As someone who has a fairly poor sense of direction, and is also not a Myers-Briggs "Senser" (as in, for example, ISTJ), I am prone to forget where I parked, if I am not careful. I have friends, OTOH, who have never forgotten where they parked (at least not since college, while sober).
The same factors seem to be at work in finding one's way. These friends go somewhere once, as passenger, and they know they way. Heck, they probalby will even try a shortcut. Not me; I need to look at a map and work hard to commit it to memory.
I have found an analogy to explain this deficiency, to my directionally-gifted friends. I happen to be a very good speller, and I have noticed an inverse correlation between being a strong speller and a strong Senser. I'm not saying these friends are terrible spellers, but I think they would mostly agree, they are mediocre at best.
For me, it is very difficult to imagine what it would be like to be a poor speller. I somehow, almost magically, know how to spell almost every word I know. And it has always been that way. Spelling tests were a cakewalk requiring no real study--at most, I might note a word I didn't know on the list, would absorb its spelling, and be ready to spell it as if I had known it for years. Furthermore, I know what I don't know--for the occasional word whose spelling I am shaky about, I am fully, reflexively aware of my lack of knowledge.
I am attempting to make this comparison with all possible modesty. The key point is that I can't possibly tell you why I am a good speller, it comes effortlessly. And likewise, I think, for my friends and there sense of direction.
6:37:53 PM 
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