Hi,

I am new in the GTA and trying to get familiar with the landscape and major roads.
I find it quite difficult to orient myself here.

How do you tend to remember roads and areas in the GTA? I am looking for some common sense pointers / thumb rules.

Thanks,

MG.

go to a convenience/book store and buy yourself a Toronto/GTA map book. Here the address is always pointed to a nearest intersection like Eaton centre is at Yonge & Dundas. Have a look at the ttc website, they have a route map

Since you are new , you do not have a car I assume . The best way to get 'familiar' is to take a TTC map at any subway station counter and travel once or twice on the complete subway line ... both East & West and North & South and keep the map open as you pass subway stations ..............

Once you are familiar with the subway lines and the stations with in the map , you can extend the same practice by getting off some subway stns and taking buses in the same manner ... for eg reach Islington and take a bus for Square One Mississauga and again keep the map open .....

Over a period of time , you should be 'familar ' but yes map is the key ..

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Fido.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by musicgold

Hi,

I am new in the GTA and trying to get familiar with the landscape and major roads.
I find it quite difficult to orient myself here.

How do you tend to remember roads and areas in the GTA? I am looking for some common sense pointers / thumb rules.

Thanks,

MG.

---

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Immigrant Parents in Canada http://groups.yahoo.com/group/immigrantparentsincanada

Google maps is great for this.
Go to maps.google.ca and type in your Postal Code
Then use the zoon in and out slider to get the bigger picture or drill down into specific areas.
That will give you a good idea about the major highways, how highways merge and diverge from each other, the major intersections, points of interest, etc.
You can explore most of the downtown core by using a combination of TTC and walking.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Mah deah, there is much more money to be made in the destruction of civilization than in building it up."

-- Rhett Butler in "Gone with the Wind"

Here is my 2 cent worth of information :

You will not know the neighbourhood until you actually visit it couple of times. The same neighbourhood will look different when you walk than when you drive.

Initially, when I did not have a car, I used the TTC route map as my source of information and everything was mapped in my mind with respect to TTC routes. Before proceeding to any address, I would map it on the TTC map in my mind.

When I started to drive, I used the Hwy401 as my focal point and remembered the major exits in order from far east to far west.

Another thing you need to learn is the direction - North /South/ East/ West from your current location.

One important lesson that my driving instructor taught me was the system of numbering the buildings in the city. For GTA, Yonge street which runs North South is take as reference point. Building closer to Yonge street, running in the east-west direction are numbered 1-2, east/west and then they increase in number as you travel farther away from Yonge street. So looking at the numbers on the building you can determine if you are travelling east or west (with reference to Yonge street).

All streets that travel North/South have numbers which increase as you travel north.

A similar system is followed in most cities outside of GTA, but their reference points/streets might be different.

The more you travel, the more you will digest this city's map.

Good luck.
Hiren

Adding my two cents to the already valuable contribution

Most of the major roads in GTA run East - West and North-South. So any landmark will be identified to be at an intersection of an east-west and north-south bound streets.

If you look at Ontario map, you will see that the landscape curves towards south as you drive from Toronto to Mississauga. However, you can ignore that curve and assume that Lake Ontario and QEW/Gardiner is on your south. Highway 401 runs east-west through the middle portion of GTA.

Keeping Toronto in centre, Mississauga is in west, Brampton is in North-west, Vaughan/Richmond Hill/Markham are in North and North east, and to east like Ajax/Pickering/Oshawa.

TTC too runs two routes - One going east-west and one going north-south.

If you are adventurous, arm yourself with a map of Toronto and start exploring the city on feet, once the temperatures rise a bit higher.

And remember - Rome was not built in a single day.