I'm in a new city for a bit, and have been using mapping software extensively to get around. As in - strap my phone to a bike, and glance at it all the time as I'm biking around. Honestly it works absolutely great.
However, my directional sense has shriveled to the point that it's non-existent. I lent my phone to someone last night, who was making a trip to completely new territory. And then tried to make my way to a hotel (which I'd done at least 5 times, with the phone). It was about 5 minutes away.
I had to literally stop THREE people in the street and ask directions. And every single one of them brought up their phone and popped up directions, pointed me in a direction, and off I went...and then got muddled again.
On the plus side, everyone was friendly and happy to give instructions. It's a good way to talk to people a bit.
On the negative side...wow, what a huge degradation of my directional abilities! I used to be VERY good at this. I remember nagivating once in Turkey (in a car) with a really cruddy tourist map, and a compass, and everything worked out great.
I really need to ditch the digital maps more often!
How about you all?