One of the perks of working for CMI has been the use of an iPhone. My general sense of direction is pretty ordinary so having a Google Map so readily available has been a godsend on more than one occasion. Alas, in just under 2 months time that perk shall no longer be available, and I'm not sure whether this particular mental parachute is worth shelling out for an iPhone of my own.

Anyway, it turns out that a lack of directional sense is not unusual (although I think Colin you probably win the prize for least directional sense).  New research has revealed we typically have three strategies for finding our way somewhere.

Apparently when we're trying to get from A to B we visualise a route comprising of highly salient streets.  This tends to lead to a longer route, albeit with fewer turns (and presumably fewer opportunities to go wrong).  This is known as graph based route planning.

However, when we actually get around to walking we base our walk more on direction, making more turns in the process down smaller streets, thus navigating more efficiently by using the constant feedback from our surroundings to fine tune our mental route map.  This is known as direction-based wayfinding.

The third approach comes into play when we give directions to others.  Then we tend to give the simplest possible route with few turns and ensuring the other traveller passes by as many famous landmarks as possible.

Christoph Hölscher at the University of Freiburg and his colleagues said this is the first time that anyone has shown "how different planning and navigation conditions lead to different wayfinding strategies".

"It is noteworthy that none of the participants adhered to the route they had described only minutes ago," the researchers said. "They discarded their previously made plan directly after getting perceptual feedback about spatial properties, and showed little sign of trying to pursue an action sequence that they had previously identified as their own best solution."