Navigating with Trees in Cities
London plane trees are tall, broad-canopied trees with mottled bark that flakes away in patches of cream, grey, and olive. This gives their bark a…
Tag: urban navigation
Navigating Marrakesh
I’m recently back from a natural navigation research trip to Marrakesh in Morocco. Proper deep-end urban navigation challenges in the souks! Photos and videos of…
Start Walking North-West… Finish Facing?
In this video of a stroll through the town of St Ives in Cornwall we are walking north-west at the start. See if you keep…
Which Direction is the Train Heading?
The video above was filmed from a train in England. Watch it a couple of times and see if you can work out which direction…
Edinburgh Clues & Signs
I was recently in Edinburgh to give a talk to celebrate the Royal Institute of Navigation‘s 75th Anniversary. I’ve just added my favourite clues, signs and…
Nature’s Clues & Signs 3 – Soho Walkabout
A couple of weeks ago I was staying in central London for a week, mainly to record the audiobook version of my latest book, The…
Feedback from Michigan
My thanks to Tim Webb for reading my books and writing with some local feedback: I thought you may enjoy this photo. Contrails in west…
Desire Paths
Footpaths are, to state the obvious, established routes for walkers between two points. But paths are born. First one, then two, then more people decide…
The Many Faces of Chichester Cross
Chichester Cross is a market cross – the building that symbolises the heart of the market square in my nearest town of Chichester, West Sussex.…
Going with the Flow – Navigating Paris with help from the Seine
I have just received a fascinating email from Alban Cambe, a natural navigation instructor and writer in France, I learned a new trick to navigate…
How to Find Direction Using Tree Bark
The wind, rain and sun do not affect all sides of trees equally. This creates patterns on the trees’ bark that we can use to…
Architectural Navigation Clues
In rural and urban areas, buildings can help us to find our way. Take a look at the picture above of a building at the…
Urban Natural Navigation
The following article was written by Tristan Gooley in October 2011 for the BBC News Online magazine. It caused quite a stir and comments were switched…
The Street Dining Compass
We choose cafes, bars and restaurants in the path of the sun, eg. south-facing. Very little is random out there.
Getting from A to B in a City
There are a couple of interesting articles in the latest issue of The Economist. One called, Getting on the Map, is mainly about crowd-sourced mapping…
How to Cross a Park Like an Explorer
I wrote an article for the Independent newspaper this week on ‘How to Cross a City Park Like an Explorer’. It gives a taste of…
Lateral Thinking
The other day a friend explained to me that they had a lovely neighbour, a dear old lady who always really entered into the spirit…
Solar-Heated Water Tanks
If anything depends on the sun to work effectively, then it can be used to find direction. Sundials and solar panels are two favourites, but…
How to use TV Aerials as a Compass
I have written in many places about how TV satellite dishes can be used to help find direction, in the UK they normally point close…
Urban Natural Navigation
A couple of days ago I got off the train in London Victoria station at about 6.40pm. I knew the place I needed to get…
Pillar to Post
It has been quite a restless few days. Last Saturday I spent the morning in London as a guest on BBC Radio 4’s Excess Baggage.…