INTJs and Sense of Direction

[Rei]

So I've been trying to figure out if a good (or relatively good) sense of direction is an Intuitive thing, or a Sensing thing.

I've got a pretty good sense of direction. I get around places I'm not familiar with pretty efficiently, and I remember how to get to places (after several weeks) after having only been there once or twice. I can learn to get around really confusing buildings with lots of random extensions (like very very old university buildings) without putting too much effort into it (I just generally know which direction everything is).

I'm not the best, but I also know people who just REALLY suck at this stuff. They couldn't figure out how to get somewhere even if they had a map. I mean, maybe they're just dumb, but they're pretty capable otherwise???


Thoughts?

[bikerscars]

i run a shipping department :thumbsdown:

through experience it has become excellent :thumbsup:


with the occasional hiccup to prove i'm human

[The Rose]

My sense of direction is a joke in our family. I do ok with a map sort of. Maybe I should have voted horrible instead of bad.

[generalowk]

I have an excellent sense of direction.

[Vayate]

I usually unconsciously map out an area as I walk through it, so my sense of direction is decent. That said, I do sometimes have issues relating the location of one area to another or doing north/south/etc. I also notice that I often have trouble with relating the words "left" and "right" with the concepts they represent.

[Jezebel]

My internal sense of direction is bad, but I have no issues reading a map or following external cues. That is, if I'm paying attention. I usually get lost because my mind wanders and I miss signs.

[deicruxified]

so i have never been lost... but i do find it easier in the forest since you get to feel the place more. intuition i guess. one time i was able to find some of my mates just by listening to the crickets. ;D

[StJimmy]

i have a great sense of direction. lots of time spent outdoors. as long as i can see the sun and i'm wearing a watch i'll always know which way is which :P

but anyway yeah my wife has a terrible sense of direction. she can read a map, but take it away and she's lost.

i had honestly never thought about sense of direction being related to personality.

[GOD]

I used to be poor at "sense of direction", primarily because I was thinking about and observing other things.

Sense of direction is definitely as sensing thing, Now that I specifically devote some attention to noting useful landmarks etc etc I have a better sense of direction.

(Inuition to me is just a combination of sensing and thinking bundled up allowing interesting/unique observations & pathways).

[Natrushka]

I have a sense of direction that freaks out even my ISTJ husband.

I know which direction I am facing most of the time. I give directions to people using "south east corner" or "four blocks west, turn left and continue for 3.5 km".

[thegnat]

Decent. I do *great* with maps. But figuring out a new place on my own is going to take some time. Once I know that place, though, I know it pretty intuitively.

I used to be horrible because I just didn't observe my surroundings. Now that I observe them, I'm a lot better off.

[Firelie]

My sense of direction is awful. *People know by now to never follow me unless I've been to the place in question numerous times. *I'm even worse in the dark...if I go somewhere in the dark, I have absolutely no recollection of the ways we took to get there.

HOWEVER, if I have a map and some streetsigns, I can get anywhere.

[rwyatt365]

My sense of direction is excellent, always has been. Even as a child, I was the official "navigator" when we went on family trips. It was kinda cool telling my father, "turn here, go there".

[BadgerDad]

Not great. But I have found that when I am alone, and MUST get it right, I do fairly well. When I am with a group and someone else is driving, forget it......

[Aoiluna]

I have a horrible sense of direction, and I mean horrible. I think it might be because I never pay attention to where I am going, my mind is always somewhere else. I am however, exceptionally good with maps, and enjoy looking at them for some reason. give me a map and I can get you there. otherwise, ask someone else.

[Paul V]

Pretty good. If I memorise a path, I'll probably always remember it. And if I was distracted or am suddenly lost, I make good guesses, which very often lead me to the right path. Too bad I get distracted quite often...

I agree with the above poster completely about maps. I simply love them. They're lifesavers.

[zero]

As far as I remember, I never got lost and always can find my way out of places I've rarely been. I also like visualising the whole trip in my mind, either on foot or flying through it.

[Toby]

My sense of direction is excellent, too.

Just like rwyatt365 I was the official 'navigator' in my family.

[WavesSootheMe]

I have an awful sense of direction. I have a high IQ, but my spatial abilities drag it down a bit. Imagining a 3D object and manipulating it in my mind has always been a challenge. I can read a map no problem, but translating it into what I actually see is something quite different. I need exact directions to follow in terms of left and right with street names and/or landmarks. North, South, East and West never help me. I instead rely upon my excellent memory. Unfortunately, my memory of directions is rote. Stick me at a new starting point and turn me around a couple of times and, I'll be completely lost again. I am the queen of U-turns. When lost I attempt to rely on my intuition, but it's rarely correct. The better bet is to do the exact opposite of what my intuition tells me.

[Ryokurin]

As long as I know where I am or where about I want to go I can usually figure it out. Its been a lifesaver in some areas. typically if I've been to a place once I can get there again, unless its like a different time of day, but I'm usually close.

[TruorTupnm]

Another official navigator. The ability (don't most people have this?) and enthusiasm for reading maps, combined with not wishing to jostle with those in the back as well as the preference of never falling asleep got me that job. Other than that, I don't get lost easily. I'll always seek out a map of someplace that I don't know. If one doesn't exist, it is not so difficult to pay attention. I haven't been in a situation where I haven't paid any attention at all, so who knows how great I'd be at finding my way home after being beaten, blindfolded, and tossed out of an airplane? :huh:

[cielo market]

*pushes button for OnStar*

[amei]

I'm usually pretty good with directions. If I do get lost, which I admit happens, I never feel lost because I always know how I got lost and how to fix it. What I do have trouble with though is giving directions to people. It makes sense to me how to get from A to B, but I always feel that my way is never quite clear to most other people.

[BloozeGit]

During my first time driving a rental car with GPS in the US, I thought is was way cool and impossible to get lost. Turned out that the damned GPS gave such ambiguous directions, plus the distances where in miles (I'm a metric guy) and it was absolutely frustrating.

I ended up falling back on Google maps and my sense of direction. I'm better off with a mental picture of the road to where I want to go and a few names to remember where to turn, rather than a disjointed female voice telling me where to go.

[Br3nti5]

I can usually find my way - I tend to get lost quicker if I start questioning my sense of direction instead of trusting myself.

[Hypomanic]

I have a sense of direction that freaks out even my ISTJ husband.

I know which direction I am facing most of the time. I give directions to people using "south east corner" or "four blocks west, turn left and continue for 3.5 km".

You are one of those people whom I get directions from then immediately forget. :thinking: I like to map out visually where I am, so I need visual cues.