How often do we find ourselves at crossroads and swivelling on the spot to figure out which direction our GPS is pointing to? How often do we crane our heads at a map of a neighbourhood trying to make sense of it?
I was walking in the general direction of my destination but was confused at a fork. To my rescue was a map on the floor replete with landmarks from the street, most of them easily recognisable because I had just walked past them.
The idea of integrating wayfinding signage into the floor of the urban landscape is one that I truly love. Imagine if we had small-scale floor maps at every street corner, at every confusing crossroads, at every bus stop. We'd spend more time observing our surroundings rather than having our heads in our phones. Not only is it easier to orient yourself when a map is on the floor and aligned to the street, it also encourages you to take look around the neighbourhood.
Have you ever come across this kind of public signage? I'd be super curious to know about other such instances.
Steepshot
What an excellent idea!
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Yes, I think it's a really nice way to make streets a bit more readable!
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I've never seen this before, but it makes me think of living in an ancient city before paper maps were cheap and plentiful.
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Ooh, I never thought about that. Yeah, wonder what cartography and wayfinding looked like before maps were printed on paper. I for one have never understood how to follow the 'North Star'.
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It can be difficult in today's world to envision living as people purportedly did in ages past. Without today's "modern conveniences", life must have been much more in tune with the natural rhythms of the earth. Maybe using the North Star was common knowledge in ancient times, the night sky was probably much clearer before the huge international cities developed. I don't know how to navigate using stars either, BTW!
What really piques my interest is how people used to do the common day-to-day activities we find humdrum (like using a map to find a new restaurant or POI. Were new restaurants even a thing?). What did a "normal" day entail for a person of average status 1,000 years ago? What kind of "hacks" did those people use to make daily life easier? It's fun to entertain the ideas.
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