Comment by cptskippy | Hacker News Reader

Comment by cptskippy | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

I don't believe this, I think some people are imbued with a sense of direction and others aren't. Some are only capable of following turn by turn instructions, they don't comprehend where they are in relation to anything.

My two older kids have the worst sense of direction I've ever encountered but my 3 year old has built in GPS. We were all in the car going somewhere one day and sitting at an intersection my 3 year old says "the Indian restaurant is over there" and points in the direction of a restaurant we frequent that was about 1/2 mile away. The 14 year old looks at me confused and I nodded "yes".

I work in a building that's rotationally symmetrical and the only indications of orientation are the carpet colors for the 4 quadrants. I'm consistently amazed at how many people will get off an elevator and have no idea which direction to go. I've tried given cardinal directions to no avail, some people are just oblivious to their surroundings.

I've noticed the elevator disorientation too. I'm one with a built-in compass and the times that my expectations are diverted are rare and quickly corrected. Because of my natural outlook, it's odd to me to see people often step out of an elevator and have to recalibrate their orientation.

Elevators can be confusing if there are two or more on both sides of the hall. It's disorienting because it's easy to forget which side of the hall you're on, especially if the corridor looks the same in both directions. Happens to me all the time at a friends condo.

I guess that's the point I was making about sense of direction. I have never had the experience but two of my kids get confused very easily, the third is like me and seems to always know location and direction.

Cardinal directions inside of a building are mostly worthless.

I disagree completely. If I know which way I'm facing relative to the world outside, I know which direction everything is.

How do you reference locations in buildings then? "Over next to Accounting" only works if the person already has knowledge of the office layout and only for one floor.

Facilities generally refers to areas of buildings by floor and cardinal direction.

Second this. Article sounds like hooey.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com