I live in Tokyo, and like London, it can be easy to navigate and can be easy to get lost in. What I usually do is try to look at very distinctive landmarks like buildings, shrines, parks and even train stations to find my way in the city.
London could start with a few more streetname signs. I know of one road in North London that appears to have exactly ONE sign over a length of about a mile. I like the legible London signs, though, it encourages walking around and wider interest. It beats the old system of having to know all the pubs :)
I was thinking about the same thing, how can ı apply this to my life? But memorizing a game's roads don't seem the best option, even though it's a great idea. Those taxi drivers memorized 25.000 roads so maybe the equalivent of this can be the memorizing 20.000 memory palaces for me.
While Dhaka is a smaller city than London, I think the complexity of the road network is somewhat similar. Here most of us do not depend on the map while planning routes. But we do use those for getting updates on the traffic. I think a study on the people of Dhaka would be interesting.
I spent many hours of my life driving in the City and even more around Greater London in general. I've also been to Dhakha, and I agree the road network is largely similar. Both highly congested cities that try to adapt cars into the network of roads that existed long before cars existed. Of course Dhakha being a small city in a developing country, it's A LOT different in practice. It's terrifying how heavy the traffic during peak hours is, roads become grid locked, 6 mile journeys take over 3 hours depending on how large your car is. However, in the late hours, Dhaka becomes an entirely different place without the traffic. You can clearly see that real changes have been put in place to make real effort in the road network to manage the traffic as best it can (but it's a monumentally uphill battle of course). Driving in the highways felt like I was in Kuala Lumpur or something, roads looked nice and clean, the actual network of the mapping makes sense conceptually but is let down by the drivers that can't adhere to it. Bangladesh doesn't have the privilege of heavy investments in public infrastructure to enforce better traffic management, but clearly the talent and understanding of their issues are acknowledged. I don't know much about the political landscape of BD, except for the fact that it is a sort of nightmare. Bangladesh has the potential and manpower and brains to do amazing things, it's unfortunate that the people are held down by so many external factors beyond their control e.g geographical issues and political issues and long term damage that was wrought from the partition and the ensuing wars etc. I hope that I live to see the day BD becomes a contender to wreckon with in the global marketplace, and attracts much more foreign investment.
I do this all the time around London when cycling so getting my phone out means stopping or finding a clear stretch to go non-handed (or yeah, get a holder but that is distracting and I prefer to use my wayfinding until I get lost). I've lived here 16 years and still get confused by similar places and the subtle but near 90 degree bend of the Thames still throws me off at times. The canals and cycle superhighways have made it a lot easier.
EXCELLENT CONTENT!!! Really liked this Video. Also have a NEW RESPECT for London Cabbies-:))) I had no idea they had that rigorous of an Employment Exam.
Seems you're an American living in planned cities made for cars. I'm an Indian, and old cities here in the east and in Europe have seldom seen extensive planning. Take my city, Delhi for example. It consists of Old Delhi, which was built as the imperial walled capital of Shah Jahan in 1639, so it can be called as planned, although Delhi as a settlement goes back to the 6th Century BCE. The British built New Delhi after 1911, and it is planned to serve as the capital of India. And these two together make up just 25% of current city of Delhi, excluding the NCR (greater metropolitan region). Rest of Delhi was planned as per Master Plans after independence in 1947. And yet very few people can navigate Delhi without GPS, and those who can, boast about their ability every time they drive. European cities like London have grown organically for hundreds of years, hence their plans of transportation need to be made according to the needs of the city, rather than being as per the convenience and theoretical fantasies of planners. Other cities like Beijing have gradually transformed their traditional streets of Hutongs to easily navigable boulevards and six-laned highway like roads.
I think in today's world of GPS, live mapping, it is very unnecessary to expect cabbies to know every single street, nook and corner of a messed up grid of the city.
Similar to real Truckers whongo everywhere and anywhere I was fortunate to have an employer 18 years ago who paid for all my maps of the UK I never get lost I just take the wrong turn sometimes but I get to feel the area i know if a low bridge is nearby without warning most the times also my anti spatial awareness is greatly increased I believe.
I did not get it. What is so special about it? Indians (and Pakistanis, Bangladeshis IMHO) do this on daily basis. it does not matter whether one is a taxi driver or a common man. We do it perfectly without wasting 4.5 years on it. it is just that we do not create hype about it.
I went to london last year for the first time 3daysI roam around central London and never got lost ,easy pizzy .... how much more to them born and bred there 😃😃😃😃😃😃
Don't see the point in GPS if you are in an area regularly or doing a journey regularly. Using GPS in that situation is just kinda lazy unless you have another reason like monitoring traffic.
If we really want to address the Alzheimer's issue head on, we have to fundamentally address the dietary causes too, amongst others. Without that, we're lost, in the dark and have no grasp of where the sun rises or sets. But from a common sense standpoint, anything that makes a tourist's day easier is progress. Might even feed into other areas too. Then, as a species, we can transcend mediocrity.
Yeah these people are literally stressed and study for years just to drive a taxi cab. I feel like if you have that high level of knowledge and can retain things you've learnt you can also find a better paying job with less competition.
