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The most "brilliant" and "perfect" urban grid in America is the city plan laid out for Savannah in 1733 and still largely intact and unchanged today. Impossible to believe that a street grid designed 270 years ago not only still functions but also accomodates auto AND pedestrian traffic almost seamlessly. As the city grew and developed decade by decade city leaders continued the basic grid from north to south for 10 miles. Now it is being expanded to the west where natural barriers (water) are less of an issue. Warner Robins is the only other city I know of in GA that is built on a strict grid pattern, but that's because it was established by the military during WWII on thousands of acres of condemned farmland that was already flat and treeless. WR is one of the fastest growing cities in GA and continues to spread south and west on a very rigid grid pattern that reminds me a LOT of Texas cities. It looks very much like areas around DFW..
There's another trick that is helpful to get your bearings in Gainesville. Just remember "April" - all Avenues, Places, Roads & Lanes run East-West. Everything else runs North-South. Makes it very easy to navigate the area.
that is if you can find north/ south. my step mom is an idiot and can't tell directions, so those won't help her any.
she is fine on a grid, but other than that she is hopelessly lost
OH YEAH ... even though they're laid out on a grid, a lot of Florida cities use a hyper-multiple numbered street system that I just find mind-boggling ...
There's another trick that is helpful to get your bearings in Gainesville. Just remember "April" - all Avenues, Places, Roads & Lanes run East-West. Everything else runs North-South. Makes it very easy to navigate the area.
the more widespread a city is on a map, the more easy it is to get lost. compacted cities like nyc, san francisco, boston, etc... are extremely easy to navigate around.
Lol, if you have no sense of direction you're just lost regardless. Let's just say that landmarks will mean much more to you in that case.
yeah that is how she gives direstions.
She does the up and down thing. funny thing is her up is south and her down is north (most of the time). So she will tell you go up towards the Jack in the box and then turn at the street after it....
Yes, I've visited Gainesville, hometown of the University of FL. I was impressed by its logical numbered street name pattern, however, it's funny how that naming system also covers many rural farming areas of the surrounding county too, like you're driving for many miles past farms and the signs say 200th street, 300th street, etc. out in the middle of nowhere.
on foot I find Boston easy, by car, can be a pain, it winds and has non sensical one ways that get you further from your destination
recently driving into Cambridge from PVD I got more lsot following the GPS, I thought it knew a shortcut, or user errror, still not sure
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That's how I give directions sometimes. Landmarks are easy 
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