sense of direction and location

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I have always had an extremely keen sense of direction, and rarely ever get lost. People always ask me where to go for directions, but I can't always tell them, but if you tell me where something is, and then tell me to go there, I can get there without any trouble at all. It's an odd thing I cannot seem to put into perspective and explain. For example, my secretary told me that I had to do a job in Annapolis. I took a quick glance at a map to see where Annapolis was in relation to my office, then hopped in a work van and drove there and back without any problem. As a Boy Scout, I used to go hiking in the woods without any particular destination in mind, and I didn't have any problem figuring out where I was. The rest of the scout troop thought it was amazing.

The only things that will throw me off is the "Can't get there from here" issues. For example, a one-way street going the wrong way from the desired direction I need to go, or a body of water blocking the path. Another is if I don't have any visual reference for a long period of time, like when I come up to street level after riding in a subway, and then trying to figure out which direction I need to walk to get to the address I desire to get to.

I think I get much of this from obtaining good visual refrences, and good observation skills. It used to drive me crazy, and my mother couldn't figure it out why I would become so unhappy if I couldn't see out in front of me while she was driving me around. If she put my baby seat to the side, and I couldn't see around the seat, I would fuss, but if she put me in the middle, where I could see between the seats, and out the windshield, I was fine. I think I also get it from being able to reference the sun effectively too. It's sort of a subconcious thing, but one could blindfold me, spin me around , and then take me to an unknown place, and I would still be able to tell you where north, south, east and west was...well, as long as it isn't overcast!

Do any of you all have good since of direction? Where do you think you get it from?

I generally have a good sense of direction - unless I am being distracted. I am also pretty good at giving directions too especially if I have been there before because I will use landmarks and give a recall from memory what it looked like when I drove there. Alot of people don't understand N,S,E,W corner at such and such but if you give them something physically to use as a guide it helps them to remember. Less stressful too because you are already looking at the road. My son also is very good with direction - when he was 2 he remembered exactly where my mom moved into a huge apartment complex even though we had only been there one time.

It happens to me, too. The only time I got lost was the first time I explore all the downtown of Tampico, because my visual references were ambulant food stands, and when I passed for the same place they were disappeared , I was a stupid girl on that time.

I am the opposite. I buy my books, CDs, software and hardware in a two floors megastore fifty meters from my house. I use to go there also to get some rest on a stool, browse and just read something I take with me. In four years that I go there one or two times a day I have not yet learnt what are the corespondences between the two floors. When I drive out of the cities I don’t understand a thing of the exit routes, so it takes more time for me to get out of the city than to do the whole voyage. I get costantly lost.
This is a case where you see how there are specialized parts of your brain for the single tasks of space orientation, face recognition, language learning and usage, musical memory, and, most important for us, fluid social interaction. The proboscis of an elephant is made of 50,000 thousand muscles and the right coordinated movement of all these muscles for the smooth and delicate use of the proboscis is governed by specialized parts of the elephant’s brain. This is what is called modularity in the theory of mind.

i can tell direction well from the time and were the sun is and rarely use street directories, i will check a map before a trip and just head for the direction, ive done some very long trips like this without knowing any road names
i just drive till i get there, the city stuffs me up with its no right turn signs and crap so i try to avoid it, i would rather drive 200 kms towards country than 30 kms to the city but what really stuffs me up is when i go into a large shopping centre and forget witch carpark i parked in or what level, i can almost remember the model of every car i walk past on the way in but can never remember witch door i went through and i feel like a dickhead walking through the carparks trying to recall were i parked.
I also have trouble finding houses in built up suburbia that i have only visited a couple of times, especaily if its a new estate and all the houses and streets look the same

I am navigationally impaired, which is the PC way of saying I can get lost in my driveway.

I am forever thinking that I have missed the turn, and often will turn around and try to find the turn I missed. I will only do this, however, if I have not yet reached the turn. Similarly, if I have passed the turn, it won't occur to me that I might have done so and will continue to drive away from my turn. I have no sense of time, distance, or direction. If you ask me how long it takes to get to someplace, I will have no idea. If you ask me how far away it is, I've got no clue. I may not even be able to tell you if it's before or after some other landmark.

erm.....I know where I'm going, I just can't tell you how to get there.

My sense of direction is not good. When I'm shopping I'm OK if I exit a shop the same door that I went into, but if I leave by a different door around the side, it takes me a while to figure out how to get to the next place I need to go. I quite often have to walk up and down car parks looking for the car because I can't remember where it's parked. I keep pressing the alarm fob so when it 'bleeps' I know I'm getting near.

I USED to be better(when I was a little kid), but not any more. As for the car location problem? About 6 weeks ago I had that problem for a WHOLE WEEK! ODD! Oh yeah, I WAS driving rentals! Once I get HERE where my REAL car is, I usually do OK. I don't know if it is an aspie thing, or what, but I can almost picture the entire lot, and where my car is. If I do, I can go right to it.

And I HATE people that say north, south, etc.... HEY, if I had a compass, I wouldn't have such a hard time!

Steve

I have an excellent sense of direction.

Tim

Mine is poor unless I super focus then its like extra accurate.

I love this topic ! !

Several years ago I realized I had a different way of finding my way than other people do. A freind needed to drop by, and the only way I could direct him was 'turn by the old gas station that's now a repair shop, go two streets, turn by the house with all the gazebo stuff out front, etc' I'm like a honeybee ! ! I didn't know a single street name, but I knew all the landmarks. Same when I go to a mall, or through a huge department store.
I'm the one with AS, but the missus can't read a map. I can show her where we're going, and she loses track right off ! !! I always have to take the map, and see where we are.

I am extremely good with direction although when telling other people, I get it mixed up. The only time I ever got lost was when I went with my family to visit some friends in Central Pennsylvania (the hamlet we were visiting was not even near a state route). Also, once I have been to a place, I will remember where it is (I can visualize it in my head). I know that I could do this since I was 6 or 7 because when we would have a substitute driver on the school bus, I would be asked to give the driver directions because I knew the route better than the bus aide.

Where I get mixed up with with my directions (North, South, East, West) and right/left. I can visualize which direction I want to go but I seem to botch it up with words.

I get lost or disoriented very easily... I can get turned around in a building and be unable to find my way out, lol.

It always amazes me when my girlfriend's dad could be in a building moving furniture around and say "movie it to the East".. now where the heck is East and how can you tell which direction so easily?? And why can't you just say, right or left??