To wonder how people found unfamiliar places before Sat Navs

[Eastie77Returns]

Obviously IABU as I’m in my mid 40s and didn’t use a Sat Nav when I started driving but I can’t remember how I managed!

Things that puzzle me…if you were driving to another city, clearly maps and signs on the motorway would be used. But once you arrived in the city and then had to get to a specific address (not a well known attraction that would be clearly sign posted), how would you find it if you didn’t have a detailed map like an A to Z of the city. Presumably people wouldn’t go to the expense of buying those kinds of maps every time they visited an unfamiliar city. And yes you can stop and ask people but how would that have worked in large cities where a passerby is very unlikely to know how to get to 23 Random Street which could be anywhere from close to the city centre to miles away in the suburbs.

I had too much coffee today and can’t sleep so I’m awake ruminating over the little things in life that puzzle me😂

Yes people would give directions - so we used to go to holiday cottages and the instructions would include directions, sometimes good sometimes shit.

Some of these still need to, the mapping systems (and even proper maps) don't always know which of the non-public lanes are drivable and which aren't. It can be disconcerting to drive along something which on the map is a long distance footpath not a road!

In rural areas we usually take a look at the map (in MemoryMap not a physical map book now) to check it's not using a tiny lane as a cut through to try to save a minute.

Echo as others have said - maps, plus I always found more sense of directions as you had to think more!

There was less traffic on the roads, so probably less congestion so not the need to reroute.

Finally, many places were more car friendly - local councils, parishes and grovernments had not installed as many anti-car measures so the routes seemed simpler to navigate.

I remember driving to, in and through a big city for the first time - I looked at a map before I went (it was always in the car), saw where I needed to go and then thought, said place is in the north of the city, I will take this A road to wherever then turn right! Always seemed to work.

We went on a road trip this summer and one of our stops was a village with zero mobile reception. So we had got there alright (because Google Maps had preloaded the journey) but upon departure, couldn't get the route to our next destination. And of course, no Road Atlas in the car anymore! It was kind of funny.

Even in recent years, FiL would write to the Tourist Information for places he was going to visit, requesting them to post him a map of the local area so he could plan his route beforehand. And they always did!

Often, he would do this for his grown-up children if they/we mentioned going on holiday somewhere - we always found it rather sweet to get a fat envelope from X Place Tourist Board with a collection of maps and brochures.

When I was young, DF used to sit with me with the big A-Z and write out notes for me to follow, when I was a bit older AA route planner.

I used to plan the route on a map and write the key points on a post it note which I stuck to my steering wheel. Even with a satnav I'll scope out the journey on google maps beforehand and sometimes use Streetview too.

18 years ago I bought a sat nav after I got diverted on a journey with only my small non map reading children in the car. I had to keep stopping to work out where I was and where I needed to go as it was down fairly small unmarked roads (it was due to an emergency diversion so there were no signs). It's so much easier!

I've never been able to process or give directions. I just can't hold them in my head. Day to day I think I navigate by visual cues rather than "take the A123 and turn right onto the B567".

Maps. My parents had really old ones; they didn't have one showing the completed M25 until I bought one in 1999. (It was completed in 1986.) My dad was also good at learning routes by heart. I also had a road atlas which was designed for children, and had exercises in planning routes by making lists of road numbers. Sat nav wasn't a thing when I passed my test (or it was very expensive).

And believe it or not, you could find out about traffic problems as well in the 1980s, with traffic bulletins on the radio. You could also look for them on teletext (not in the car, obviously, but before you set out). We avoided some nasty jams that way.

My dad even had a forerunner to modern traffic news, which he received free with his first mobile phone in 2000: a device which showed cryptic symbols about the road ahead, such as an hourglass for delays ahead. It only worked on motorways and primary routes; he didn't find it very useful, but I did.

The best thing about sat nav as well as not getting lost is being able to use different routes if there’s an accident - or being able to go a different way to avoid the accident. I remember driving to Birmingham from Guildford once and being stuck in totally stopped traffic and having no clue how to get there any different way, and I was on my own so couldn’t really map read and drive on main roads. But now I can check the route before I leave and it saves so much time.

I’ve only had a car with a satnav in the last few years, somehow I managed very well for 50+ years with maps, asking directions and common sense 😊
That’s including driving abroad and all over the UK.
Occasionally I’d get lost but nothing drastic happened.

I look at street view on my laptop before we travel. I don't use my phone for anything other than rare phone calls and occasional text messages - usually for verification codes. Don't switch it on for days/weeks at a time. Don't need to. Laptop and landline phone are adequate for us.

We had a UK road map which was useful but if we were going somewhere specific, you’d either ask for directions from the people where you were going or stop and ask people as you got closer.

In more recent years, I’d look it up online first and then right myself a list of roads/turnings

We always had a road atlas in the car, which covered all suburbs in the entire city, and the main roads into other big cities. I guess if you were planning a big holiday to another state, you may buy an atlas for that part of the country. Or you'd just stop at a petrol station and ask someone. (Remember they used to actually come out to your car to fill it up, top up your oil/water and wash your windscreen?)

Just after I passed my test, my mum put a little gadget in my Christmas stocking. It was a plastic box with a window in it. Inside the box were 2 rollers and a roll of paper. On the outside, were 2 wheels attached to the rollers. The night before a journey to somewhere unfamiliar, you sat down with your map book and A-Zs and wrote directions down on the roll of paper. On the day of the journey, you stuck the contraption on your dashboard and set off, using the little wheels to scroll through your journey. Lethal, I realise now (you had to write very neatly and it was fortunately in the days before I needed bi-focals!), but it got me places.

Managed for years with maps plus route notes as described above…

IMO Big bonus of satnav is it’s easy to replan (or let the machine replan) if there is a big delay of a planned route..

Big downside of satnav is becoming overly dependent on the darn things and never having the big picture…something referred to as being a “child of the magenta line” in a context other than driving.

Dp used to courier before sat nav and the internet he had a detailed map of the country plus some individual city/town ones for places he went frequently. Every where else he used to get to the place then ask for directions from a shop or garage or passer by.

The first version of AutoRoute (long before it was licensed by AA) came on a single floppy disk. It didn't have all the minor roads though.

If there were two of us in the car , I would navigate with a big up to date map book and instructions for the last bit on small roads. In London we always had an Ato Z on hand. If I was making a big journey alone I would research the route in advance and write it out ;stopping occasionally to look at my piece of paper or to remind myself by looking at the map.
I always had a mental picture of where I was, towns, compass points etc so would quickly realise if something went wrong.
I did a job which involved visiting people at home in rural locations and they would tend to be excellent at giving directions; turn left at the third chestnut tree and right at the post box etc. This could go wrong in the dark and I would have a torch and a 10p for the phone box on hand .

I still have a map book in the car, and don't have a sat nav. Last year I was out walking with the dog when I came across a couple in the field, loaded up with phones and trying to find out where they where - is this the way to Glastonbuty they asked me - yes, it is (You see that sign - well that tells you) It just seemed to me that with every modern bit of lit they still had no idea how to find their way. And there was def a mobile signal in that area. The sort of people who go up Yr Wyddfa with no map, just a phone, and no proper kit

Our library used to have Ordinance Survey maps from around the country, so we would go in and photocopy the bits we would likely need after using a road atlas to get near.

You would phone and ask the people at your destination how to get there from the main road which you could get to using a road atlas. You would write the main points of the route in big letters on a piece of paper and stick it to your dashboard with blue tack. You would also get lost a lot and ask for directions.

Sorry, didn't mean to quote the op. 🫢

Not read the whole thread, but put simply, Ordnance Survey Maps, and having the ability to understand how they work and how to read them. Road map books are a large scale version of these. If driving solo, I used to stick the main routes I needed onto front of dash for easy reading, if navigating my OH, I would use a highlighter pen to show up the chosen route on a map and follow it. Sat Navs are good, but not infallible. Now use a combo of both, particularly with a high sided wide vehicle. We prefer to travel off motorways in this, exploring as we go, so we check maps for low bridges etc….

Road atlas, paper maps.
A-Z or tourist guides from the library if you didn't want to buy one
City maps from tourist information
Printed out maps and directions once the internet was a thing

Pubs! Left at the White Hart, carry on for a mile or so, turn right at the Green Man ....

I would often get lost trying to drive and follow directions at the same time. Satnav has been a boon to me.

I had the directions to my friends home written on a post it on my steering wheel the first few times as it was ‘turn right at Greggs’…etc