How aphantasics navigate

The varied workarounds aphants describe for getting from A to B without a picture of the route in their head.

What people actually say

Mental maps that aren't visual

A recurring claim: aphants do build "maps," but the map is spatial sense, not imagery — and several push back on the idea that visualisation is required at all.

"I have mental maps. But they're not visual ones. Or sometimes I just use a list of turns, like your friend." 2021 · t1_gpz21yh ↗

"Mental maps are also not visualisation. It is closer to spatial sense than to visualisation." 2024 · t1_lzuk2rm ↗

"I am an aphant and I also build a map in my head. I can’t see it, but I can ‘feel’ it" 2025 · t1_mdg8i1j ↗

"I can (and do) construct mental maps without relying on vision or visualisation, and blind people do it all the time." 2019 · t1_f8t7tkd ↗

Landmarks and lists of turns

When asked how directions actually work in their heads, many describe a propositional sequence — turn-by-turn instructions hung on landmarks rather than a recalled image of the route.

"Same way anyone else communicates directions usually. Landmarks." 2023 · t1_j4jsd8h ↗

"I navigate based on specific routes. From there, I remember the route by specific landmarks." 2023 · t1_jlh10gw ↗

"I navigate by left and right and a distance. Directions like ‘go north’ mean nothing to me. Two turns in an unfamiliar location and I’m completely lost (since I can’t picture where I’ve been)." 2018 · t1_ea8epe1 ↗

"I'm only able to get around by locating landmarks that I'm familiar with and then memorizing routes to them." 2020 · t1_fewitby ↗

Repetition, GPS dependence, and getting lost

A different cluster reports the strategy is just brute repetition — the route sticks after enough trips, but a closed road or new mode of transport can break it. Several explicitly link their direction problems to the inability to picture.

"I get lost ridiculously easily, and I have to follow the exact same familiar routes to avoid getting lost in daily life." 2018 · t1_e42y322 ↗

"Total aphant and absolutely terrible sense of direction here. I get lost easily anywhere even in my hometown." 2021 · t1_h7ziw8v ↗

"Before we had Google maps I learned to drive without it. I knew how to get anywhere. Once I started relying on maps my brain stopped memorizing the routes and I'm lost without it." 2022 · t1_i6olahn ↗

"I just know the route"

A fourth strand frames navigation as procedural knowledge — the route is a thing you do, not a thing you see, more like motor memory than recall.

"When I'm driving, I neither visualize it or vocalize it in my head. I couldn't tell you what the route looks like but I know how to do it in the same way you know the best way to put all your cloths on without having to visualize it." 2024 · t1_l6i2n7b ↗

"I do think in words, but not exclusively and certainly not to give myself directions to the supermarket, I just walk there because I know the route." 2024 · t1_l6gvy9w ↗

"I'm not even sure this is linked but I only need directions to somewhere once, after that I just know which way to go. Interestingly I'm rubbish at giving directions." 2025 · t1_mo1m2a7 ↗

Across the years

The four strategies — non-visual mental map, landmark-plus-list, repetition with GPS as crutch, and pure procedural "I just know" — all show up across the full 2018–2025 window with no obvious shift. 2018 already contains both the "great sense of direction without imagery" and the "eternally lost" reports, and 2025 still does. The volume distribution (peaking at 6 chunks in 2018 and 5 each in 2020 and 2025) reflects sustained interest in the topic rather than a change in what people say. If anything has shifted, it's contextual: GPS is increasingly named as the thing that masks or compensates for the difficulty.

Volume

Cross-references

• Parent theme: Spatial navigation and wayfinding