Washington DC's Map - EXPLAINED

Let us know what city we should do next!

Make sure to subscribe to the channel to learn how to travel smarter.

===== FOLLOW ON SOCIAL =====

===== ABOUT BRIGHT TRIP =====

Bright Trip creates video-based travel courses to help you travel smarter. From our location courses that visually demystify places like Tokyo, London, Costa Rica, or Cape Town to our skills courses that cover how to travel solo, with kids, or how to document your travels more effectively and efficiently - each course is created by real travelers, like you, and aims to create a community of curious travelers that are eager to travel smarter.

#brighttrip #travelguide #travelsmarter

[DanielsimsSteiner]

I recently moved to DC so making this video was a really fun way to learn about my new home! There is LOADS of information I had to leave out for the sake of time… so I guess that means I’ll just have to make videos about this city. Lmk what ideas you have for DC or for another city!

[ieatbatsdude]

As DC native I’ve been arguing for years that we need to manifest our destiny and take back Alexandria

[kw]

My favorite is actually what happens when the street names run out after “W.” After the first alphabet runs out of letters, street names restart alphabetically with two-syllable names. “Adams Street” follows “W Street.” Once the second alphabet is exhausted, the system repeats with words of three syllables. “Webster Street” is followed by the third alphabet’s “Allison Street.” However, the Fourth Alphabet does not use words of four syllables. Instead, the Fourth Alphabet, most of which are in the Northwest quadrant (DC’s largest), uses the names of plants in increasing alphabetical order. Thus “Aspen” follows “Whittier.”

Also, all the states have an Avenue named after them, except for California Street and Ohio Drive.

[carmstrong]

I am a 20-year DC/VA resident, and love the history of this town. Very well done, Daniel.

[jnyerere]

Another interesting thing about DC is its border with MD. Even without the "Welcome to WDC" and "Welcome to MD" signs, the name of the street that separates the DC/MD border is either gonna be Western Avenue, Eastern Avenue, or Southern Avenue. And once you cross that street you're either in DC or MD.

[danielkamiot-priso]

I'm a new Yorker who loves and visits DC regularly ...I'm hungry for more of your page and may have to watch this several times

[Alex-kjt]

Thank you for creating such fascinating map content! I've always been captivated by cartography, and your work perfectly satisfies my craving for historical maps, city maps, the history of historic locations and how they've changed through the years.

[chriscal]

Another fun fact from a local: as you get further out from downtown, street names continue to be arranged alphabetically but also by number of syllables. So first alphabetical with 2 syllables (Lowell, Macomb, Norton, Ordway) and then three (Appleton, Brandywine, Chesapeake, Davenport).

Of course over time they didn't stick to this system 100%, but it's fun to notice where they did as you're out and about.

[carolinepetti]

Longtime DC resident here. I enjoyed the video. Even learned a few things. I suggest you have an editor take a look at it. I noticed a number of misspellings in the text, including in "Washington" at the opening. Thanks for doing this!

[JConnn]

We need more Daniel content!!! This is so helpful and informative!!!

[taytae]

Don’t leave out the fact that Benjamin Banneker surveyed the land as a replacement and laid the first land marker in Arlington VA

[CitiesoftheFuture]

Great to see you guys are back uploading here :) big fan of your videos, We would love to help you make something like this for Mexico City :)

[jenniferbaldwin]

I would be so interested to see how DC compares to Indianapolis as Pierre Charles L'Enfant was also its city planner.

[justinmargolis]

A good start, but some of the most interesting parts of the DC map are not even touched upon. For starters, it may sound obvious, but how the street/block number informs the cross-street (1600 Pennsylvania will be at 16th and Pennsylvania), how after the letters are used up the grid moves to two syllable words in alphabetical order (Adams, Belmont, Clinton, Douglas, Euclid, Fairmont...) and then three syllable (Allison, Buchanan, Crittenden, Decatur, Emerson, Farragut...)like how you can pretty accurately guess where in the city a state avenue can be found in function of the year of admittance to the union (hint, Alaska and Hawaii Aves are quite a distance from the Mall), multiple repeats for two Canadian provinces (Ontario Place NW, Ontario Road NW, Québec Street NW, Québec Place NW -- but yet nothing for Canada's other two founding provinces, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia), the absence of J street or a J two/three syllable street (and no, its not to spite Chief Justice John Jay), Puerto Rico Avenue NE (to the dismay of Guam, Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa), why one writes EYE Street not I Street...

Again, a good intro, but hardly "explained"

[dunkey]

This is a really good channel. Should get more subs

[yungrichnbroke]

This video deserves orders of magnitude more views than it has today. This is incredible, thank you so much!

[kennymontague]

Please include the contributions of Benjamin Banneker to the configuration of the city.

[mykolahlushakov]

Bro I feel like I'm ready to watch videos like this for hours. That would be so cool to have 40-45 mins eposides with more details. So interesting. 7 mins is just not enought.

[BellaBaileyVito]

Visiting DC for the first time in a couple of weeks and this was so helpful! Thank you!

[sid]

Thanks for making this video, I really enjoyed it and was cool to learn some history.