I still don't understand, then. Isn't it easier to travel clockwise around city blocks than counterclockwise? Maybe you could give an example of a trip where going counterclockwise is easier?
Isn't it easier to travel clockwise around city blocks than counterclockwise?
It is! But that only makes it easier to travel counterclockwise between blocks.
Maybe you could give an example of a trip where going counterclockwise is easier?
Sure, catch: routes Pedestrian would go clockwise in this case and I suppose for a pedestrian the cases are split 50/50. A car is better off counterclockwise in most cases though.
Actually my original model was insufficient - I didn't thought it matters how src/dst blocks are located relatively to each other. I initia...
Picture a circular road on a map. Let's say that my office is at twelve o'clock, my home is at five o'clock, and the post office is at three o'clock.
Now, suppose I have to leave work, pick up a document at home, and take it to the post office to mail it. I know it's faster to walk clockwise home, passing the post office, and then return to it with the letter. But my gut preference is to go counterclockwise, either because of an aversion to retracing my steps, or because that route just ... feels "cleaner" or more efficient somehow, or ... I can't articulate it any better than that.
Does anyone else share this intuition? Is it a manifestation of one or more known/studied effects?