Why is it so hard to find the name of the street I’m on in Google Maps. It often takes a minute or so of zooming and panning to reveal that.
It seems to me that Google Maps is far more focused on being a suggestion engine than a map now.
It seems to me that Google Maps is far more focused on being a suggestion engine than a map now.
Okay, I should just know the difference with roads that big. And okay, generally East/West interstates use even numbers representing what % of the country lies to the South while North/South use odd numbers representing what % lies to the West. But I shouldn't have to know that when I'm wondering how to avoid the accident on "that big yellow stripe that passes through D.C."
Sometimes I'll use a mapping app designed for outdoors activities, because it is so much easier to read than Google Maps.
* Primary interstates are one or two digits. Shorter spurs, loops, and connectors are three-digits.
* East-west primary interstates are even-numbered, north-south are odd.
* Major arterials are divisible by five. (The longest interstates are I-90, I-80, I-40, I-10, I-70, I-95, and I-75.)
* Odd routes increase in number going from west to east.
* Even routes increase in number from south to north.
* The last two digits of a three-digit interstate usually identify its main parent interstate. (For example, the I-310 spur connects I-10 to US 90.
And apparently there's a I-405 in Seattle. (All the I-110 spurs I've driven on.)
The idea that the highways are designed and numbered to represent the proportion of land area of the contiguous US seems specious. Source?
Edit: the interstate highway going north from Kansas City is 29, but obviously much more than 29% of the US is west of I-29.
Interestingly, US highways follow the opposite system[2], going from (1, 2) in the NE corner of the country (Maine) to (former) (101, 80) in San Diego.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_Highway_System#Numb...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Numbered_Highway...
But that doesn’t imply anything about proportion of country, however the measurement is defined.
And obviously it's not exact, just look at how close I-94/I-90 are around North Dakota and compare it to I-90/I-80 or I-80/I-70. And a lot of the "East-West" interstates go diagonally or even North-South in places.
But I doubt they made the roads by laying rulers across the map (except maybe in Kansas or Oklahoma), and it does seem like they generally increment from 0-100 in each direction with odd/evenness decided by the primary axis.
Wikipedia has a lot to say on the matter, but I got bored reading all the special cases like how they number loops that connect two highways: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_Highway_System#Numb...
Regarding the street names. I usually approach the service from these 2 directions:
- Address or name of place is known. I use Maps to find out where it is and how to get there.
- Trying to find places in a certain area (Laundry, restaurants, shops, etc)
Only very rarely do I need to know a street name specifically. Not saying it‘s not important for other people though.