them fascinating. I much prefer an A-Z or UBD (the Downunder version) to anything on a screen. You can see great swathes, sometimes the entire journey on a page. It is immensely satisfying to work out how to get from one place to another.  I must find out whether any real map reading gets taught in junior school - not the "here is treasure" sort of map but a real map. If not it might be a fun activity for the holidays...a treasure hunt on the way to the playground?