The MLP Arena
Pony Talk => Off Topic => Topic started by: Leave a Whisper on August 24, 2018, 08:36:12 AM
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Pretty bad. I've been learning to navigate a map, but I can still get turned around and confused. I do better with clear, dependable landmarks, then written directions that say, turn left, go down highway etc.
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I walk fast, so I might be below-average but I cover enough ground to find things about as fast as average people do. ;)
I do absolutely rely on google maps when I'm driving somewhere unfamiliar because I cannot memorize street names for the life of me, but when I need to walk somewhere I'm fine. I memorize store layouts quite quickly so I know my grocery store extremely well, as well as the Target. It's helpful when people ask for obscure-ish items and I have a general idea of where they should be.
If I've been paying attention for the bulk of a trip, I can generally know "this thing must be over here because we didn't pass it on the way".
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I rely on landmarks/reference points somewhat. I’ve turned down the wrong hallway at work several times and then have to backtrack to the correct one.
I got lost walking home once because I didn’t go the way I usually do. I eventually found my way back but it took a while to figure out how to get home.
Ponyfan
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I've gotten lost on my way home a few times too.
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Give me a map and I can't read it. When I was in Canto in Northampton I had to be brought home because it was almost dark. The one in charge drove me home, and I didn't know my way home, but when we got to the road that leads to Stanick I knew my way from there to my home.
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Lol. Funny question/poll.
I'm horrible... I don't mind making endless u-turns as needed bc I missed my turn/exit... had the gps on & panicked & took the wrong exit at the fork... or for some odd reason didn't follow gps... decided not to listen to gps... questioning if the gps is correct....
I hate driving. I'm the u-turn queen :accomplished:
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I can read maps and I'm lucky to live in Colorado where we have a very clear landmark (mountains are west). However, if I'm going somewhere new, I always leave at least 20 minutes early because I will never find the place otherwise.
Don't ask me for directions, however. I can follow them, but I can never for the life of me remember street names. Once I've been to a place a few times, I can remember landmarks while passing them but never while trying to dictate how I get there.
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maps are a favorite thing of mine. i am a visual learner so once I have seen the area, I can figure it out in my head. Google Street View is a godsend, I tell ya....
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I aced orienteering at school. I have trouble getting lost, to be honest. I always notice landmarks and houses and directions, even if I try not to.
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maps are a favorite thing of mine. i am a visual learner so once I have seen the area, I can figure it out in my head. Google Street View is a godsend, I tell ya....
YES to Google Street View! Love that thing!
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My spatial reasoning and memory are my strongest attributes, so reading maps and memorizing routes is quite easy for me. I rarely get lost even when traveling in Japan, the first handful of times I went there I had no data so I relied on maps and remembering the ways I went before. As well I can find my way back reverse on a route without using a map or GPS.
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Terrible for the most part. I'm utterly horrendous at reading maps but if I walk around a place enough times, I can memorise the layout of streets and how they all link together. I'm terrible at giving directions, even to familiar places, and if someone gives me directions, they'll be lost on me. When it comes to finding an unfamiliar place, I write down as much detail as possible and hope for the best - it's the luck of a the draw as to whether or not I actually find the place I need to be! :drunk:
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Somewhere between average and terrible!!
Love pkw xxx
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Nonexistent.
A lot of people get a bit lost but in my case it's something to do with the way my brain is wired and signals transmit. I can't sequence anything so I can't remember recipes, I can't remember routes, I can't remember practical tasks, etc. I also can't read maps because I can't transfer them from 2d flat to real street format (did you guys ever notice that in real life roads aren't, like, red and green and yellow like they are on maps? :P)
Possibly the biggest issue I have is with orientation, though. My friend and I have a standing joke between us now because of our trip to Paris last October when I managed to walk from one metro station to another while trying to find a different entrance she was waiting at which was apparently only 200m or so from where I began. Interesting times.
I have a really good memory for some things and then no recall for others. So I remember places like snapshots...for example, if someone gave you a pile of postcards of places, that's how I remember things. But I can't remember often how they connect together. I try and remember land marks in order but if they change or if it's night or snowy then it's hopeless. Sometimes I totally lose my bearings even on familiar routes and on buses I navigate by stop announcements (ditto trains). In London when I lose my bearings or am lost, I look for a bus stop and look for a bus I know because I know the routes of several in terms of a list of places they go. So then if I follow the bus for a bit I can sometimes find my way. Or I will catch a bus to a stop I know and catch a bus home.
My navigation is so impaired that it's recognised as a severe mobility-related disability component by the govt. Which entitles me to a bus pass and a railcard, but essentially there's little chance of me ever being safe to drive. For obvious reasons, since I can't follow directions or understand instructions about route from a GPS device either.
So yeah. Nonexistent...
It makes it interesting when I relocate to a new location (as I am doing next week) because I will doubtless spend a lot of time getting lost before I figure out which buses get me to which places most effectively...
Getting lost a lot does mean you get a lot of exercise, though. And sometimes you find unexpected things you wouldn't find otherwise :D
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I get turned around pretty easily. :blush:
Smart phones have saved me so much time in this regard, when I bother to listen to them.
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Mine is kinda weird, I guess? I have a great homing instinct and if I'm familiar with point A and point B, I can get there... I just can't tell you how :P
I can't give directions or read maps very well and I really can't follow verbal directions either, but if I know where I am I know where I am and can find my way somewhere else - if that makes any sense at all, lol. Even if I don't know where I am my homing instinct will bring me to somewhere familiar eventually.
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I'm not sure if I'd call myself a GPS, but I'd say above average. I like knowing alternate routes in case of unexpected detours/bad traffic. Once I got somewhere once (or maybe twice), it's pretty ingrained in my brain. And gradually with other travel I'll get a picture of the larger area and how things connect together.
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I can do pretty well, and I trust a paper map over an electronic one. When I have to use the later I go with my gut if the directions seem dodgy. That said when it comes to giving directions because I take public transit. My familiarity is based on landmarks instead of streets :P So I'm not always the most accurate for the fastest route or one that might be closer to the person asking (usually in a vehicle).
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This is making me feel better with so many of you not being good at directions! I'm TERRIBLE! Been living in the same area for 25 years and I still can't remember the street names (although, I have got the cardinal direction down!). Everyone knows not to ask me for directions because I can just give landmarks and not the actual intersection. It's really kind of embarrassing to be an adult and not be able to read a map on the spot- I need time to study it beforehand- or have to have detailed instructions on how to get somewhere. But, my brain just does not process that stuff. I have a hard time translating an overhead view of a map to the streets I'm driving. I HATE highways with lots of signs and exits. I get so stressed and confused!
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@Aadra - my navigational soulmate!
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I have southern navigation skills. (Drive past the big tree, go to the stop sign, turn left, drive till you see the blue house with the cows and then take the right at the fork).
I do okay getting around, I'm fairly good with maps but weirdly I need them turned in the direction we're going if I'm designated navigator...so If I'm using a map at some point it might be upside down.
I still can get turned around though but I do okay even if I get lost I will find a way out, but at this point I've come to depend a lot on GPS. And sometimes I like to be a jerk to the GPS and take a different path.
Before GPS existed, myself and my mom would end up on adventures and her saying was We don't get lost, we get misplaced. And our thing was, even when we didn't know where we were we would always find something new.
I also don't mind driving. Since I live in a town with practically no shopping, If I want to do something I have to be willing to get in a car and drive. So i actually like driving, except in places like Washington DC, which is the devil to drive in. I'll do it, but I don't like it that much because city folks drive craycray.
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It's absolutely garbage.
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My sense of direction is very good and I have always been able to read maps even as a small child (would actually prefer a map to a set of instructions).
Interestingly, as I live in a very rural area, I can find my way round strange cities/towns almost better than in the country. It's very odd.
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I generally have a good sense of direction. I look at maps all day at work.
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I have a hard time getting lost.
It's weird, but I have spatial maps/memories of places I've only been once, many of them decades ago. Not every place, but a lot of them. Still rubbish at giving directions because I don't navigate by street names, I just ... go where I need to be? GPS's annoy me, I'd rather have a paper map and a compass.
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I can find my way to somewhere and back. It’s just remembering the exact route. I’ll get ya back to the beginning, it just might take a detour or two.
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I'm pretty good. I mostly navigate by landmarks, rather than by road name, which sometimes makes it hard to give directions to others. On the plus side, friends I'm with can usually rely on me to get us where we want to go.
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I can get around averagely well using a map and visible landmarks etc but if I'm trying to find something down a small side road it can be tricky, i usually need to Here We Go it first. I don't have a Sat. Nav or app on my phone I just snap a picture of the map from my computer screen. When I did have a sat. Nav. It was very handy but boring :-) I have a poor sense of direction so try to navigate by the sun and time of day as a last resort if no land marks. I fund buildings really tricky. Service stations etc I find horrible!
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Im back in China again. Its not so much that I can't find things, Its more that people don;t give me good directions in English.
I need directions that say go straight 4 blocks then turn right NOT go east on Mishui Lu for 3 KM, then turn left and go south on Linqun diaje.
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I don't understand why people use north, south, east and west when giving directions. I'm not a compass...
When I was in Japan in particular, I encountered that a lot too ><
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I don't understand why people use north, south, east and west when giving directions. I'm not a compass...
When I was in Japan in particular, I encountered that a lot too ><
I want to hug you for this.
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I don't understand why people use north, south, east and west when giving directions. I'm not a compass...
When I was in Japan in particular, I encountered that a lot too ><
I want to hug you for this.
For not being a compass? XD
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I don't understand why people use north, south, east and west when giving directions. I'm not a compass...
When I was in Japan in particular, I encountered that a lot too ><
The street sings in this city will say NAN OR BEI on the corner indicating which direction is which (Nan is south, Bei is north) bbut I have no idea what the words for east and west are and this only works if you are at an intersection. However, the last Chinese city I lived in, I do not reacall there being directions on the street signs.
I got lost all the time in Tokyo to the point where I just got off at random train stations and started walking till I found something that interested me. Shinjuku station are what nightmares are made of.
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I don't understand why people use north, south, east and west when giving directions. I'm not a compass...
When I was in Japan in particular, I encountered that a lot too ><
I want to hug you for this.
For not being a compass? XD
Because I'm not alone in not knowing the cardinal directions offhand.