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Do you really doubt that if you use a GPS to navigate over an unfamiliar route and were then asked to repeat the journey the following day, you'd do significant

by caf 11y ago

Do you really doubt that if you use a GPS to navigate over an unfamiliar route and were then asked to repeat the journey the following day, you'd do significantly worse than if you'd had to plan your original route by hand? A cognitive map is an internal mental map of how some region of space is connected. Using landmarks and signs to follow a route from a map naturally builds mental connections between your observations of the world and the corresponding points on the map, in a way that following spoken directions does not.

ubernostrum 11y ago
I recently moved across the country, to a city I'd never been in before. I tend to use the GPS on my phone the first couple of times I need to go to some particular place. After that, the experience of having driven the route a couple times is good enough that I can find my way.
mikeash 11y ago
I do. Seeing the moving map while I drive helps cement everything together for me. I can see if you just blindly obey the machine and pay no attention to the context that it would hurt, but nothing says you have to do it that way. But then, I'm one of those people who generally only needs to see a route once in order to know it. When I visit people in other cities, after a few days I'm often showing them how to get to places rather than vice versa.
jen729w 11y ago
I absolutely think that following the GPS provides a worse mental map of the area/route than looking at an old fashioned paper map. Here in Melbourne we have (shortly: had) the Melways. A4 size traditional map-book, two pages covers a good couple of suburbs. Let's call it a 5km-wide area. When you look at this map, you see the relationships of suburbs. Balaclava is just to the east of St Kilda, which flows to the south to Elwood, etc. You see the major arterial roads and where they lead. You build a proper, high-level mental model of where you are. Contrast this to the GPS. "Turn left in 100m" tells you nothing of your locale. It gives you no context. You see a sign that says "Elwood" and you're heading south because the beach is to your right and you know you want to be in St Kilda but this isn't useful to you: your brain doesn't instinctively think, hmm, that just feels wrong. GPS is amazing until it doesn't work, and then you are truly lost.

by caf 11y ago

ubernostrum 11y ago

I recently moved across the country, to a city I'd never been in before. I tend to use the GPS on my phone the first couple of times I need to go to some particular place. After that, the experience of having driven the route a couple times is good enough that I can find my way.

mikeash 11y ago

I do. Seeing the moving map while I drive helps cement everything together for me. I can see if you just blindly obey the machine and pay no attention to the context that it would hurt, but nothing says you have to do it that way. But then, I'm one of those people who generally only needs to see a route once in order to know it. When I visit people in other cities, after a few days I'm often showing them how to get to places rather than vice versa.

jen729w 11y ago

I absolutely think that following the GPS provides a worse mental map of the area/route than looking at an old fashioned paper map. Here in Melbourne we have (shortly: had) the Melways. A4 size traditional map-book, two pages covers a good couple of suburbs. Let's call it a 5km-wide area. When you look at this map, you see the relationships of suburbs. Balaclava is just to the east of St Kilda, which flows to the south to Elwood, etc. You see the major arterial roads and where they lead. You build a proper, high-level mental model of where you are. Contrast this to the GPS. "Turn left in 100m" tells you nothing of your locale. It gives you no context. You see a sign that says "Elwood" and you're heading south because the beach is to your right and you know you want to be in St Kilda but this isn't useful to you: your brain doesn't instinctively think, hmm, that just feels wrong. GPS is amazing until it doesn't work, and then you are truly lost.