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by jacobmischka
1460 days ago
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In my experience, if you rely too much on GPS that tells you exactly where you are and where to go you'll have a much tougher time actually retaining that information. When I first moved to a larger city than I'd lived in my whole life I had to look up how to get anywhere, but after I forced myself to stop and take wrong turns and figure it out I had a much easier time remembering where I was and how to get places. I also learned a lot about my city/neighborhoods by walking in them for pleasure. I feel like I know most streets in a 5 mile radius because I spent so much time in them casually walking without the stress of missing a deadline. Like most things in life, it ultimately comes down to mindful practice in a non-stressful environment. Train stations are a little different, because often they look the exact same and you have to rely on small things like signs and very slight differences to figure out where you are. They're tricky and I think just require repetition. |
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I think that is not surprising and well explainable. Without looking at GPS and immediately know "ah straight and then left" you now need to switch on your brain: Where am I? Which direction (in terms of compass direction) do I need to go, how am I aligned currently, can I infer from some landmark, sun, prior orientation? And you realize your surrounding for the next time ("ah at that red house or that billboard or that strange looking thing I need to go right"). You even learn street names by noticing them more, and next time can remember when you hit that street at another intersection.. all contributing to build up your inner mental map and orientation... if you know an area well you can just walk unknown new paths, because you know where you should come out and hit known territory from another angle again.
Often I am lazy and use GPS, which is also fine and a nice tool to have for foreign environments.. still this memory&learning effect is soo much compromised, so often when getting there a 2nd time I wonder: Have I been really here already? lol, so definitely sharing and seconding that experience!!
Btw, trying to retrace an unknown path you just travelled on some map only afterwards at home is also superhelpful reinforcement learning!
2nd btw what one said: > They use Google Maps' default "map turns around you" mode while I always orient my maps with the North pointing up.
Yes very much... kills any "need to orient" brainwork completely.. if you must maps, keep them north-oriented!! Definitely too.