The Experiment: We have outsourced our spatial awareness to satellites. if Google Maps is down, we are paralyzed. Today, I deleted the Maps app. I have to go to a meeting at a cafe in an area I don't know well (about 12km away). Tools Allowed: Asking strangers. Reading signboards. Intuition.
> THE JOURNEY BEGINS
I started driving. The first 2km were easy (memory). Then, I hit the first unknown junction.
> INTERACTION 1: THE PAAN SHOP UNCLE
I pulled over. A Paan shop is the traditional Indian GPS.
Accuracy: 50%. There was no Banyan tree. There was a Cell Tower disguised as a tree.
> THE WRONG TURN
I took the "Right after the temple." It was a dead end. I ended up in a residential colony.
Without the Blue Line on the screen comforting me ("You are on the fastest route"), I felt exposed.
"Brother, use Google Maps na? Why you asking me?"
He judged me. He thought I was crazy or had no data.
> THE LANDMARK PROBLEM
Humans navigate by Landmarks ("The Red Building"). Maps navigate by Street Names ("Turn onto MG Road").
I realized I don't know street names. I only know "The place near the Domino's."
> THE ARRIVAL (AND THE FEELING)
I arrived 45 minutes late. But the feeling was different.
When you follow a GPS, you arrive like a zombie. You don't remember the route. When you navigate manually, you build a mental map. I know exactly where that temple is now. I will never forget it.
I was engaged with the city, not floating through it.
> CONCLUSION
GPS makes us efficient but blind. Navigation is a skill we are deleting.
Turn it off once in a while. Get lost. You see parts of the city you otherwise ignore because the Blue Line didn't go there.