[jabbany]

Figuring out directions (driving, walking, transit) is actually quite easy in most cities. My approach is to just lump specific places into general "areas", get familiar with how to get between areas (transit/driving options) by thinking about their absolute positions and connections that exist, and then for unfamiliar places, look it up on a map before leaving.

The only thing I miss with navigation is real-time traffic. Which, all things considered, is just a "nice to have".

[ikr678]

Our brains evolved to wayfind from landmarks (there's a part of the brain largely dedicated to it, found from studies on cab drivers). but using GPS navigation changes how you remember a journey you havent made before, and makes you much less likely to retain it. The screen will show you as the centred object, and your map and reference points shift on the screen relative to you.

With say analog map navigation, your position moves (you trace with your finger/update it mentally) relative to fixed landmarks on the map, so you get a better sense of their spatial relation to one another.