Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 1194, Using a Map Program.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 1194.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Go to ESLPODcom to become a member of ESL Podcast and download the PDF Learning Guide for this episode.
You can also take a look at our ESL Podcast store with additional courses in Business and Daily English.
This dialogue is about using a software program, an application on a computer or a phone related to a map.
Let's get started.
I just got an email from Sandra with her new address.
Let's find out.
I'll type in her address on this map program.
That will just tell us where she's living within the city, not what kind of neighborhood it is.
Just wait.
I can show you the street view of her apartment, and you can see what her building looks like.
Wow, that's amazing.
But doesn't the building look a little run down?
That's what you get with high-resolution images.
Oh, that doesn't look very clean or safe.
Let me show you an aerial view.
The satellite view will give you a better idea of the entire area.
Is that an airport nearby?
And are those factories?
What will this other view show us?
That provides real-time traffic information and allows for route planning.
It looks like she lives on a highly congested street.
I'm going to visit our daughter.
I want to see for myself what kind of hovel she's living in.
Carolyn begins our dialogue by saying, I just got an email from Sandra with her new address.
Your address, A-D-D-R-E-S-S, is information that allows someone to find you.
Usually an address will have the name of the street on which you live, the number of your house or apartment building, the city where you live here in the United States, the state in which you live and something called a zip Z-I-P code C-O-D-E.
In some countries, it's called a postal code.
It's a number that is assigned to the general area or neighborhood in which you live.
In some countries, the postal code is a combination of letters and numbers.
In the United States, it's just numbers.
There are five digits in a standard zip code.
So Carolyn has the address of Sandra and we learn that Sandra is her daughter, or I guess Carolyn and Bryce's daughter, because she says I wish I knew what kind of neighborhood our daughter is living in.
Bryce says, let's find out.
I'll type in her address on this map program.
To type TYPE in means to use what we call a keyboard K-E-Y-B-O-A-R-D to enter information into a computer.
A keyboard has the letters and numbers that you would use to enter information into your computer.
I say letters, of course, referring here to the English alphabet.
A map program would be any sort of application or software program that would have a map associated with it and allow you to find people on the map.
On my phone, for example, I have a couple of different map apps or applications, including Google and Apple.
Carolyn says, that will just tell us where she's living within the city, not what kind of neighborhood it is.
A neighborhood is an area of a city.
Everyone lives in a neighborhood, an area or section of the city.
Carolyn is interested in finding out the kind of neighborhood her daughter is living in.
Not just where it is, but is it a good neighborhood?
Is it a bad neighborhood?
What kind of people live there?
And so forth.
Bryce says, just wait.
I can show you the street view of her apartment and you can see what her building looks like.
On some map programs, including Google Maps.
In many cities you can actually look at photographs of the different parts of the city, the buildings and houses in the city.
That's what street view allows you to do.
It's an image of or a photograph of the street and the buildings on that street.
It's almost as if you were walking down the street.
This is an amazing thing you can do.
Some people don't like the idea of say, Google going around and taking photographs of everyone's house, but it can be convenient if you want to see what a house or building looks like.
Bryce says that is what he can do so that he and his wife Carolyn can look at their daughter Sandra's apartment.
Carolyn says, wow, that's amazing.
But doesn't the building look a little run down?
The term run down means that it is not in very good condition, perhaps because it is old or has been used a lot.
If we describe a building as being run down...
We're saying the building is old and perhaps even falling apart.
Maybe some of the walls aren't painted and the ceilings.
The top of the room perhaps has holes in it.
That would be a run-down building or what we would describe as a run-down building.
You could describe yourself as being run down if you've been working a lot recently or perhaps have some sort of cold or flu.
You may feel run down, like you are falling apart.
The phrasal verb to fall apart usually refers to an object whose pieces are beginning to come apart.
In other words, the object is breaking apart into smaller pieces.
Carolyn thinks the building her daughter Sandra lives in looks a little run down.
Her husband Bryce says that's what you get with high resolution images.
High resolution images are images that are very high quality and They allow you to see small details of an image.
In fact, that's what Bryce says next.
He says, you can see every detail, D-E-T-A-I-L.
Details are small, specific pieces of information about something.
A detail on a photograph could be a small part of the image.
Details in general refer to specific pieces of information.
You could have details about almost anything.
I could give you the details of a story, the specific things that happened in a story.
Or you could give someone the details of the meeting.
You went to all the things that happened in the meeting, the specific pieces of information.
Bryce says, you can navigate around and see a panoramic view of her street.
To navigate N-A-V-I-G-A-T-E means to move around or move through something, especially if it is difficult.
Here it refers to the ability to see different parts of the city or the, in this case, street view.
You can on, for example, the Google map program, when it is available, actually move down the street and see the different houses along the street.
In this case, The map program allows Bryce to see a panoramic view of her street.
Panoramic refers to a large, wide view of something.
Carolyn says, oh, that doesn't look very clean or safe.
She's referring to the area where her daughter lives.
Perhaps the streets are dirty or the other buildings around her apartment are run down as well.
Bryce says let me show you an aerial view.
Aerial a e r, i a l means from the air and Again, many map programs will show you a satellite photo of an area, as if you were up in the sky looking down at it.
Bryce mentions this in his next sentence.
He says the satellite, S-A-T-E-L-L-I-T-E view, will give you a better idea of an entire area.
A satellite is a piece of equipment that goes around the Earth way up in space.
It orbits or goes around the Earth and orbits Some satellites can take photographs of the Earth.
Carolyn says, is that an airport nearby?
And are those factories?
Carolyn is now looking at the satellite, or aerial photographs of the neighborhood in which her daughter lives.
She's asking if there is an airport nearby.
She sees an airport on the photograph.
And she also sees some factories, F-A-C-T-O-R-I-E-S.
A factory is a large building where things are manufactured, where they're made, where they're produced.
Normally you don't find factories next to nice or good neighborhoods, because factories can be noisy or they can have a lot of pollution associated with them.
So Carolyn is concerned about the quality of this neighborhood if it's right near an airport and has factories in it.
Then she says, what will this other view show us?
She's looking at the map program, probably pointing to some other feature on the program.
Bryce says, that provides real-time traffic information and allows for route planning.
On some map applications you can find out what the traffic is like, how many cars are on the street or freeway.
Real time means right now, or more typically within the last, say, five minutes.
Route, R-O-U-T-E, refers to how you go from one place to another.
Route planning would allow you to figure out which streets or freeways you should take to get from one part of the city to another.
Bryce says it looks like she lives on a highly congested street.
If a street is congested, C-O-N-G-E-S-T-E-D, there are a lot of cars on it, a lot of traffic.
It's a very, what we would describe as busy, B-U-S-Y street.
A busy street is a street that has a lot of cars going back and forth on it.
Again, that is probably not the best place to live since it could be very noisy.
Bryce then asks Carolyn, hey, where are you going?
Carolyn says, I'm going to visit our daughter.
I want to see for myself what kind of hovel she's living in.
Carolyn is going to, I guess, drive over to her daughter's house to see it for herself.
She is worried that her daughter is living in a hovel, H-O-V-E-L.
A hovel is a small, old, dirty building.
Usually, it's a very negative way to describe someone's house.
Sandra, the daughter, lives in an apartment, but we use the term hovel in general to describe a small, not very nice place to live.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I just got an email from Sandra with her new address.
I wish I knew what kind of neighborhood our daughter is living in.
Let's find out.
I'll type in her address on this map program.
That will just tell us where she's living within the city, not what kind of neighborhood it is.
Just wait.
I can show you the street view of her apartment and you can see what her building looks like.
Wow, that's amazing.
But doesn't the building look a little run down?
That's what you get with high resolution images.
You see every detail.
You can navigate around and see a panoramic view of her street.
Oh, that doesn't look very clean or safe.
Let me show you an aerial view.
The satellite view will give you a better idea of the entire area.
Is that an airport nearby and are those factories?
What will this other view show us?
That provides real-time traffic information and allows for route planning.
It looks like she lives on a highly congested street.
Hey, where are you going?
I'm going to visit our daughter.
I want to see for myself what kind of hovel she's living in.
Our dialogues give you all of the details on how to use English, thanks to the wonderful script writing by our script writer, Dr Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2016 by the Center for Educational Development.