Does anyone else feel they have an internal compass?

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When I was a very young child (4 or 5) I was puzzled because others seemed to lack this ability.


Over the years it has diminished, but it's still there.

I have an internal compass. It spins in a circle.

I have an internal GPS system. I can go to any city and with little or no use of a map, know where I am going.

I scared my employer a couple of years ago in Minneapolis when I strayed away from the shopping center we were visiting (leisure trip to one of our stores of the company that I work for). I wanted to go to the Uptown area, where there are book and music stores. I had studied the public transit system and figured out how to use light rail and bus to get to my destiantion and make it back to the mall in time.

Where I live, I am known by the name of 'human sat-nav' because I can get us to any place in the UK from my home town... um... village... row of houses...

I can navigate without a map, although I use one when I am not sure (apparently odd for a woman...) of the exact route. I always know where N/E/S/W is, I can draw maps of places from memory and I seem to have a particular skill for finding derelict houses that I have only seen once... maybe more to do with my obsession with derelict houses but yeah...

I have NEVER got lost. Okay, I did once, but my blood sugar was REALLY low... Not diabetic low just oh that's not good low. I have always told people that if you dropped me at one end of a city and told me to find the other end, I would get there. I'd probably find a WH Smiths or a Tesco and look at a map. I can memorise a page of a map in mere seconds.

Yet I am completely and utterly hopeless in social navigation!

I sure dont, and I wish I did because I can get lost inside buildings that I have visited many times!

This definitely seems to be one of those traits that some Aspies have and others have the exact opposite, further confusing everyone. Lucky for me I fall into the former group, I was the kid in Scouts who didn't use the compass on the orienteering course, and later would find that I was an unusually good delivery driver because I always new where I was in relation to things.

I am very similar in how I navigate. If I know the general direction of where I want to get to I have a very easy time navigating myself there regardless of my familiarity with the area. I think its also due to having a good internal compass and maintaining my sense of direction based on the general angle/degree of the turns I make. I am a bit obsessive about it as in I am almost always doing this in my head so I can't say its something innate to me probably more likely something I have developed over time with my constant vigilance.

internal ear. magnacite in your nose

I can relate. If I go to a particular place on a regular basis, I learn the route by instinct and no longer have any trouble finding the place. However, I could never explain to anyone else how to get to the same destination. There are places I've been to several times, and I still can't find my way around, because I haven't been there often enough to know my way by instinct. People always assume that if you've been somewhere even once, you should be able to find it again, no problem. This is really not the case for me. It can be embarrassing at times. I also can't turn directions around. Fortunately for me, I live in an urban area, with plenty of signs and landmarks. That helps somewhat in finding destinations I'm not all that familiar with. If the route is relatively straightforward, and I'm able to get hold of comprehensive written directions to get somewhere, it's likely that I'll find the place without difficulty, unless, of course, I forget to write down one crucial detail of the directions, which is not unheard of for me. I do need clear written directions. (ex. After you get off the train, walk to 35th Ave. If the address numbers are going up, you're going the right way. If the address numbers are going down, or you come to 33rd Avenue, you're going the wrong way, and you need to turn around. When you reach 35th Avenue. 123 45th Street should be right at the corner. These directions are completely invented, as I can't mentally access a real life example at the moment) Maps are virtually incomprehensible to me. I just can't make sense of them. Trouble is, I tend to forget to get clear written directions to get back from my destination. It seems like it should be a simple matter of reversing the route, but my brain seems to be incapable of such reversals.
The weird thing is, it's relatively easy for me to navigate the NYC Subway system, but once I get out of the station, and have to find my way from the station to my destination on foot, that's when I get lost.
When I think about it, it really wouldn't be feasible for me to drive, even if I ever did manage to pass my road test. It's difficult enough for me to find my way around on foot. Trying to figure out how to get where I'm going while operating a motor vehicle would most likely be virtually impossible, especially since I have a hard time multitasking. Luckily, I live in a place where one doesn't need to have a car to get around.
It's interesting how everyone here seems to be at one extreme or the other regarding direction.

YES! We used to have a forest behind our house and I would wander off to explore it and my parents were paranoid I would get lost. I NEVER did. I later learned that I could find my way home from ANYWHERE. It's like a feel a "force" guiding me.

I have a very strong sense of direction and really like maps. My mother has a remarkably bad sense of where she is at any given moment. Sometimes just for fun someone will ask her where something obvious is and very earnestly, she'll point in the opposite direction. It's like she's always just been spun around. My poor mommy.