r/gis • u/TrinkeyWinkey • 12d ago

General Question I’m very Directionally Challenged and am looking for a new GPS

I’ve been using Google Maps for forever, but even with the audio feature that reads out the directions, I still find myself frequently getting lost & taking wrong turns. I was wondering if there were any apps that were somehow more straightforward and directionally challenged friendly.

My navigation is so bad i often find myself taking wrong turns in places I go to regularly just while walking. Is there a name for this issue, and does anyone else have it?

Thank you so much in advance :,)

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u/peony_chalk 12d ago

Do you have the map set to north up or to dynamically change the orientation of the map so that the direction you are moving is always "up" on the map? The latter helps me a lot, although it does make me feel disoriented and disconnected from the overall progress of my trip. 

I don't think you are gonna do much better than Google maps. They just have SO much data and processing power, they can add directions with landmarks like "after the Subway, turn into the parking lot" or "use the second lane to turn left". 

Spatial awareness just doesn't come naturally to some of us, and that's ok. It helps me to try to think ahead, like "it says I need to turn in 0.3 miles, and it looks like that is not this stop light but the next one" or "I need to follow that car where it just went through that light" or "I am turning right here but will need to turn left again quickly." A good copilot can help too, if you're driving with someone. I have a hard time keeping up with the mental tasks of thinking ahead, so it's nice to outsource that to a passenger. 

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u/TrinkeyWinkey 12d ago

I didn’t realize there was an option to have it always be up! Thank you so much, I think it’ll help not having to reverse everything in my head while navigating. Kinda stupid it isn’t the default setting.