Does anyone have advice on how best to learn streets, neighbourhoods, areas, in a large city?
I live in Toronto and work for a real estate development company that operates in the Greater Toronto Area. I’m very new to the industry (started in April 2020) and one of the issues I’ve noticed about myself as compared to others who I’ve met is that many people in the industry seem to know every street, neighbourhood, etc of a given city – Toronto, Mississauga, Burlington, etc. I have some flexibility in my job to leave the office and take a drive every so often, but the locations and names of streets aren’t being absorbed as I’m driving around. Does anyone have any experience facing a similar issue? How did you overcome it?
[{"id": "hcz44hm", "text": "Other than just driving and observing; I would go to a broker and get him to send you a market report on the area. Depending on the report they usually have the city separated into subsections. You can focus on learning each individual subsection.\n\nAnother thing you can do is to make a custom map on Google Maps where you mark properties and locations that you already know so you can figure out the city. I can DM you an example for Phoenix, AZ to show you what I mean if you're interested.\n\nBut really it just takes time working in the market to learn. Good Luck!", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hcz4wks", "text": "Use UrbanToronto. You're dealing with development so information on upcoming developments will be the most valuable to you. Learn the city based on where the action is happening. That plus following detached developments on NewInHomes.    \n\n\nGo visit sites you like. Park and walk around.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hczahrr", "text": "Walk instead of drive. Take TTC or MiWay or whatever local transit. Look at zoning maps. Run errands in the area and live there for a long time.\n\nIf you moved from one of the suburbs (either in 905 or further out), then it'll simply take time.", "replies": [{"id": "hczcbb4", "text": "This! Walk and get familiar. most of the GTA is pretty unremarkable, and you will drive by it in a second. also research places to eat in specific neighborhoods. good luck!", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hczavof", "text": "Realtors are expected to know every other street. Before GPS many clients refuse to work with people who can not drive them to a specific address. Demand to see a local specialist who knows every building, and history of transactions.\n\nMy latest request is able to determine every regional theater in urban which consists of  5 the entire SFBA.  Recent sold data and sales volume without Costar.\n\nI carry a regional book on maps. Realtor used to use maps showing page, quad etc so they could go there. With GPS some new developments are not even documented. You rely on that empty hill, this demolished building.  There is no substitute for actual experience and association to street names.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hczbszm", "text": "Drive around with a blank aerial and label everything you possibly can. Developments, buildings, landmarks, neighborhoods, streets, etc.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hczgx1k", "text": "Maps. Back in the day that was all we had anyway. (Professional driver here.) You study the map again and again, and when you drive around it all clicks into place.\n\nThe biggest help is that it's visual, and provides context. That helps you store the info in your mind.\n\nIf you have an office, hang a streetmap on the wall. Some streetmaps are artistic, too. But seeing it every day will help you convert the info to your mind.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hczr0k0", "text": "Look at a map and memorize it.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hd04mb3", "text": "Join every neighborhood fb group you can find.  Subscribe to all the city council/city email lists you can find.\n\nUnless you are really lost or in a hurry dont use gps.  Get a compas and a map and explore", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hd06tms", "text": "Drive em", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hd2uj7x", "text": "I've had to do this before and first learned the orientation. One city was a grid with east-west street naming conventions, the other some pattern for naming downtown streets that were disrupted by a freeway in the middle so I learned the hard stuff first. My method was to bike on the weekends and try to navigate to the best known buildings from memory", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hd3b09w", "text": "**Learning streets**: study maps and search for patterns because patterns do exist in most metropolitan areas. For example, streets running east to west in some areas of my city are alphabetized. If a street name sounds \u201cfemale\u201d then it is probably in certain neighborhoods where brothels were located back in the day. San Francisco celebrates those madams that ran the brothers that kept gold miners and sailors happy back in the day. \n\n**Learning neighborhoods**: learning the history of a neighborhood and how that neighborhood got/earned the name always helps me remember.", "replies": [{"id": "hhv7uqc", "text": "Fascinating.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hd3pfjp", "text": "I would just walk around. Stay away from using the gps but again I\u2019m focused on the downtown area. I sent you a pm. Would love to talk more CRE", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hd4o7e7", "text": "Walk the block. Pro tip I learned from a longtime office broker: if you\u2019re walking a large complex for leads or research (works for multi-tenant retail, office, industrial), take a picture of the building directory/monument signage and take few notes on what you see. When you get back to your office, start tracking in a spreadsheet what companies are in which spaces, if you didn\u2019t see many people inside, they may be open to downsizing; if the space looked full, they may need to expand!", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hddqxeq", "text": "If your group uses a specific brokerage I'd also have someone seasoned from there take you around for an afternoon. The depth of knowledge in an old school broker is astounding. For example, \"that used to be XYZ\". The stories are priceless! And I'd look for historical information on the areas you're interested in.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]