Maybe It Made Sense to Them When They Put it There

Suppose you're visiting Anchorage. People suggested you rent a bike and try the bike trails. But there are side trails here and there, many unmarked. Finally, you get to this map.

Below is a closer look.

The "You Are Here" sign is part of the map. I added the numbers. Suppose you want to go:

to #1 which way do you go? a. Left __ b. Right__ c. Back___ d. Forward____

to #2 which way do you go? a. Left __ b. Right__ c. Back___ d. Forward____

to #3 which way do you go? a. Left __ b. Right__ c. Back___ d. Forward____

to #4 which way do you go? a. Left __ b. Right__ c. Back___ d. Forward____


I've added the big W and big E to the sign. Why can't they put the signs facing north, so when you look at them, the right side is east and the left side is west, like in a normal map? I couldn't find anything that said where north was on the map.

About a year ago, I came across a woman studying another south facing map on the bike trail. She was going totally in the wrong direction because she assumed that left on the map corresponded with left in real life. How foolish of her.




On the other (north) side of the path from where the map is, there is plenty of space to put this sign. There, left would match real left and right would match real right.


For people who work with bike trails I have a few suggestions:

• Maps should be oriented to match the geography they represent. General custom is to put N on top, E to the right, S at the bottom, and W on the left of maps. Thus maps generally should be facing north so that what is left on the map corresponds with what is left of the person reading the map.

• Take a regular bike rider along with you so she can point out problems bikers might have, such as:
• walk buttons on street lights are off the trail and/or facing away from the trail, so a person on the trail (walker, runner, biker) can't reach them from the trail
  
• make signs as carefully as you make them for cars
  
• take down temporary "trail closed" signs when you stop working and generally keep the trails open as much as possible so cyclists can still use the trail.
• Not everyone processes information the same way. Take a couple people with different ways of processing visual cues and ask them to follow the directions, the map, etc. See if they all can. If they can't, ask them why. Try to find another way of showing things that everyone can understand.
  
• Give bicyclists the same attention and respect you give car and truck drivers.
  

Answers:
#1 - You have to go right. (The arrow doesn't really match where you are. It should be where the black trail ends at the red trail. If you look at the first picture, you can see there is NO trail behind the sign.)
#2 - You have to turn around and go back away from the sign.
#3 - You have to go left.
#4 - You have to go right.