Does anyone know if someone has come up with a system for recalling maps? I’m interested in the feats of Kim Peek and the like. You can give them a town and they can give you the major roads going in and out, directions etc. (Obviously, for us we’d be using a system and would have to review the data, we’re none of us savants)
I’ve given this some thought over the last couple of years and never come up with a workable system, so would love to hear from someone who has. You can get some way by dividing a town up into zones with a colour or image for each zone, and by turning things into lists where possible (e.g. picking a major road, and memorising the list of intersecting junctions).
I’d also really like to be able to memorise wilderness maps, however, which aren’t so orderly!
That’s similar to what I’ve been doing so far. Using links to memorize the intersections for a major road. Also, if I want more detail I’ll also convert details of the street into Loci. That way I know the details, and can use them to memorize other things. So essentially I’ve been using linking for macro maps (entire grids) and converting into loci for micro maps (specific buildings on each street)
Probably the eway to memorise a map and it’s intersecting streets is to walk through it, and attach the name of street as images in your mental view of that place. That way, you’re using Loci for the streets, and the actual town as the “palace”, if you will.
That’s exactly my system now, ys. I’m just trying to work out a way to view the map in it’s entirety in my head, for GPS like effects
Could you link to a sample map at the scale you want to memorize it at?
A wilderness map would be an interesting exercise too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDoJUqK2aDI This would be a cool effect to pull off. Minus the theatricality and special effects of television, of course
I asked Ron White this exact question - here is the exchange:
[me] K … here is one that I’m struggling with. I’m a serviceman who goes into a lot of new subdivisions that are not found on Google or in any mapbooks. There can be a mess of new streets winding around and intersecting. I have no problem converting the street names into images - I just haven’t figured out a way of storing them in some semblance of order so that I can actually ‘see’ where they physically are. I tried storing them in sections like they are found in mapbooks which helps, but not a perfect solution.
[Ron] todd, that is a tough one. Maybe select an outstanding object on each one of these new streets. Like a large tree, school, police department, funny looking mailbox, unique car that’s always there, large porch on a certain house, big bushes, etc
Then take the street name and turn it into an image and imagine it interacting with the object
[Ron] another way is to select 8-10 rooms that you know very well (in your house, office, etc) and # 5-10 pieces of furniture in each. Have each room represent a new subdivision and then take the street names and turn them into images and see them in that room. then when you want to recall the names of streets in that subdivision your mind jumps to that room in your house
[Ron] those are my 2 suggestions and actually doing both methods might not hurt
Pretty basic stuff - but I always find my self coming back to the basics.
I’ve experimented making a grid on the map and then turning the shape that the streets make inside each grid into an image. So A1 might look like a sunset on the edge of the earth … A2 a horseshoe growing on powerlines, etc. The images are easy, but putting them all together can be tricky. I did not get as far as figuring out how to put the street names into the images, but that would be next. Lost interest … Google maps is just toooo easy. lol.
I also considering making an imaginary palace with the rooms in the general shape of the landscape that I am trying to remember. Then placing furniture or any other items in a way within the room to ‘map’ out the streets in that section. Did not actually try this one though.