

Mapping, Beirut-style: how to navigate a city without using any street names - coloneltcb
http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/jun/02/mapping-beirut-style-how-to-navigate-a-city-without-using-any-street-names

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eastbayjake
Beirut is a wonderful city and this is one of the reasons I love it: people
intimately know their neighborhoods. Every night coming home from the bars we
would pass the same aging Christian militia guy sitting in a lawnchair at 3
AM, watching his street in Gemmayzeh and reporting whatever he saw. It's one
of the reasons I felt so safe in Beirut... your neighbors know just about
anything that goes on almost immediately.

A Sunni friend told me about a French colleague who had his house robbed in
broad daylight in France: the thieves backed a moving truck up to the house,
loaded his possessions into the truck, and drove away. His neighbors assumed
he was moving and simply hadn't told them. He joked that this would be
impossible in Lebanon -- neighbors would descend on the truck asking who the
movers were, where the family was moving, asking the movers who their cousins
were, inviting them in for tea, etc.

Beirut is an amazing place and I was deeply touched by its beauty and the
kindness of the Lebanese people. If any tech startups in Beirut are looking
for web app consulting, get in touch -- I want to go back and stay longer!

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rosser
I'm going to be visiting some friends in Beirut in August, and I'm so looking
forward to tasting this amazing city, about which I've heard so much.

Any specific recommendations?

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giarc
Reminds me of the success of Waze in Costa Rica.

[http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/wp/2014/10/2...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/wp/2014/10/27/why-
waze-is-so-incredibly-popular-in-costa-rica/)

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paulsutter
In Japan many streets don't have names, but every city location has an
address. Every block is numbered, and buildings are assigned numbers within
the block in the order or construction. My address is Akasaka 9-7-4, which
means the 4th building constructed on block 7 of district 9 of Akasaka. Yes it
was a pain to resolve addresses before Google maps.

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s-phi-nl
Prior discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=668197](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=668197)

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rshaban
Knowledge of how to get around in Beirut, and much of the Arab world, is based
on contextual knowledge and history. People have shared space, and this shared
knowledge serves as the basis for spatial communication.

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dublinben
It's a little disappointing to read an article about grassroots mapping
efforts that doesn't mention OpenStreetMap even once.

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colindean
<insert joke about Pittsburghers providing directions based on landmarks,
specifically businesses or buildings that are no longer present and haven't
been for 15 years>

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bandrami
It drives me crazy in India. People use landmarks; my favorite tea house lists
its address as "Across from the HP petrol station, N M Joshi St, Mumbai...".
JUST NUMBER YOUR ____ING BUILDINGS!!!

