Settling In
Finding your way around Gainesville
Gainesville's early settlers planned the town on a grid pattern that makes it relatively easy to find one's way around the city. The center of the grid is the intersection of University Avenue and Main Street. Streets run parallel to Main Street in a north-south direction. Avenues run parallel to University Avenue in an east-west direction. An easy way to remember east-west routes is to remember the word "APRIL", since the letters (except for "I") represent a route which runs in an east-west direction: "A"- Avenue, "P"- Place, "R"- Road, "L"- Lane, run in the same direction. Routes running north-south are streets, ways, drives, and terraces.
The city is divided into four quadrants: northwest, northeast, southwest, and southeast. The University of Florida is located in the southwest section of Gainesville, since it is south of University Avenue and west of Main Street. The main areas of campus are located between the boundaries of West University Avenue, SW 13th Street, Archer Road, and SW 34th Street.
Streets and avenues usually have a name that is a number (example: NW 5th Ave). the smaller the number, the closer the street is to the center of the grid. When writing down an address, be certain to indicate whether it is NW, NE, SW, or SE. Otherwise, there are four different quadrants that the address could be located in and it will be difficult to find the address.