Knowing - Building and Using Cognitive Maps

When I lived in Washington, DC for a few years, I used cognitive maps to navigate around my new city.  The framework of my map was based on the city’s street grid system, where north-south streets are numbered and east-west streets are alphabetized.  Thus, even though I was new to the city, when someone said they were at 19^th & K or 31^st & M, I was able to refer to the grid in my head and could deduce a pretty accurate estimate of where in the city they were geographically.  Of course, the radial avenues could always throw you off a bit, but with time your mental map was able to account for those as well.   Another major piece of my cognitive map were the monuments and institutions, especially the White House, Washington Monument, Capital, and Mall that acted as points of reference. 

Additionally, even if I hadn’t been to an exact location in the city before, I might have an idea if the area were a residential neighborhood or commercial district, and my knowledge of the geographic location would be supplemented with representational imagery of what the area probably looked like.  The North-West area of the city would have stately townhomes, whereas the further east you went the residential housing became more simple working class housing.  Thus, when meeting someone at 19^th & K, even if I had never been there before, my mental map would allow me to reasonably predict what the street might look like, how safe it might be, and give me some options on how to get there.  My mental map would include the Metro system’s subway and even bus routes when contemplating navigation choices.  My mental model went beyond my experiences to create a multifaceted tool for navigation.  The longer I lived in the city, the more my map expanded and improved through repeated exposures to different areas.  I was able to create more representations that enriched my mental network through experience.  However, this map would also have it’s limitations.

When my parents would come to visit they would often rent a car because they were used to driving.  I however did not own a car in the city and got around by walking and taking public transportation.  This became a problem because while I knew my way around the city on foot, my mental maps did not include traffic patterns or controls because I hadn’t experienced them.  Therefore, I was not aware of which roads were one-way and which had turning limitations and I struggled to direct my parents to drive in my own neighborhood.  My cognitive map had simply not had to consider vehicular traffic controls before because as pedestrian, there are no one-way streets or limits on turning.  My mental map only included my experience as a pedestrian and public transit user, and there were definite gaps in my ability to navigate a vehicle through the area.  However, with each wrong turn we had to take, I was able to mentally map where we were and recalculate how we might get back onto our route at the next intersection.  It was an imperfect map, but it was still functional and I was able to strategize several options for arriving at our destination.  It is safe to say that my cognitive map had greatly expanded after the trip and now contained new information and representations gleaned from my experiences driving.  Thus, a cognitive map is always a work in progress, never complete and constantly being refined.