Yeah, even though I grew up looking at maps and even drawing them for fun on graph paper when I was a kid, it has taken me a very long time to get to the point where I can navigate by map instead of step by step directions.

Living in the Boston area for a few years in my 20s before GPS nav was readily available definitely helped, as one wrong turn might easily wind up with you being somewhere you've never been before, and the only way back is to look at a map. I had a few very dog eared pages of the same atlas that a lot of people used back then.

I've spent a lot of time on the bike and skis looking at maps in Trailforks over the last few years. That has helped as well. It's fun to spend a lot of time in the woods and start to build a sense of location based on your surroundings.

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/living-wit...