Graphic Reveals Cardinal Orientation of Street Grids

Seth Kadish says he was born with an innate sense of direction. As such, he appreciates street grids oriented to cardinal directions. The phenomena interested him enough to create a graphic that visualizes the orientation of 12 urban areas.

1 minute read

March 26, 2014, 7:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


“If you’re like me, and you use the Sun to navigate, you probably appreciate cities with gridded street plans that are oriented in the cardinal directions,” writes Seth Kadish in introducing a cool visualization exercise that produced a graphic representation of the orientation of street grids for 12 metropolitan areas around the United States.

Like many of us, Kadish has noticed how the orientation of each city is as unique as the city itself: “…not all urban planners settled on such a simple layout for road networks. For some developers, topography or water may have gotten in the way. Others may not have appreciated the efficiency of the grid.” To examine the differences in orientation, Kadish created a visualization that compares the relative degree to which city streets are gridded.

Here are a few of Kadish’s observations from the visualization; “The plots reveal some stark trends. Most of the counties considered do conform to a grid pattern. This is particularly pronounced with Chicago, even though much of Cook County is suburban. Denver, Jacksonville, Houston, and Washington, D.C., also have dominant grid patterns that are oriented in the cardinal directions. While Philadelphia and New York are primarily gridded, their orientations are slightly skewed from the traditional N-E-S-W bearings.”

Sunday, March 23, 2014 in Visual Statistix

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Cover CM Credits, Earn Certificates, Push Your Career Forward

Aerial view of town of Wailuku in Maui, Hawaii with mountains in background against cloudy sunset sky.

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly

Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

July 1, 2025 - Honolulu Civil Beat

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

July 2, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Map of Haussmann's redesign of Paris in the 1850s through 1870s under Napoleon III.

In Urban Planning, AI Prompting Could be the New Design Thinking

Creativity has long been key to great urban design. What if we see AI as our new creative partner?

June 30, 2025 - Tom Sanchez

Street with parking protected bike lane and parked cars in downtown Portland, Oregon.

Portland Raises Parking Fees to Pay for Street Maintenance

The city is struggling to bridge a massive budget gap at the Bureau of Transportation, which largely depleted its reserves during the Civd-19 pandemic.

July 8 - Willamette Week

Aerial view of Spokane, Washington with river in foreground.

Spokane Mayor Introduces Housing Reforms Package

Mayor Lisa Brown’s proposals include deferring or waiving some development fees to encourage more affordable housing development.

July 8 - The Spokesman-Review

Close-up on black and white "Bike Lane Ends" sign with bike logo.

Houston Mayor Kills Another Bike Lane

The mayor rejected a proposed bike lane in the Montrose district in keeping with his pledge to maintain car lanes.

July 8 - Houston Public Media

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.

Associate/Senior Planner

Gallatin County Department of Planning & Community Development

Senior Planner

Heyer Gruel & Associates PA