# Are you aware of the cardinal directions at all times? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 4, 2024, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475 "2024-06-04T12:16:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/21 "2024-06-04T14:07:57Z")
In general, I have no idea what direction is what. But in Colorado Springs, there’s very few places in the city you can’t see the mountains, and the mountains are always west. Once I get closer to the Divide, I don’t have the slightest clue. ETA: > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I think it was here in the SDMB that someone once remarked that they lived where there were mountains in a particular direction, and that helped them be aware of the compass directions because they could always easily see which way was west Well, what Thudlow Boink said. What a ninja! ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/22 "2024-06-04T14:08:17Z")
I am most of the time, but not 100% by any means. I’ve been a map geek since I first learned what a map was, ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/23 "2024-06-04T14:08:48Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > I know I’m being snobby about it, but I feel like this person is missing an important life skill. Having a fixed directional system really is the way to go since you don’t have to worry about right or left confusion. When I was getting my pilot’s license I was required to show competence in _both_ types of navigation, which even have formal names. Your style of navigating is called “ded reckoning”. The other style is “pilotage”. Most people tend to favor one or the other. Statistically, men are more likely to ded reckon and women more likely to pilotage, but there’s so much flipping of that (men using pilotage, women ded reckoning) that making assumptions based on gender is probably not a good idea. Both forms of navigation have their strengths and weaknesses, which is why ares of endeavor which require accuracy of navigation in all conditions make use of both - trans-ocean travel, aviation, etc. Personally, I like being bi-navigational and able to communicate directions in a manner that will make the most sense and be useful to the person I am addressing. I also like that I can understand and use directions given by almost everyone else. [You, the OP, may be interested in this language where there are no egocentric directions and all directions much be given using cardinal terms](https://youtu.be/gybTMf_Xa10?feature=shared) - if I don’t manage to cue up to the correct time in the video the discussion of Guugu Yimithirr starts at 8:27: > [@Napier](#): > > I think there are interesting cultural influences on this. I read of some culture whose language has no words for “left”, “right”, “in front of” and “behind” (or something like that). They use their words for “North” etc for everything. That is, “I’ll take the donut to the north” as opposed to “the one on the left”. Yep - Guugu Yimithirr. See above link. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/24 "2024-06-04T14:13:11Z")
No, and _hell no_. I go into the department store, get on the elevator, step out onto the upper floor. You ask me “what direction is the door we came in?” and I shrug. I certainly couldn’t point towards the parking lot the car’s parked in. Locally, I have a loose grid of major roads in my mind: Hillside runs east-west, so the major intersecting roads run north-south. Except often they don’t: Here’s Marcus Ave, intersecting with that beforementioned Hillside running east-west > **[Marcus Ave & Hillside Ave. · Herricks, NY 11040](https://maps.app.goo.gl/VN19JkVWHGhBRHbaA)** > > Intersection Within seconds of getting onto that damn snake, I could not point to any cardinal point other than “up” or “down”. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/25 "2024-06-04T14:16:31Z")
Generally, yes. Like @enipla, I’m in GIS, and I also spent several years as a land surveyor… I keep a map of some sort in my head at all times (built up as needed as I travel). Being in flat, featureless areas can be quite disorienting though, and it isn’t a feeling I like. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/26 "2024-06-04T14:17:29Z")
Most of the time I am very aware of N, S, E, and W. The only time I get mixed up is when I’m indoors. ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/27 "2024-06-04T14:18:47Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Your style of navigating is called “ded reckoning”. Nitpick: It’s “dead reckoning” — calculating your position by reference to speed, direction and time elapsed since you were at a known point. You’re calculating your position by reference to where you would be if you had remained dead in the water. The advantage of dead reckoning is that you should be able to calculate your position even when no landmarks or beacons are detectable. The disadvantage is that it’s very difficult — a great many variables have to be accounted for. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/28 "2024-06-04T14:21:05Z")
I have generally been really quite good at this. Really good. But … Our previous houses were all aligned reasonably well with the major direction N-S. Our new house is completely askew. Not even aligned on a NNE or whatever axis. Furthermore, our street subtlety curves so in walking to the mailboxes in the evening I am regularly surprised by the Sun setting 90 degrees off from where my intuition says it should. Especially when there’s a near full Moon rising in the “opposite” (to me) direction from where I think west should be. It’s one of those things that where I get it wrong at first and it becomes difficult to reprogram my brain. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/29 "2024-06-04T14:23:40Z")
Not even a little bit. My rearview mirror has one of those little compass displays, and it’s very much a “well if you say so” situation. Zero sense of direction, zero spatial awareness. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/30 "2024-06-04T14:29:59Z")
I have absolutely no sense of direction. > [@SuntanLotion](#): > > I am a female. When I exit a doctors office I have to ask them which way I go. Same. > [@Omar\_Little](#): > > I would think that saying I-75 North would be acceptable as most people, even those that travel by landmarks, use the signpost for getting on the interstate, which cleary are labeled I-75 North or I-75 South. Yup, interstate signs, in particular, are very good that way. All that being said, when i lived in NYC, which is on a (mostly) compass grid, i did navigate by cardinal directions. I still had no innate sense of direction, but every time i emerged from a subway station i would look for the sun to orient myself, and proceed from there. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/31 "2024-06-04T14:33:56Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > > [@TriPolar](#): > > > > Most of the time I am. I had trouble on the west coast at times when I’d look at a map and my mind was defaulting east to the direction of the ocean. I adjusted based on the north-south orientation of highways. > > I’ve had this problem too because I grew up on the east coast and am now on the west coast of FLA. I’m finally getting used to “east = inland.” It’s a weird subconscious thing. I suppose something we learned based on maps before our directional senses became more refined. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/32 "2024-06-04T14:36:31Z")
I think “towards the ocean” is a much more natural direction to keep in mind than “towards the north pole”. When i visited Hawaii i always knew where the ocean was and where the mountains were. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/33 "2024-06-04T14:53:22Z")
Yes, I like to think so. I think of things in “towards New England”, “towards Lake Erie” and “towards California” and “south” (heh) Now, I can’t be 100% sure because rarely have I ever gone to an unfamiliar place without looking at a map first (even back in the day, when maps were on paper). But for sure once I’ve looked at a map I can orient myself in a place. I like to think it’s because I grew up with a major freeway next to my house, so all day and all night I heard the sound of “north.” But maybe I just like maps a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/34 "2024-06-04T15:05:48Z")
In Cleveland, my home, I have a good sense of north, which I am sure is in some way related to the lake. But there are also places (like Philadelphia) where I have no sense of direction at all, and other places where I have a sense of direction, but it’s wrong. Unsurprisingly, the places where it’s wrong include other places next to Great Lakes: In Chicago, my “north sense” points east, and in Toronto, it points south. But there are also places far from lakes where it’s wrong: For instance, my grandmother’s house was on a steep hillside, and I always think of that hillside as facing north, even though I think it’s actually southeast. Oddly, my sense of direction also works, and correctly, in Bozeman, with no lake and where the dominant landmark is a mountain range to the northeast (the next-most-prominent mountains are southeast, and then southwest). I think what I might actually be sensing is the slope of the land: I think of the downhill direction as north. My sense of direction is also definitely influenced by the local road grid. For instance, in downtown Cleveland, everyone knows that Superior goes east-west, and Ontario goes north-south, which means that Euclid, which comes off at an angle, is east-south-east. But if you look at a map, https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m14!1m12!1m3!1d3141.1018267515965!2d-81.69261694092786!3d41.49994209683139!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1717513361200!5m2!1sen!2susyou see that the entire grid is rotated, so Superior is more like southwest-northeast, Ontario is northwest-southeast, and Euclid is actually slightly north of east. This effect from the road grid can sometimes throw me off badly when three roads form a triangle, and none of them is named in a way which indicates which way it nominally goes. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/35 "2024-06-04T15:12:42Z")
I do not have a great sense of direction, no. I have to stop and think about which way is north, south, east, west, even if I’m close to home. Years ago I read about a guy who built a thing where he installed beepers on a belt and rigged it so the beeper that faced north would vibrate. After awhile of being ‘trained’ with his north-facing beeper belt invention, he developed an almost superpower-like ability to know exactly where he was at all times. He could be a long way from home and be able to point to the exact direction where it was without hesitation. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/36 "2024-06-04T15:14:42Z")
I am generally if not always. My wife does not at all, and will take the piss it I use cardinal directions when describing where something is (are we 17th century explorers!!?!). I dunno if that’s age thing (she largely grew up with GPS) or British/American thing? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/37 "2024-06-04T15:27:05Z")
The majority of the time I’m outdoors, yes. Probably not much more than 50%, but definitely more often than not. Indoors, not that often. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/38 "2024-06-04T15:50:10Z")
When dropped into the middle of a new city I try to make sure I know which way north so as I build a mental map while exploring the area it is the correct orientation. I have to do this early on or else I risk building a disoriented mental map which is near impossible to re-orient once it’s embedded firmly in the noggin. This happened recently on my first trip to Denver where after arriving at my downtown hotel thought that the front of the hotel faced south while in reality it faced northeast. Left the hotel on foot and explored the area. So my entire mental map of the downtown Denver area is completely disoritented and will likely never be fixed. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/39 "2024-06-04T15:55:37Z")
Usually. If I’m in a new location, I’d use my wristwatch to find south. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475/40 "2024-06-04T15:56:35Z")
When I was learning to fly I was told by the teacher that men tend to think in terms of grids (N,S,E,W) and women tend to think in terms of landmarks. Both have their advantages in the cockpit. A lot of navigation is following an instrument heading but looking out the window is more landmark oriented. Keeping a landmark visually fixed in the windscreen helps with short term navigation. I have found this true in real life. Directions given by women tend to focus on landmarks. Turn left at the BP gas station, right at the big white house next to a barn. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-aware-of-the-cardinal-directions-at-all-times/1002475.md?page=3)