Do you know your city well?

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Me & my friends decided to throw an end-of-summer party to our class & we held it at a slightly far off place; 17 miles across town.
Being one of the organisers , I had to reach the place on my own for preparation with a friend ( who was new to the city ( & also a female)) tagging along.
I had no problems reaching the place but returning was a nightmare.I overshot an exit while on an expressway & had to go all the way across town & then back!! I tried other routes but remembered none & had to exit each one halfway through...
It took about 30 minutes to reach the place but coming home took more than two hours ! !! IT WAS EMBARRASSING ! !! HUMILIATING ! !! ! . I wished nobody would ever see me again.
My peers seem to have no trouble navigating though the city , I am the only one who has NO SENSE OF DIRECTION & VERY LITTLE KNOWLEDGE about my own city which I have been living in for 10 YEARS!! !
I wonder why I never picked up city routes & roads. How do I overcome this?

I've found that having target destinations in various places all over a city, and on a regular basis, will get me using routes that are new to me, and learning them each by heart, so that gradually you get to know all areas.

For example, when I used to have new clients in a part of the city I'd never really been to before, then I had to look it up on the map (this was before GPS and such) and find my way to it, and commit that to memory as I'd be then going there regularly.

Also, shopping for things. Anytime I'd have to be buying something that isn't just food, I would find a store in a location I hadn't checked out before, and find how to get there and back.

Bit by bit, I build up knowledge of a city and how to get around in it, by having specific locations I either must get to or want to get to for some need or want.

It also helps these days to look up Google maps and use their "Directions" feature, which can also be reversed to give you the directions back.

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I know my city well.

Now....if Birdie would show me around her city, I'd certainly get to know it well.

As it stands now, my overall knowledge of her city is rather poor.

GPS and Google maps on your smartphone. Your best friend when you get lost.

There is a small city here in France called Burke. All the roads lead into the city but seemingly none leave! I once spent two hours trying to drive out of the city and kept finding myself back in the city again. It was like a tale from the twilight zone.

I think I know my city reasonably well....I take buses to different areas of town sometimes (but only to places I've been to before, and not if they're "sketchy" in any way). I've never been downtown on a bus because I worry about getting lost or overwhelmed. If I was with a couple other people, I would be less worried.

Oh now, you!

Yes, I know my city very well. Not the places (you ask me where is a specific shop or name a street - I won't know) but the web of streets and buildings. Its like I have a map in my head and I navigate it easily. Even when I am in a spot I have never been before I know where to go to get the fastest way to wherever I need to go. I dont have to return the same way I came there, I find a shortcut and come out in exackly the same place as I imagined the shortcut goes to.

The best thing is it also works in cities I don't know. Its like I am constantly drawing a map in my head and imagining how the streets connect and how the area might look like from the other side. I often take the role of life gps when I am n a trip with friends or parents. They even call me "their navigator". We might get lost in a city I am first time in but as long as I have already drawn a tiny part f the city in my head I will go there the shortest route possible even if I don't know the route at all.

For example I was in Germany once with my classmates. Me and my 2 friends decided to get out the bus a few stops from the stop we were getting in because my fiend wanted to see a huge shop there. We were already 17 year old so it was OK, teacher let us to do it. It was our first day in the city but I already "drawn" a map of city hall area and the route to our hotel from there. But we were not anywhere close to the city hall and we didn't know the language so there was noone to ask. We didn't think about it till we got out of the shop and realized we have no idea where we are. They started to worry but I told them "This way" and lead us to the city hall. I just "knew" where it is because I got a feeling the street is the one heading from the city hall I seen when I was there and I was sure we are south of the city hall so we must go north. 10 minutes later we got to the city hall and I easily lead us to the hotel from there.

Another example. Also Germany but other time, half of year later. It was a students exchange, my school was doing something like this - one week we were living in a german family and later the german teenager was living in Poland for a week. I was living with a family in a city suburbs. I "drawn" a map of the areas of the family home, a bus stop nearby and the whole city center (including 3 bus stops). It was my 3rd day there. I was with my friends in the city center, I walked them to their bus stop and was about to go to my bus stop (15 mins walk) when I seen my bus coming to the bus stop I was at. So I got in. Soon I realized my mistake. The bus was heading in opposite direction, leading me to an area I have never been in. More! To another city! Through a highway! But I didn't panic. I knew how buses usually go. Knowing the highway and the few bus stops I knew I imagined a route the bus might go. And I figured out it must go to other city, stay there for a while and go back to the right city but round way. So I sent a sms to the family telling them I will be a few minutes late (I was supposed to be there in 20 mins) I had no real idea what the round way looks like but I was pretty sure it must go near the bus stop I was getting in near the family house. And i was right. The bus stayed in another city for like 10 mins, then returnd to the city following the road the family house was at. It was a long way but I was sure it is the one. And that was true. After a few stops I told myself "next stop is my stop". And I got out right there. I was just 5 minutes late compared to the bus I was supposed to get in in the first place. Just as I figured out and just as my sms stated.

am a savant in this area,have got a visual sat nav based in mind, it even syncs itself with the route we want when we set off and it works very computer like.
am only allowed to be sat in the back seat so point in front to the support staff driving which way to go or bang on the side of the doors to tell them to turn.

...I tend to stick to very small , limited areas -

I've been living in my city for about 20 years and I can't navigate my way around it either

At the coffee shop I worked in, customers would sometimes ask for directions, and even if I knew where it was, I would not for the life of me be able to explain to them how to get there! I would just tell them I didn't drive which was true and pass them on to a co-worker, anyone who drove preferably.

I'm constantly having to orient my brain as to which bus I need to take to go somewhere & to come home - it's usually the same route but one goes clockwise & the other goes counterclockwise but I keep forgetting which one I need

At night especially, I get very disoriented - I don't have a car but I take the bus everywhere and some night routes I wonder how the bus driver doesn't get lost because I sure would! I lose all orientation as to which direction we're going in, which way my house is from where I am, etc. Perhaps it's a good thing I don't drive - I probably would spend a fortune in gas just because of getting lost Back when I was taking driving lessons even in day time I'd get disoriented as to how fast the car was going, spacing near curbs, curvature of turning when turning, etc. I found it extremely difficult even when practicing with my mother to concentrate on both handling the car and paying attention to getting where I want to go efficiently.

I thought it was just me until I found an Aspie questionnaire that asked if you have difficulty judging distances, depth or speed, and I was like, ohhhhhh

I know my city pretty well, the next one over not so much at all. I can get to places in its downtown core or to one other main street however if a road is closed or something then we could have a problem.

Even in my own neighbourhood street names are something I can hardly keep straight, makes giving directions difficult. I do remember where all of the turn lanes and dead ends are, what the speed limits are and other helpful driving tips.

Downtown Houston is kind of like this. You can get out of immediate downtown and into the surrounding area by little side streets, but truly leaving the city to get to the suburban/county area is a nightmare. Only a couple of streets connect to the main highways, so you're driving around up and down one-way streets trying to find one that puts you on a freeway -- ANY freeway! And god forbid you end up on the loop around the city. You could conceivably drive around a circle forever, never knowing where you're supposed to get off.

One thing Houston DOES have that helps (and maybe other cities do too) is something called a Key Map. It's a map of the entire county (almost all of Harris County is Houston) set up on a grid basis. And each page is a part of the grid, with extremely detailed maps for that area of town. When I first moved to Houston, I got a Key Map and just drove around. I didn't follow the map first, but rather remembered street names and landmarks, and then recreated the path I took with the appropriate page on the Key Map. I learned the city quite well that way. Too bad Houston's traffic sucks so bad you don't WANT to drive anywhere.

And I don't know how in the hell people get around in Boston. A Bostonian once told me that they believed the roads were designed by drunks, and I believe it. I was trying to get to Fenway Park for a ballgame, and even though I could see the freakin' stadium lights, I couldn't get to it! Every street seemed to take me farther away from my destination. And asking directions is impossible. Everyone either just moved there, or just doesn't want to help.

As far as where I live now, there's not enough "city" to warrant directions. I live in a rural area near a few very small towns. A couple of crossroads, a few traffic lights -- that's about it.

I am quite bad at this...I only know the regular routes of places I visit often. Anything beyond that and I get very anxious and disoriented. I have no sense of direction and I've gotten lost on highways, sometimes driving for hours in the wrong direction. Very bad business.

I know the feeling about not knowing how to get back, I find that when you drive in one direction easily the way back seems confusing. Sydney's inner city roads are like a bowl of spaghetti, there is no grid of direction so it can be very confusing but once you know it, it's natural and helps when navigating other cities. I actually use the sun for direction. Navigating Sydney is all about where the rivers are and railway is - ie where the bridges are. When growing up I was always the map reader (call it an indulged special interest!!), I still am. So when I started driving I knew how to use a map. Navigating is a skill like any other that can be learnt.

One thing I have learnt is when lost, STOP!! at a cross street and find that cross street on your map and work out where to go from there, and don't feel bad about stopping like that regularly until you're in familiar territory.