Finding your bearings in England

If you have a smartphone with a data plan, I highly recommend an app called WAZE.
The streets, road closures, and current traffic status are updated by crowdsourcing, and are very accurate. The journey planner/alternate route finder/duration estimator is also extremely accurate.

If you do not have a data plan, but have a smartphone with a GPS capability, then download an app called Navigator, from Mapfactor. In this app, you download detailed maps of specific areas to your phone in advance (while connected to WiFi :-) ). So, if you know you will be spending time in London, go to the maps page, drag and drop your cursor over London, and download the whole detailed London map in advance. This does not give you real-time congestion status, or road closures, but gives you a moving map and turn-by-turn directions to reach your destination.

British people are normally more than willing to give directions. I always start off by asking "Do you live around here?" before asking for directions, otherwise you can find the most friendly person starting to give directions when they themselves are just visitors to the area :-)

What to do if lost is totally dependent on whether you are on motorway, or countryside, or city centre roads.

I have always been using TomTom as a trusted friend to navigate me across the country but then its not a free tool. I have usually not had a problem but on occasions I found myself lost, the local people have been very helpful guides and they have always navigated me in the right direction. I have found that Google Maps is the worst navigator that one can rely on. Also if a person has working knowledge of English and has a little common sense and sense of direction, they will be able to navigate themselves without a problem in this wonderful country which has roadsigns in every corner to help people.

We have found the online maps and GPS in our car and phones to be accurate. (We are in Northern England but have traveled to London, Wales and Scotland) It is surprising how much longer it takes to get places then what we are use to in the states. I have also enjoyed the bus system and we have had good experiences using the trains.