In TADS 3 (or maybe just the Adv3Lite library? Not sure…) There’s a GO TO (room) command. The idea is you say something like “GO TO HANGAR”, and the game would find the path there, and then you’d use the CONTINUE command for each step of the way.
Now, while I’m sure plenty of people would find this handy, the automated stepping through the path can have some odd problems, where the pathfinder finds unexpected glitches in your map (for example, locked doors can be silly sometimes).
I feel like my ideal method would be your WHERE IS command, where it gives you directions, and you follow them yourself. Additionally, automatic stepping (admittedly) causes me to zone out, and I find that I’m no closer to learning the map once I arrived at my destination. If I had to explicitly follow directions given to me, I’d be more likely to learn the map as a bonus benefit.
I remember seeing a project to revamp pathfinding for Inform, which could be leveraged as part of the WHERE IS command. It might be handy to allow rooms to disqualify themselves from pathfinding, to prevent spoilers being revealed after a locked room gets its name printed in the directions.
This is another genius approach to the problem, as well. Have an NPC or consultable object that provides author-written directions to various rooms. This sounds exhaustive, but it doesn’t have to be. Y’know how if you ask someone over the phone where a room is in a large building? And they’re usually like:
Okay, you want to find your way to the computer lab. From there keep going north down the hall. When you get to the T-intersection, turn right, and it will be the fourth door on the right.
The reference locations would hopefully be nearby and easier to locate, and from there, you just follow the directions to go through the much longer path.