Does this only apply in the northern hemisphere?
And has anybody ever been to Salt Lake City?
http://www.exploreutah.com/GettingAround/Navigating_Utahs_Streets.shtml
Getting Around in Utah
Navigating Utah's Streets - The Grid System
Utah's street naming and numbering system is based on a grid system with the Salt Lake Temple as the center of town. This system makes for some unique addresses. Where else do you see an address such as 2150 East 13400 South? Although this can be very confusing and frustrating to someone who is unfamiliar with this system, it is actually a very efficient way of doing things. Here is an explanation of our roads so you may better find your way.
Let's use Salt Lake City as an example. Temple Square is the "Center" of town, and is bordered by North Temple to the North, South Temple to the South, West Temple to the west and Main Street to the East. The intersection of South Temple and Main is considered grid point 0,0.
From the center (grid point 0,0), the streets are incremented by 100, and are named by the position relative to the center. The names of streets running North/South and positioned to the east of Main Street are named 200 East, 300 East and so on. The same logic applies to the streets on the other 3 sides.
So, if you are looking for 300 south and 500 East, you know that the location will be 3 blocks South and 5 blocks East of the center of town.
Confusion comes in to play because the streets that run North/South are called either an "East" street or a "West" street. Remember, they are named after the positions relative to the center, and not the direction they run.
Also, residents tend to say "1st South" when they are referring to "100 South". This gets interesting as you go "way south" and you need to refer to 100th South (Do you mean 100 South or 10000 South??) The way to tell here is the inclusion (or elimination) of the "th". 100th South is 10000 South. 100 South (note no "th") is 100 South or 1st South.
OK, now that I've told you the rule, lets discuss the exceptions.
It gets worse...
