# descriptive mapping

Category: Daily Living

## Post 1 by dissonance (Help me, I'm stuck to my chair!) on Sunday, 12-Oct-2014 19:26:16

When I plan a route using google maps, I often find that I'm not given a clear
picture of my route before I start traveling. If I'm in a new area, I can only
guess how many blocks I'll have to walk until I have to turn again. If I could
easily look up the order of a city's streets, I would immediately be able to tell
how many blocks I have to walk, but I haven't consistently found maps where
that information is descriptive rather than visual. So for all of you who have
either traveled longer than I have or have had more fancy trainings than I have,
what do you use for your maps so that you can get a very clear picture of your
route rather than a very general turn list that you hope makes sense once you
start walking?
Thank you for your feedback!

## Post 2 by Runner229 (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Wednesday, 15-Oct-2014 13:39:46

Google maps is probably the best way to plan a route. They have gotten better with planned routes. They did not used to describe as much as they do now. I see what you're saying, though. It is hard to tell where you are unless you have a GPS as far as the block, what intersection you're approaching, and how far you have gone. If it's possible I would suggest getting blind square, which is a GPS ap for your phone. It is well worth the price and all of this information is easily accessed.

## Post 3 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Wednesday, 15-Oct-2014 14:00:31

I've never learned how to do virtual routes in BlindSquare. How do you walk one virtual block, and see what street crossing you're at? I saw an old GPS software once that let you virtually walk using arrow keys on a keyboard, I think it was.
Anyway, it's that kind of virtualization I think we need to be able to do this properly.
I haven't been able to successfully use Apple Maps or Ariadne the same way either, except in the immediate area.

## Post 4 by Dana (Veteran Zoner) on Wednesday, 15-Oct-2014 19:33:35

Using BlindSquare, go into search. put in the address that you want to simulate. Then, when you select the result that you want from the list of results, go to simulate this location. You will hear the sounds of traffic in simulation mode. To stop this mode, go into tools and stop it there.
HTH.

## Post 5 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Thursday, 16-Oct-2014 19:01:54

Awesome, and thanks. So once I'm in that mode, what do I do to move a block? Or start virtually walking?
I know this sounds weird. But the old application, StreetTalk is what it was, I could put myself in a mode where the arrows would act like I was in a video game, as it were, you move one step and that's a block in the direction of the arrow you usede.
Naturally on a touch screen this would be different Just curious if one can actually do this, virtually walk around the area, not just virtually look at nearby locations, and in so doing look at streets that are around you.

## Post 6 by Runner229 (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Thursday, 16-Oct-2014 21:00:33

I think Sendero has GPS software that you can instal on your computer in which you could plan virtual routes like that.

## Post 7 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Friday, 17-Oct-2014 11:03:35

Asking for iOS but ok thanks. I'll explore the BlindSquare option a little more and see how close I can come to moving around, or something.
I've tried a little bit with Apple Maps where you drag your finger.
I say this, because I use my PCs for work mainly and all my non-work stuff on my iOS devices.

## Post 8 by Siriusly Severus (The ESTJ 1w9 3w4 6w7 The Taskmaste) on Friday, 07-Nov-2014 12:22:42

How about a traditional non-technical way? sighted assistance?
When I was in San Francisco I traveled San Francisco well, but I at first often had to ask people where what street was or inquired how to get to a certain street. How many blocks I travled and what direction. If I had my friend Paulina at my disposal, I would ask her to travel with me the first time. I find I am very skeptical of technology whilst traveling.

## Post 9 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Friday, 07-Nov-2014 13:04:59

You need someone who is not only sighted but technically competent at understanding layouts of streets. Many travel by looking for the color of a familiar landmark in the distance. Before anyone criticizes such people, their evolutionary ancestors no doubt traveled like that for millennia. Sacred trees, rocks and other large visible objects were landmarks first, in a world without roads and without written maps.
Christian conquerors like Charlemagne knocking over "sacred" groves? A way to dysphorically confuse the local inhabitants and make thenm reliant on other artificial means of location understanding.
Most people travel like that.
So you need a sighted person who understands the world around them in a relatively new and modern context, one of streets, location, addressing systems, etc. Your best bet, in my opinion, are local pizza delivery drivers and local truck drivers. I don't mean interstate, but the local delivery people. This may be less and less reliable, the more drivers rely on GPS and instructions fed to their vehicle by dispatch.
I'm not knocking most sighted people by saying this: I fully understand and embrace their emergent properties adapted to their environment, being reliant on singularly distinct visual landmarks. We're like this too, you know: You pass by a familiar dip in the sidewalk and you know you're almost home. You pass by a particular familiar fan sound at the university and you know you're nearly to the corridor where your English department is. No landmark system is singular, we're way too evolved a species for that. But without deliberate training, like you and I got as mobility, and truck drivers get when getting their CDL license, your average person will be totally confused if you paint a familiar landmark a different color, or if a prankster comes along and turns off that fan you usually rely upon. It' part of the wetware that comes preinstalled before you slide out the chute, though some of us can override this with additional software to be installed later via training.
So, all that to say, don't just get someone sighted: get someone sighted who has had a similar experience with using street names, coordinates, cardinal directions, etc. Your local pizza delivery person, your local truck driver for the grocery stores or local beermobile driver, or a bus driver who doesn't just drive one single route all the time.
Ten years ago I'd have added cab driver to that list, but now you use the cab app, give them an address, it feeds into their GPS system, and they just follow the proverbial string tied between your pickup and arrival points.
Hope this helps, and hopefully leaves some a bit more realistic for what they may expect from different people who happen to be able to see.
Oh, P.S., a driver whose job it is to go over 40 miles per hour is likely to be really good at distance sight, but not the type of close-up detail that bipedal, terrestrial hominids' eyesight and other senses typically operate in.

## Post 10 by Siriusly Severus (The ESTJ 1w9 3w4 6w7 The Taskmaste) on Friday, 07-Nov-2014 13:12:37

I generally have no trouble with sighted assistance myself, especially not in a city such as
San Francisco or New York.

## Post 11 by forereel (Just posting.) on Friday, 07-Nov-2014 17:00:30

I agree with the last poster.
I've been to a couple strange cities, and gotten decent help.
I still don't use a GPS, and never at home in my city.
I think these are wonderful, but learning how to figure is best.
Get directions before you start out. The bus company can give you plenty information, even the businesses you'll pass on the way to where you want to go.
Call the place and ask what side of the street. How many doors from the corner and such things.
You've got your phone. Put the phone number easy to hand, and when you are on the block simply call and ask them to have someone step out so you know when you get there.
Lots of things to use.
If it's an eating place, you can smell it, a bar, the music, a bookstore, the doors. Just lots of stuff.

## Post 12 by Siriusly Severus (The ESTJ 1w9 3w4 6w7 The Taskmaste) on Saturday, 08-Nov-2014 4:46:21

well stated! I sometimes only call them to ask what is your cross streets that is rather helpful. Learn and use basic mobility before attempting technological methods and use them as a tool and sparingly. Reliance on technology can be dangerous!

## Post 13 by forereel (Just posting.) on Saturday, 08-Nov-2014 14:03:26

I'd not say it was dangerous, it is just not the only way to get from point A to point B.
If your cellphone battery dies, you aren't lost. Smile.
Technology is wonderful, but for traveling I use the GPS as an add on, not a must.

## Post 14 by Siriusly Severus (The ESTJ 1w9 3w4 6w7 The Taskmaste) on Sunday, 09-Nov-2014 2:48:27

I would tend to agree, but I am skeptical when I Utilize the Gps.

## Post 15 by forereel (Just posting.) on Monday, 10-Nov-2014 14:19:12

They work well.

## Post 16 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Monday, 10-Nov-2014 19:03:26

Oh yes, I like to use mine in a less than familiar area, just having it announce what street I'm at. I could care less for it giving me directions: just tell me the street corners and I'm good.

## Post 17 by Siriusly Severus (The ESTJ 1w9 3w4 6w7 The Taskmaste) on Tuesday, 18-Nov-2014 16:49:55

GPS as most machines do, err. They like most machines, malfunction or cease to operate, as well. For this reason, I do not think we should be so co-dependent on technology.

## Post 18 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Tuesday, 18-Nov-2014 16:54:41

Flint is brittle, it breaks. Stone age humans should have been equally capable of using tooth and claw, and not being so dependent on flint knapping technology.

## Post 19 by Siriusly Severus (The ESTJ 1w9 3w4 6w7 The Taskmaste) on Thursday, 20-Nov-2014 12:15:52

hahahahahaha! It's simply preference for me.