Sense of Direction

[Calvert]

If you can manage a London bus, you can manage any IMO. I remember being in London one summer when the World Cup was on and the buses were swamped with football fans. They actually had to remove some of them because there wasn't enough standing room. Trains in Scotland are a disaster too. When I was over last year the trains were packed with so many people that we had to sit on the floor. I thought pre-booking a ticket guaranteed you a seat, I was wrong.   

 

[Kit]

I have a very good sense of direction. I can read maps very well and find my way around. I could never understand why people make such a big deal out of me reading them. They all say I am very good as if it's a gift and lot of people can't do it.

 

[tree]

No, I don't have a good sense of direction.

I have taken yarn with me when I go in the woods
with someone, so that I can mark the trees and have
a chance, maybe, to know which way to go next time.

I am entirely lost when anyone says in a store, like a
WalMart, to go to south. How would I have any idea
of that indoors?

I understand from which directions the sun rises and
sets. On the road I live, the sun rises in the morning
from up the road(toward the paved road)
and sets in the evening, down the road, toward the marsh.
That's east and west.

Behind my house is north.

At times I have had the impression that I could get lost
walking along a straight road. Maybe not "lost" exactly,
but not sure which way I had just come from.

 

[watersprite]

I do alright finding my way on trails, but not inside big malls, large stores, or city streets.
Right now I am visiting somewhere new to me. I have not been able to orient myself despite the presence of some obvious landmarks & the ocean. lol

 

[Bella Pines]

I can visualize a map, but if I go off map then I am so lost. Every morning at work I step out of the elevator and head in the wrong direction. But it has only been 8 years.

 

[Ambi]

Another obscure trait question.

It always amazes me that most people find their way around so easily. Most people seem to be able to drive to a location that they have only been to once - in a taxi or someone else's car for example. Most people seem to be able to find a location based on some vague verbal instructions.

I have absolutely no sense of direction, and I can never remember how to find somewhere if it involves more than a couple of turns. Normally the first few times I have to drive to a place I either need someone in the car giving me directions or I need to pull over repeatedly to look at a map.

Fortunately I am very good at reading maps. Without a map I would be lost - literally and repeatedly.

When I first moved into a house in Thailand I had to get a friend of mine at work, who lived nearby, to draw me a map so that I could find my own house and give the taxi directions. When we moved back to Jakarta I had to ask my wife how to walk to the shopping centre up the road, even though we had been there many times and I can literally see it out my apartment window.

These days I am a lot better than I used to be, but I think that that is only because I have taught myself to deliberately commit each turn to my long-term memory, to deliberately and consciously take note of landmarks and how they relate to the route.

Anyone else notice this? Does it sound like a short-term memory issue (Aspies very often have problems with short-term memory), or is it a separate (and annoying) trait?

I have a terrible sense of direction. I need to go the same way, every time, for a long time, to get it. Even then, if something throws me off the routine, I can get lost again. I can't give people directions even if I've been driving the route with no problem. At shopping malls, and the worst scenario of all, hospitals, I get lost. Finding my car in a parking lot even can be difficult, unless I park in the same place every time (if I don't manage to park right in front my destination, or in visible distance). Parking garages are the worst - finding my way out of them, also remembering where my car is. Hospitals and their lots are so bad I am considering switching doctors just because of this - I have so much anxiety and trouble over getting to the appointment on time - or at all - because I have so much trouble finding the building and where to park. So...yeah, GPS helps, but I am bad even with GPS because it can be glitchy - I can't estimate when it says turn in 1000 feet whether that is the next turn, or further up - the diagram on the display can help, though. But when it makes common little mistakes that others quickly understand and ignore, I completely mess up and get another 10 to 15 minutes tacked on to my journey trying to correct the error.

 

[Kisa the tea]

I have to have been somewhere at least like 5 times and while paying attention. Still, I don't know my way to a lot of places i have to keep going back to.
My biggest weaknesses:
-when a path to get to somewhere has like 40 different turns @.@
-Long distance
-Places that look similar/near identical

I have no idea how people survived before you could just ask your phone for directions.

 

[Keigan]

Excellent sense of direction here.

 

[Sherlock77]

I navigate myself very well, whether driving or walking, etc...

And I don't like using GPS, please give me a road map! I've navigated the Canadian prairies many times using my Back Roads Atlas... And I can find pretty much any address in the large city where I live, I can read road maps very well, but often use this trick... After the traffic light, take the second left, and then the third right to get to my destination, I'll just memorize that...

And yes I do have an excellent memory for a certain or someone's house, I'll usually remember exactly how to get there once I only go the one time.

Footnote: I also collect vintage road maps of Canada, I have 1950's road maps of every province in Canada, except a vintage Newfoundland road map! It must exist somewhere out there...