Advanced students of The Knowledge are also encouraged to read into the history of the regions of London they’re trying to memorise – and they’re told, quite emphatically, that they need to personally experience the route from as many angles as possible, building up a three-dimensional image in their minds that they can mentally traverse when working out a route.
— Read on everythingisamazing.substack.com/p/look-look-look

This is actually what I did when I drove cab in Iowa City. Admittedly, Iowa City is a postage stamp compared to London, but I’d only been in town for two weeks before I got a job driving cab. This was way before GPS or Siri; cell phones were still relatively rare, and my pocket computer was a Palm Pilot. I had a paper map, and dispatchers who could give me point to point directions.

But I also took the time to read the city. I learned this delivering pizzas in high school. When you’re driving down a street, look at all the cross streets and try to memorize the order they go in. Pretty soon you’ll be able to place streets in the order they go in.

But also, I started reading these wonderful books by Irving Weber that were an architectural history of Iowa City, diving into its development through detailed stories of the different buildings downtown. It was fascinating to be sitting in the cab, reading about a town, and then go driving through it, and see its story physically laid out around you.