These mental maps of Detroit come from Jeffrey Gordon of the Detroit Geographic Expedition Institute (DGEI) and build on the “hand map” example from Detroit.

“A full time member, the cutting edge of Expedition, faces three tasks. First he must get “unlost.” We mildly haze those who are spatially illiterate and it is a condition that must be ruthlessly corrected. We simply can not take the time to explain every location that comes up in conversation. We have two potential instructors in the “Get Found” course.

[…] several different schemes can be used one after another.”

The hand map is the first example followed by these other mental maps as an important method to “unlost” in Detroit.

Do you use a different mental map to know your way around Detroit?