how to get a sense of direction from a navigation system
The main reason nobody ever learns the lay of the land from a navigation system is because the map is facing "the wrong way".
I should note up front that setting the map the correct way on a Garmin GPS navigator is stupidly easy from a quick visit to Settings > Map Display > Driving Map View > North Up. On a phone navigation app however, yeah, good luck with that. It might be easy, difficult or outright not possible.
Many people say they do not have any sense of direction whatsoever, and that's the reason they use a navigation system. All well and good.
After driving with GPS navigation for years, especially to the same places over and over again, you would think one without a sense of direction would eventually learn where they're going. They don't, and I know exactly why. It's because the map always shows your position as up. Not north, south, east nor west. Up.
When your position is always displayed as up, you never learn the map since the direction displayed is always the same. Yes, you will be instructed when to turn and whether that turn is on the left or right side, but when moving forward, again, always up.
If you want to get a sense of direction, set the map to a North Up view
An example of this is in the screenshot above from a Garmin navigator. Notice that the arrow on the map is not facing up, but instead facing the current direction of travel, southeast. I'm still told the direction of the next turn (the top left green field with right-facing arrow), but more importantly, I know I'm heading in a southbound direction.
A North Up view to many will seem weird at first, but that's only because you're completely used to your position on the map as up.
Over time, you'll notice something by keeping the map as North Up, and that's consistency. Since the map isn't constantly spinning around to face you up, you begin to actually learn where you are, what direction you're facing, and where you're going.
Given that most people travel to the same places over and over (going home, a commute, and so on), North Up view means you're going to see the same places on the map in the same orientation every time you use your navigation system. Repeated exposure to that is the best way to learn your surroundings. After a while, it will suddenly click in your brain, "Hey! I know where I am!"...
...with emphasis on after a while. Getting that sense of direction is not instant and will take some time.
The lack of a sense of direction for most is simply because of an electronic map set to always show you as facing up, where you get directions but learn nothing. Purposely set the map to read like a paper map to always face north, and then you will start actually learning the lay of the land.
You always had a sense of direction. What you needed is a map in the proper orientation to learn from. Now you know how to get it.
Published 2025 Jul 3
