The trick is zooming out to get an overview. In old days we looked at a map and had and overview- I'll go north a bit and then turn west at a junction or landmark. Now it's all zoomed in- you go straight for 3 miles and turn right with no idea where you are relative to other things.

Can someone please explain what this is saying? What is an A-Z?

After several trips, I start remembering the route. I still use navigation for alternate routes because of unpredictable traffic, but if I drive a route using navigation enough times, I eventually memorize it.

Also, satnav is deterministic, it will get you to your destination accurately. AI is non-deterministic, it will guess the best way to your destination.

After that many times you don't remember?

I think this is a neurodiversity thing. Different people find different things challenging, and I've noticed within my circle of friends that navigational ability varies wildly. I would find it unlikely that I'd have trouble finding somewhere I went using satnav once, but I could also see someone else using it several times without it teaching them the route.

I imagine that in the same way some people will use AI and have it be a learning experience, while for others it will be a crutch.

It might be more of a problem for people who grow up with it though; less of them may find the need to develop the underlying skills.

I use sat nav to places I know how to get to all the time because google/apple know what roads are closed or have an accident, and I don't.

Stop depending on sat nav for directions and just use it for traffic updates. As you drive look for interesting things to remember (an old brick building, a new playground, a fuel station,etc). Commit those to memory.

Did these maps also show live traffic predictions?

Personal skill issue. Nothing to do with ai

Is Satnav an Aussie term? I only know it from Bluey.

And I use GPS (what we Americans call it, even though that's technically incorrect) for routes I'm well familiar with, mostly because of either traffic awareness or finding a new scenic route.

What it doesn't know is the driving habits of others.

I don't usually drive into work anymore, but my job is in Cambridge MA. For those not familiar with the area, there are two ways in from points south on the highways....tunnel, or pike.

My decision of which way to go comes down to how much traffic I expect at the exit.

If I go Pike, I have to deal with a shitty lane shift at the offramp that nobody executes properly and I always end up nearly getting fender-checked every time.

If I go tunnel, it's like...three consecutive exits that have to be taken. Like you get off the exit, then a sub-exit, then another sub-exit. Between exits one and two you have to get over a lane...except that lane is always backed up past where the first exit merges with it. So you have to be an asshole and speed past all of them and stop somewhere in the middle when you see a good enough gap...or you have to stop at the exit and get in the middle of the line. Either way you have to be a huge asshole to get where you need to go.

I always check the route first because sat navs are stupid. So yeah, I remember the route after a while.

I used to get stressed out a lot trying to follow directions. Sometimes it was bad directions. Sometimes its just being unfamiliar to the area.

I don't get lost anymore and I don't stress about navigation anymore. I can develop mental maps faster and learn routes quickly. I can avoid traffic jams and I'm never late.

If you take the same route five times and you don't learn it, it's because you're not paying attention or have difficulty with that. Satnav isn't AI, it's a useful tool- a map in real time.

I only use satnav in my local area so I can avoid traffic problems. Otherwise I'm still able to navigate without it

I think there's quite a big difference between operating the car yourself based on GPS instructions and letting an LLM write your code, if that's what you mean. The equivalent would be asking the model only what to do, and then coding yourself based on its instructions.

I use GPS to find different routes, or help me work around problems.

If anything it's helped me understand an area better.

I've got satnav on constantly, mainly because my speedo is in km/h and I'm currently in the UK.

It's handy for traffic updates because people seem to like crashing so often these days

What is an A-Z? I gather you mean some sort of map, but I don't know the reference.

I enjoy the adventure of trying to guess it right. Like if I haven't been somewhere in years, I'll try without checking a map and wait for my brain to say 'hey this left turn looks really familiar!'

On the times I do get lost I'm usually pretty close to the destination. It's fun

Man pay better attention to the road while you’re driving. After I drive a route once I can usually get back there months later without nav.

Despite growing up without gps and being fully capable of driving without it, I have developed the same dependency as the OP.

However that lack of knowing where I'm going has been replaced with more attention to the cars around me rather than focusing on signs and future turns.

I have never used GPS with a voice, I just want a simple map to look at when I can, and after two three times, I know the route myself and don't need the GPS

Do you not remember the exits and landmarks you pass by?

Kinda seems like a you problem.

Not to say generative AI isn't trash, just don't slander my GNSS units like that.

I don't use satnav. I get a map route and use it as general guide of where to go. I use llms much but honestly mostly to evaluate their capabilities to see if they will start being useful to use. Of course I don't really use smartphones either. From what people are saying I kinda wonder if there are folks on llms all the time on their phone.

I tend to use GPS over and over for unfamiliar routes because usually I don't want to waste time getting lost. Also GPS let's me devote more brain power to other things, I don't multitask that well.

I used to use maps and I have a good sense of direction, so I'm sure I could do it again if needed.

GPS and AI basically have nothing in common with how they were developed. Navigation has been a difficult problem since the dawn of intelligent man. Someone came up with a crazy idea of providing timing data from satellites, and everyone gradually pitched in to make the obviously useful idea less crazy. AI is not obviously useful, many intelligent people will argue it's useless, or less than useless. Despite this, the technology keeps pushing forward, with no particular objective in sight. We gradually find new use cases, and start digging into those, but no one actually knows what AI will actually be useful for in the long run.