To think you either have a sense of direction or don't?

[BeatleBattleInABottle]

My sense of direction has always been awful. I just can't "see" in my head how to get from place a to place b even in places I know. We regularly make a specific short journey in a place I've lived for 20 years. It's a bit twisty turny and I still have to think about how to get between the 2 places every time. There were diversions last time and I found it really hard to envisage a new route and it ended up taking twice as long as it should have done.

I also get disorientated very easily in places I don't know eg I can't tell whether we need to walk up the street or down.

It's one of the reasons I don't drive tbh. I can barely walk places, I'd be a menace in a car trying to figure out lanes etc at the same time.

It doesn't stop me going new places but I do get worried about getting lost. I'm going away this weekend with my youngest son to somewhere new and I'm really anxious. I'll still do it.

My husband and oldest son can go somewhere new and within half a day are acclimatised and just seem to know where to go. Like geese or something. They don't understand how I'm so rubbish at it.

My awful sense of direction is a source that f great amusement to my DCs who both have a good sense of direction. Whenever we were on holiday when they were teenagers, I never knew what direction to walk in to get to the hotel. Occasionally I would know when nobody else did and (understandably) they never believed me.

It's really not. I have a very poor sense of direction & Google Maps doesn't help me at all. Nor does a Satnav.

Dh used to be pretty good but he had a stroke and now gets confused about where he is. He has now stopped driving as we were out and he said he didn't recognize where we were. Luckily I was driving but it was a place we go every week. On the other I am very good at working out where I need to be. Good job one of us knows what we're at. It is a worry that if something happens to me he can't go out on his own. Sorry I know this probably wasn't supposed to be this serious.

Definitely, I have very few talents but a really excellent sense of direction, I just “know” which way to go and I can go somewhere once and know how to find it again, even after a really long time. My friend is the complete opposite.

I agree. I use it a lot. You just need to get used to it, i.e. it sometimes has you facing the wrong way when you first load it up, so best to look at it, then walk several steps in one direction and look at it again, to check you're going the right way. Once you're heading in the right direction, it's pretty brilliant really. Got me out of numerous times potentially getting lost in foreign capital cities and really helps navigate you to specific points such as shops, bus stops, attractions, etc without lots of faffing around.

I loathe Sat Nav.

Give me a map or let me us my sense of direction any day of the week.

I don't think people have a sense of direction though. I think they have exposure to maps and an interest in going places which necessitates having to find places so you have to make an effort.

I used to drive to a lot of new towns and cities in my late teens / early twenties. No sat nav then and you couldn't read a map whilst driving. So I had to read maps, take notes of turnings and landmarks and then actively memorise it.

I'd still inevitably get lost at least once half the time, have to find somewhere to pull over and check my directions (which you'd never be able to do now), but I would be less lost and get there in the end.

A sense of direction is a learnt skill. Lots of people don't value it and can't be arsed. Lots of people give up with map reading because they are always with someone else who takes over that responsibility so they never have to bother.

Personally I think sense of direction a lot of the time is just being observant and remembering where you are, where you've been, trigger points, etc. I'm generally really good but when I'm distracted and not really looking around me and not mentally noting "landmarks", I easily lose it, i.e. when I used to take MIL out shopping, I'd be concentrating on her, checking she wasn't going to fall, watching her faff with her purse, etc., that I'd not be concentrating on where we were and we'd regularly end up going the wrong way, etc.

Some of this is just awareness of the world around you. Cities are laid out in a particular way. Eg certain things tend to be on higher ground, certain shops tend to be closer to certain buildings, certain things are close to the river. Instinctively you can learn this and have an idea of the type of neighbourhood you are in or whether you are going the right or wrong way.

It's not something you'd necessarily be able to verbalise.

As someone who travelled a lot by myself, it was essential to know where I was to keep safe.

I tend to agree with all that.
Even with satnav, I still make brief notes of directions for places I've never been to before, on a kind of long narrow shopping list pad, just noting motorway junction numbers, roads, mileages between junctions, arrows for junction turnings, etc. - something I can have on the dashboard to refer to during the journey to keep me right. I always used to do it pre satnav and it's just a good habit I still do. I just try to visualise the route in my mind based on a map, and try to remember the major towns/landmarks I'll be passing on the way.
Obviously, still use satnav but I'm happier in my own mind knowing the journey rather than relying on it.

Yes, and also assuming you can see the Sun, you can use that as a reference point as a compass, i.e. in the morning, the Sun will be in the East, in the afternoon, the West, so if you need to head West in the afternoon, you head towards the Sun. Obviously limited use at midday when the sun as straight above you or where there's heavy cloud, but it's another "hint" as to your direction.

You will usually know you are approaching the train station/ bus station as they tend to be in a slightly rougher neighborhood. It will feel edgy.

Try and think of stations that don't follow this pattern. There are not many.

I’m pretty good, to the extent I tell DH not to use SatNav if he’s driving because I’m confident I can direct him, and I like the challenge of it.
Even if we’ve been somewhere once years before I can predict a certain building or pub is coming up.

A tip for knowing the direction in a town is to look at satellite dishes, they generally point SouthEast

Yes. I’m dyspraxic and have to use sat nav for every journey, including ones I do every single day.

Another point is that drivers watching their satnav seem to lose the ability to look for road signs, road markings, etc., so more likely to end up in the wrong lane and have to make last minute potentially dangerous changes. I know that's happened to me a lot, which is why I prefer to drive according to road signs and arrows etc on the road surface and just use the sat nav as a backup.

I don't think people have a sense of direction though. I think they have exposure to maps and an interest in going places which necessitates having to find places so you have to make an effort.

I disagree. I can always tell you what direction I'm facing. I'll use clues based on the sun, time of day, shadows, where I've been already etc. It's all done internally and instantly, it's not something I have to think about. But it has nothing to do with maps or having to find somewhere.

I'm the same if there's 2 options I will always go the wrong way even following Google maps. I spent a long time looking for my car in a city I'd lived in for many years cos I couldn't visualise the street it can be very stressful!

Satnavs are great, though. They will literally tell you to turn left or take the third exit or whatever, and are pretty good at showing you what lane to be in. I don’t think that sense of direction should put you off driving any more.

I have this, and face blindness too! I am fun at parties (if I can find them).

Strangely also perfect pitch.

I think I'm actually better at map reading because I don't have an innate sense of direction.

I've been in conversation with people where their sense of taking a left turn interferes with their sense of needing to head North and that left turn not matching that. I have no sense of that so recognising that the left turn is the correct turn is more straightforward to understand.

I have an excellent sense of direction. I also build up maps in my head and can fill them in without needing to drove around.

However DH has no sense of direction. If he gets lost driving, he just goes left. Every time. He will ignore me as he thinks he can figure it out despite knowing that a) he never has and b) my sense of direction is spot on.

No good when you are coming out of your hotel room. Left or right for reception….

My dad always gave me this advice. If you aren’t sure, just keep going left. After all, in a square 3 lefts equal a right. This was advice he got when he was in the Royal Corps of transport and this has never failed me. At worst you’ll end up where you started and not get more lost.

Sometimes I do, mostly I don't! DH does, and can't understand how I don't know instinctively - but I can't understand how he can't do basic maths!
I absolutely love Google Streetview, means I can walk around on my computer, come out of a train station and know which way to turn for the bus stop. 😊

Good point! 😂

I can read maps just fine, but I can't (visually) remember them. So I don't think I agree that it's down to effort and practice. I would need to have a list of very specific landmarks, descriptors etc. and that would be much harder to use on the move than satnav. I used to go for long runs in the countryside and I would plot a route on a map, but would need to then memorise details like 'at 9.25 miles there is a footpath on the left' because I wouldn't remember what it was supposed to look like. At driving speed, and especially in a slightly stressful situation, I wouldn't be able to remember this stuff. There's a motorway route I drive somewhat regularly (maybe 5 times a year) where you have to be in the right-hand two lanes, but then quite soon after cross back over into the left-hand ones. I know it's going to happen at some point in the journey but there's no way I'd remember in advance exactly where/when without google maps (or my long-suffering partner) telling me.