Right, imperative directions would be the turn by turn recipe to get from A to B. Declarative directions would be "be at B". Route planning is the solution method to convert from declarative to imperative navigation directions.
Of course, it's also a nuanced value judgement. The declarative/imperative abstraction is almost fractal, as we could consider a trip with multiple intermediate destinations as either a declarative itinerary or an imperative plan. Or we could go further and talk about all the control steps it takes to "turn right in 100 meters".
What the article describes for the father's driving is the difference between ahead-of-time and just-in-time navigation. It's not a very good metaphor for declarative versus imperative configuration management. To turn it into one would make for a perverse story, i.e. telling the father where you want to meet versus telling the father a long list of turns starting from the airport while obfuscating the destination.
