> put the map in overhead view, north up ... you build up a geospatial awareness

Totally agree.

I think the other thing that helps in an unfamiliar area is to pre-scout the route.. basically just look at the map around where you're going, while you're stopped. Honestly I don't always do this, but I should and it usually helps.

> can usually tell when the GPS is getting stupid.

The key to this is how you respond.

I used to just decide to go the way I think makes more sense, then often find out there was a reason: a one-way or closed street, no left-hand turns intersection, only one on-ramp to the highway (in the opposite direction I'm trying to go), construction, etc, and then I'd have to loop around.

Now I just become more vigilant. I always pay attention to the road names (and not just "take next left"), but I also really keep an eye out for extra signage (like signs showing the route to get to a highway) or closures.

One of the problems with current GPS tech and the maps is they're really damn good -- but still not perfect. The fact they work so well most of the time makes people complacent.

I live in a rural area where gravel and dirt roads outnumber paved roads by an easy 100 to 1. The issue with these roads is that they change with the season, the weather, the stage that farmers are at and the health of the county road department. Those nuances are known to locals but cannot be expected to be known by gps. I travel gravel and dirt daily by paying attention to butte landmarks, the location of the sun, certain farms and barns but most importantly, local gossip. I recall Los Angeles friends visiting and exclaiming "oh my gawd how in the world do you drive these roads -- no signage, no businesses, no gps?" I said all you have to do is look and listen very well and I can drive roads here I have never been on. Look ma..no gps..just eyes and ears.

What you describe is "using common sense" - unfortunately a sense a lot of us have lost because we live in place where road signs are reliable and digital maps are up-to-date.

It took me quite a few months to relearn what you are practicing every day but now I'd say that this is a must on every curriculum. After I moved to a third world country (and did my re-learning) I understood that in case of a zombie-apocalypse (used as a place-holder for your "no tech works anymore"-scenario) people from less developed countries are so much more likely to cope than 99% of the 1st world population.

Likely because they are already working without all that tech. Fortunately, that means that around 50% of the world population will cope just fine :P

I just recently had my gps get me to try and drive down a gravel road (not that bad) and through a ford that was clearly far too deep for my car, and had a sign on it saying that it was unsuitable for cars, all to save about a minute.

Google maps also doesn't seem to know whether roads are gravel or tarmac, and since they both have a 100 km/h speed limit, it will direct me down a shorter gravel road, that will actually take longer because I'm not suicidal to go 100 km/h down a windy gravel road.

I also prefer the navi using fixed orientation; if the map rotates, it becomes very hard to track myself in my mental map. I'd imagine once you lose tracking in mental map you tend to blindly follow whatever the machine tells you.

Some people can't read a map in North view, that's where customer interviews get interesting - they even need a 3D view or the speech. Actually in my IT-engineering school a subgroup couldn't read the technical blueprints at all (drawings of mechanical parts in left/right section), and it was all the students from Morrocco - even if both their parents were French immigrants with servants and wealth. The only possible explanation I've though about is that they may not have been exposed to Lego when young.

3D view, speech, north changing directions, the slanted angle of the map during navigation; these are all things that are so disorienting for me I have to turn them off.

I live in the northern hemisphere, and wish more maps supported "South up." Maybe I'm weird, but in my mental map I expect the light (the sun) to be at the top of the page.

There's no maybe. You're weird. Nearly all maps we're exposed to growing up have North at the top of the page. However, you would be right at home in this segment of West Wing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH1bZ0F3zVU

>Nearly all maps we're exposed to growing up have North at the top of the page.

Heh, you say that as if I didn't know! ;)

I'm sure you've noticed that in computer UIs, all the "3D" effects are based on the sun being at the top. Same with geography -- it's easier for me to visualize the terrain if the sun is at the top. That means South-up in the northern hemisphere, and North-up in the southern hemisphere.

Always fun to watch that West Wing clip.

My navigation application supports rotating the map with double touch. You can put it whatever-you-want-up. This is probably rather common in other applications. You might then be a bit confused if you have to look a conventional north-up map...

Get a hand-held GPS, turn it whatever way you want?