How good is your sense of orientation?

Question

Easier to get lost vs Easier to find your way. Which one are you?

Advisor Smith · Accepted Answer

I’m very much on the “easier to find your way” side, but it wasn’t always like that.

In my twenties I relied heavily on maps and got turned around often. Over time—traveling for work, navigating new campuses, moving cities—I started paying close attention to landmarks, sun position, street grids, and mental mapping.

Now I usually form a quick mental model of any new place. If I walk somewhere once, I can almost always retrace it and find alternative routes. It’s a trained skill more than a natural gift.

OneViewpoint · Answer

LOL, I don't get lost. I have an innate sense of North South East and West at all times. Just habit from backpacking and reading / navigating using topo maps for 45 years. Also extensive experience navigating using terrain features and awareness of my surroundings. Lastly being "lost" is part mental attitude. As long as you don't panic and make rational decisions, you can usually get your bearings eventually.

Case in point. We were on a mountain ridge far above tree line in late afternoon with the sun going down. We were on solid rock with very few terrain features. We knew weather was moving in. We could see it. We decided to head for a Col (low spot between 2 peaks) and shelter there for the night. But clouds eventually engulfed us. We couldn't see 10 feet. So we did the only thing we could do. We sat down next to a cairn (pile of rocks used to mark trails) and waited for the fog to clear momentarily. Then we'd run to the next cairn and do the same thing. And on and on and on. It was slow going but we eventually reached the col and sheltered there for the night in 70 mph winds trying to lift our tents. No panic. It was a fun game.

WhiteSteve · Answer

I have a very good sense of direction, I think. I found my way back to my hotel from one side of Los Angeles to the other with a malfunctioning GPS system after only being there for part of a day. It’s a well-gridded city, to be fair. But I still navigated a good one hour drive in a completely unfamiliar city without taking a single wrong turn. I don’t know if I got there the fastest way, but I FOUND my way. I also hike through thick forest a lot, with intertwining trails, and I haven’t gotten lost yet.

Tarifa · Answer

Pretty good, I'd say. In big centers, where we park outside and go walking into the town center, I will usually look for big signs on shops or other buildings to find my way back to the car.

The easiest way walking is to look for tall buildings like an antenna or the tower of a cathedral. The position of the sun is an easy one to know if you're walking east, south or west.

As a kid and teenager, I was a member of the boy scouts. We just got a map and general directions, had to make our way from a drop off point to the final meeting point. So it's become second nature.

HawkPerception · Answer

It's interesting. When I'm in the wilderness or going really off trail on a nature trail, I'll always be confident and able to find my way back. But when I get to city areas, I do tend to get lost pretty easily. I would not be able to get around very well without directions from Google Maps or someone's help in cities. I'm okay because it's less of a clusterf**k in the suburbs, but Google Maps is still how I get around for the most part.

I'm one of those people that will be looking down at maps on my phone and rotating on the spot to see which way the arrow points, while peeps look at me like "What the heck is this dude doing?"

Zack-Bann · Answer

Extremely good.
I didn’t realize how good until I demonstrated it to some friends when we were “lost” and they couldn’t believe how I was able to constantly situate myself just using whatever landmark I can see.

Fortunately I get that from my dad who’s always been freakishly good at orientation as well.
While my brother is just like my mom, both of them could get lost in an empty room 😂

KostasKouvalis · Answer

Terrible. I need to use Google Maps to see which direction I'm moving. Though MY area I already know pretty well, but elsewhere I can't for the life of me tell east from west. And if I don't orient the map in the direction I'm standing, I get confused.

I used to get lost SO MUCH before Google Maps. If the street is a grid pattern or there's a landmark, I'm fine, but if the streets are sporadic, forget it. Like I was in Venice, I NEVER would've found my hotel without Google Maps. And actually, my phone ended up dying and I couldn't find my way back to my hotel. I literally wondered into the same dead-end street like 3 times. I think I only ended up finding it again completely by accident. I found the Rialto Bridge and Grand Canal completely by accident, because I got lost.

So yeah. If the streets are laid out in a grid, I'm fine, as long as I know which direction is which. But if the streets are sporadic, I get so lost and confused.

EmmaMary · Answer

I do pride myself with having an excellent sense of direction, very seldom has it failed me. That being said, I'm not too sure how I would cope in strange, unfamiliar countries.

RavVid · Answer

I am better than Siri by far. If I am in the Northern hemisphere I have to consciously think however because the sun is not in the north and the map in my my head is inverted.

slatyb · Answer

Normally quite good but in places where the streets are randomly aligned (Paris), I can lose my orientation. I fixed that by paying attention to the sun.

FunkyMonkee · Answer

Pretty. Although, I DID get lost one night trying to find a short cut home that took me several miles out of my way and put me right back where I started!!

FrodoSkywalker007 · Answer

I'm good at finding my way. For example. My first job was 3rs shift and the GPS sent me to an abandoned parking lot. I didn't know the town. Still found my way and arrived on time.

DryGermanGuy · Answer

Quite good on foot and bicycle, in the car I have lost orientation in new cities before.

BCRanger10 · Answer

It's easy for anyone to get lost. I, however, can usually figure out how to find my way back.

Xawyx-2 · Answer

Depends on where I am at the time, in some places I can find my way easily... but in some places it's not so easy.

Massageman · Answer

Good enough. I get map duty on all our trips. For some reason, my wife actually likes to drive.

exitseven · Answer

If there is a right way and a wrong way I always take the wrong way

Random_lyre · Answer

I can figure my way out and remember routes easily enough. I can always find my way back if I get lost. I struggle with left and right though and can't read a map to save my life.

Cidknee · Answer

I have a fairly strong sense about my position. Better than average.

MisterWack · Answer

Easier to find my way overall, sometimes I admittedly get lost on occasion.

DirtyOldMan777 · Answer

I very rarely get lost. I may not be able to find a place, but I won't get lost.

Nikki1989 · Answer

Very good. No issues there.

Agape93 · Answer

It's hard to get lost

Anonymous · Answer

I'm a paper map man, and unless the map is wrong, I do pretty well at finding my way

AngryCarl3 · Answer

It doesn't exist.

Paige2006 · Answer

Most of the time it is good

AgentG111 · Answer

Easier to find me way.

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