Many streets in Saudi Arabia continue to be unnamed. And not all the homes will have house numbers either. It certainly can make navigating in parts of Saudi Arabia very challenging to say the least and one will rely strongly on landmarks when giving directions. The unnamed streets and unmarked houses can be found in all the large cities (Riyadh, Jeddah, Damman) as well as in small towns and villages. At least in Jeddah there is a drive taking place to place names upon some of the unnamed streets. A panel comprised of authors, writers, university lecturers and other specialists has been appointed to propose names for such streets. The Ministry of Rural and Municipal Affairs however has the final approval to accept or reject a proposed street name.
Filed under: culture, Saudi Arabia, Saudi culture, Saudi customs, Saudi education, Saudi Living, travel, Uncategorized Tagged: | culture, culture shock, customs, Jeddah, KSA, places, Riyadh, Saudi, Saudi Arabia, Saudi culture, Saudi customs, travel
i had heard of this – now got confirmed
it would really horrible to locate a house, without sign boards
The saudi post is developing a great system to solve this issue. according to experts, this new digital system that is under process, will be a good model for many countries to follow for locating addresses.
Oooof and it is allready difficult sometimes to find a named street and numberbered house!
Offtopic: I love the new banner and the colour of the title!
This is so true. I remember when explaining where we used to live to friends from the American Ladies group. “You know the large bright pink house next to a particular school? Well, you head towards it and you’ll pass 2 packs of wild dogs and mounds of trash and then you come to this little road next to a huge white house with a yellow roof. Well, we’re down the street from there…..count 3 large gates and two small doors and the next one on the left is ours….” KSA no longer has wild dogs or mounds of trash….things that the current expat population take for granted.
Lol Miriam on your directions. I can feel ya. Over here so many of the roads have similar names that I cant remember them properly…so Im always using landmarks instead of street names etc when giving directions.
The one biggest drawback to unnamed streets etc are when fire trucks and ambulances need to know where they are going…and there is no street sign etc to guide them. Happens in the older neighborhoods here in Bahrain alot. A while back a lady collapsed in the street (she eventually died) and it took an ambulance nearly 45 min to locate her because they apparently didnt know how to find her as passerbyes couldnt see any visible street signs or house numbers. (why nobody bothered to take her to the hosp I dont know but apparently that didnt cross anyones mind)
There’s no real physical address system, the Saudi Post tried to make one but apparently they got lazy.
GPS devices aren’t helping, Garmin saudi map for 2010 still have 5 year old data/roads. making their overpriced (by Darmoja) devices useless. Google maps as well.
The openstreetmap.org project is the only solution in my opinion :
lol at mairiam mac, it is the same way i used to give the directions to my place , but when people started to laugh at my directions coz i seem to have a wild immagination and color blindness , you go figure so now i tell them to wait for my driver at the nearby mall so that they can folow his car lol it saves their time and my nerves ! but there are new signs this year , i have to get used to the names though .
@coolred, They didn’t move the lady probably because if you move someone here and they die, you might be liable to pay blood money.
The street names are much better now in KSA. Since my husband and I live far from any big landmarks or malls, I usually meet my girlfriends at a nearby mosque.
Perhaps a grid system of numbers or thematic approach such as famous Saudi people in one area and other themes in another. When I lived in Kuwait, my address was the building number, block number and finally street number, and while living in Sharjah, UAE I had a street address plus the zone number.
Hopefullyas development progresses, the streets will be named and urban planning a little more organized.
Off topic here as welI, but I agree with Aafke, I much prefer this new header. Especially love the little man praying on the mountain.
I remember when I asked my Syrian friend his street name a long time ago, he said he didn’t know it. I was stunned. Then I found out he got his mail at a post office. But I was not prepared for not knowing where one lived since nearly every street is named where I live — even dirt roads.
But I used landmark directions quite a bit. They are sometimes easier especially if you don’t know all the road names.
The lack of proper addressing is yet another reason why one DOES NOT want to use emergency transport in the time of an emergency….and it brings up another good point…one should always have clear concise directions known and memorized, especially if having to call the fire department or something like that.
And in an aside, thank you so much for the compliments on the Ramadan banner.
Saudi Arabia’s got to be one of the hardest places to find one’s way around in. The street we live on just recently got a name (but I don’t know it yet!). A building went up on the corner, and lo and behold, a plaque with the street name was attached to the side of the building.
I absolutely love the new banner – that photo is gorgeous!!!
Welcome back to KSA, Susie!!! And glad to know that your street finally has a name! (smile)
1-Most streets are named in Riyadh. If someone tells you the name of their street, you can simply go to the Riyadh City website (www.riyadh.gov.sa) and find that street as well as driving direction. The only bad thing is, it’s only available in Arabic.
2-”one should always have clear concise directions known and memorized”.. and I gotta say here… Carol does have concise directions memorized. I could find her house very easily and quickly!
@Nader – thank you so much for the compliment AND for that valuable info!