Reading: Wayfinding, The Art and Science of How We Find and Lose Our Way

Over the last month I've been reading “Wayfinding: The Art and Science of How We Find and Lose Our Way” by Michael Bond, a science writer and editor. The subject of maps, cartography and how we navigate physical spaces is a source of constant fascination for me. (Here’s one of my older articles on maps and layers of meaning.) So I was happy to come across this book at my local library.

How we construct a mental model of the world around us

From a scientific perspective the way we make sense of our spatial surroundings and navigate from one place to another has been an important part of human evolution. We needed to stay close to our kinship groups for survival. Being alone or straying too far meant death. We also needed to retain relationships with other groups and share information. This meant navigating long distances and being able to return home without getting lost. But as we evolved so too did technology, including our ability to travel large distances quickly.

One study examined the differences between children who walk to school versus those who are driven. The purpose was to ascertain their cognitive understanding of their regular journey. The children who travelled by car tended to have simple, linear pathways that featured few landmarks. On the other hand, maps created by children who walked to school were full of rich nuances and meaning: a friend’s house, the local pizzeria, a stationary shop as well as side streets and zebra crossings. What a richer memory and inner world we create when we spend the time to walk and notice our surroundings!

Another study looked at the brains of London taxi drivers (legendary navigators who must learn over 25,000 streets and 20,000 landmarks!) and found that their posterior hippocampus was significantly larger than average. That part of the brain is responsible for spatial navigation  but also interestingly for sensory details and the creation of memories.

I’m also still pondering the importance (for narrative design in mixed reality experiences) of thresholds (like doorways/gates/entrances) on our ability to create and store memories. Multiple studies found that crossing these thresholds activates a type of bookmark or bookend that separates what came before with what comes after. This is related to incidents you may have experienced yourself, where you walk into a room and completely forget why you went there, only to walk back to your starting point and remember!

This phenomenon could be very important for game design and particularly level design. Introducing too many rooms without coherent narrative design could have a detrimental impact especially in unfamiliar environments. Everyone is familiar with a home and its different rooms and functions (bedroom, kitchen, bathroom) but we aren’t as familiar with an evil scientists’ lair and the purpose of rooms that may be contained within. Besides forgetting where specific objects or people are located, there’s also a real possibility of getting lost.

Getting lost and finding our way again

With mobile map applications on every phone it can seem impossible to get lost these days. But for some people, navigation is very difficult. I’ve especially noticed in older relations that their sense of navigation or direction has deteriorated over time. This often coincides with an increasing level of anxiety over the possibility of getting lost and then feeling completely overwhelmed when they are in fact lost.

For those that love to travel (like me) getting lost can actually be a very pleasurable experience. As long as you have the time and are not required to be at a particular place, the act of meandering and exploring is incredibly rewarding. It feels like an unfolding puzzle with surprises around each corner.

I recently travelled to Bangkok for Gamescom Asia 2025 (you can read my article here) and enjoyed exploring the city. I walked and walked, allowing myself to be drawn to interesting buildings, streets or shopfronts. When I stopped to eat or have a coffee, I would reorient myself using Google Maps using the now familiar MRT and Skytrain lines as references for where I had travelled.

That’s not to say that I don’t ever get lost and get flustered. When I visited Bangkok’s famous outdoor Chatachuk Markets (the world’s largest weekend outdoor market with over 15,000 stalls!) I found myself walking very deliberately in a certain direction trying to return to a certain stall, only to find that I was exactly on the opposite side of the market.

Here is a map of the market - looks fairly organised and straight forward right?

Source: Chatachak Market Bangkok website.

Here’s a photo I captured down one of those corridors which are quite tight. Only a few areas are air-conditioned so the air beneath those roofs quickly becomes hot and stuffy. Although the zones and corridors are signposted, all the corridors begin to look the same especially as many stalls sell similar items. Fortunately I’ve travelled to Bangkok and visited the markets many times, so I enjoy getting “lost” in there, but it’s not for the faint hearted!

When you’re hot, tired, hungry and running short on time getting lost can make you feel annoyed, frustrated or even a sense of dread. And this applies for online experiences too.

Getting lost online 

The feeling of being lost is a psychological state. So its no surprise that we ca also feel lost when using a website or mobile app.

From buying concert tickets, waiting in an infinite queue and fighting dynamic pricing to forgetting your password or figuring how to cancel an online subscription – we’ve all felt annoyed, frustrated and confused. 

Where am I? Have I progressed? Where is the information I’m looking for? Why can’t I just find it? Am I really back at the beginning now? Do I have to start all over again?

A solid user experience ensures that the user always knows where they are in a process, task or hierarchy. Ideally, the experience also provides the user with multiple tools to navigate and find information or assistance.

The definition of being lost is when someone is unable to find one’s way or not knowing one’s current location. Believe it or not, this can happen to computers too. 

SLAM detection and augmented reality experiences

I’ve worked on several projects over the past seven years that involve location-based augmented reality experiences. One of the inherent issues in developing these experiences is SLAM which stands for Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping. This process is where a device tries to simultaneously figure out where it is while constructing a map of an unknown environment.

With evolving technology such as sensors, cameras and AI, computers are much better at managing this issue. But it’s still very difficult to align one 3D scan of an area against another to find a match.

This is a big hurdle to overcome when it comes to building multiplayer augmented reality experiences. In these instances, different players need to simultaneously interact with the same objects at the same location and with other players.

Companies like Niantic have developed a Visual Positioning System within their 8th Wall platform which offers a “sophisticated AI-powered world-understanding and positioning technology for your applications, across operating systems and device types” boasting “centimetre-level accuracy for geolocation and 6 degrees of freedom”. I will be testing the platform’s limits soon as part of a new narrative-driven location based augmented reality game I am designing. I’ll share my learnings and thoughts on that process in a future article.

However, I feel Google has the upper hand in developing these types of mixed reality or augmented reality experiences as they can leverage their experience with Google Maps which has extensive mapping data (streets, terrain, satellite view, street view) as well as rich historical user generated data (business reviews, photos, videos) which provide deep psychographic insight into where people go, why they go there, and who they go with.  

Of course, this software needs to be matched with an appropriate form factor - specifically XR glasses which provide a lightweight and mobile alternative to existing mixed reality headsets like Apple Vision Pro, Quest 3 or Samsung XR. Meta’s Raybans are getting closer but still far from that every day ubiquitous experience..

Is technology affecting our natural ability to navigate … and think?

Reading this book made me reflect on what GPS and map technology might be doing to our brains. Spatial navigation and making memories are both crucial to the way we construct, store and recall events. Our memories are essentially “stories” that we remember. This is important to how we make sense of not only the world around us but the things that happen to us. And even our sense of self.  

There was a time when I would automatically enter the destination into my car’s GPS. Mainly for the handy features of forecasting traffic conditions and my arrival time. But I began to notice that my brain would go on auto pilot while I drove. I let it do the thinking for me. To the point where I realised I had driven three times to a new friend’s house but wasn’t confident I would be able to find the way without GPS.

So I started a personal experiment: I would program a journey into the GPS, check traffic conditions but then cancel the route – and navigate by myself. I have to say, it was surprisingly taxing at first. I couldn’t believe how much thought I had to put into navigating. And especially new destinations! But after a while it became fun, like a puzzle. Later, it actually felt rewarding, like I’d acquired a new skill. Even though, I’d actually just regained an existing skill.

It made me reflect on the way that some people are using AI.

It seems that some people are already outsourcing their thinking to technology. Or put another way, they are relinquishing the process of mentally navigating through situations or problems. Like wayfinding, this process is exercise for our brain. And just like any other muscle, our brain needs exercise. Repetition and practice, helps us get better, stronger and faster at performing these tasks.

I’ve written previously about the fact that I have chosen to write all my articles and newsletter without AI. This in part is because I need the mental exercise of:

- regurgitating all my thoughts and feelings on to a page (or screen)

- structuring those thoughts

- identifying themes or through points

- drawing conclusions and

- communicating ideas and editing my writing in (hopefully) a succinct and clear way.

Writing, like any other creative process, is a journey. From the outset, you may have little idea where you’re going, how you’re going to get there or how long it will take. But just like wandering through a new city, that journey may unlock new pathways and surprises. You need patience but you also need to take your time and notice things: people, objects, clothing, customs, things that are absent, the flow of things around you.

We often use technology to save time and get to a destination faster.

But what is time for? And what if we don’t know where we want to go?

We should be mindful of when we ask for technology’s help - what are our real goals, is technology going to help us acheive them and what’s the real cost of not doing it ourselves?