h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I always try to add a generous number of landmarks into any directions I give... And not just at the junctions, but along the straight sections of a route too - it helps reassure a traveller when they're on the right path.

Of course there's also a traditional method of navigating...
By pubs! - they make excellent landmarks, since they have distinctive names and also serve as an oasis for the traveller!

(Not that drinking and driving is to be encouraged of course...)

The best/funniest landmark direction I ever received....

Turn right at the barn that burned down 2 years ago.

What's even funnier is that I made the correct turn.

Navigating by pubs!? If you get lost and go into another pub, do you think they'd give you the directions to their opposition?

I agree that landmarks are important - providing you can see them easily. Daylight landmarks are sometimes invisible at night and vice versa. Also, landmarks for pedestrians are different to drivers landmarks.

That comment about the barn that burned down reminds me of an old Saturday Night Live scetch, where two teams had to give directions from somewhere in New Jersey, to somewhere else in New Jersey, and the comments went something like:

"Turn right at John Adam's old place, then go straight until you pass the old baptist church that burned down five years ago. After that, you take the next right, and you continue down that road and take a left again at the junction where the retard who counts cars all day sits. Then it's only about ten more minutes, and it's on your left."