How is distance measured when there is no straight line?

In my experience, saying that “It’s 10 miles to the restaurant” means that you will be traveling approximately 10 miles when to get to that restaurant if you are traveling the common route.

Is this what you’re asking?

There’s “as the crow flies” then there’s road mileage. On a roadmap, one would expect the mileage to be the the actual mileage of the roadway regardless of the length of the straight line (arc of the great circle) connecting 2 points on the earth.

I would say it’s the actual driving distance. I drive on some roads and you almost meet yourself on some of the curves.

If you look at Google maps, they will show you alternative ways to get from one place to another, and also the difference in mileage. So you measure the distance travelled on each segent o the route, add it up, and you get the total distance travelled.

Google maps and mapquest will give you the mileage to drive there. It usually will show 2 or 3 possible routes. On both in the detail of the route it tells you how many miles on each road you take to get there if you want it broken down.

New Englanders use the time it takes to get there.
So it is a, “twenty minute trip.” Rather than mileage.

You can measure the length of a road, regardless of the bends and curves. I’m not sure what you mean, @flo . also, we never need straight lines, not even in math, if we want to measure how long something is, so, this question confuses the heck out of me.

@DoNotKnow ”...If you are traveling the common route.” That the crux of it. What is the common route can be debatable, right?
The time it takes doesn’t tell much about the distance since there is via a high speed train, or a cautious driver driving on a small streets only way. We can’t determine if it takes x amount of time it’s probably y distance. There is the highway way and the medium streets, way. It is assumed by whoever is answering the question that everyone would drive, also, taking the highway etc. But if the highway makes up the majority of the route for example, the person who doesn’t take the highways would get the wrong info.

Google maps has the distance, at least it’s based on which route one is taking by what means. But I’m talking conversations between people, without any devices. Are you walking? Are you walking, taking different shortcuts like through the park (hopefully not at night) etc.?

@stanleybmanly , @Adirondackwannabe , @zenvelo, @JLeslie , @Tropical_Willie @cazzie
I think a have addressed your points?

@flo: “But I’m talking conversations between people”

In the U.S. we don’t use distance in this way. It would be rare and probably in the context of a bike ride. If we are talking about how far away something is, it’s expressed in time (“10 minutes”).

I haven’t used mapquest in a while, but when I used to if you were in a regular computer, not an iPad, you could mouse click a point on the route and drag it to make the computer calculate the specific route you planned to use. It didn’t work well if it was a lot of turns from a typical route, but one or two detours you could do pretty well.

@Adirondackwannabe That’s how I’ve always figured it.

Thanks everyone.
@Adirondackwannabe I made an error. I didn’t still don’t understand what you mean.
@sahID Would you please explain your response to @Adirondackwannabe (in case he/she is not following the thread anymore?)

@flo I don’t see where you made an error. Was it my road description?

@Adirondackwannabe I made an error when I included your username in my second post, afterall, I didn’t/don’t understand your answer. Please elaborate? Or how about my 1st post?

I’d write down the starting mileage on the odometer and then the ending mileage of the trip. I’m not a crow so it doesn’t matter how they would get there.

@Adirondackwannabe Yes but I was referring to answers people give.