get the lay of the land meaning in English

了解一下情况

" what i m driving at is that i m beginning to get the lay of the land .
“我的意思是我正开始琢磨情况。 ”
But i didn t mind , because i didn t want to see nobody just yet - i only wanted to get the lay of the land
不过我对这些并不在意，因为我暂时还不想见到什么人我只想看看这一带的地形。
The manager said that he would like us to go to hai nan and get the lay of the land there before deciding on the investment
经理说他想让我们先去海南了解一下那里的情况，然后再决定投资的事。