I'm going alphabetically store to store in areas I'm unfamiliar with while
shopping for Halloween party essentials that I had never bought before.

Since I haven't learned how to nav in an efficient one-by-one loop yet, I
pick one store to visit, and then in the parking lot of that one store when
I'm done with that store, I pick the next store on my alphabetical list.

Invariably (especially when in a large parking lot nowhere near a road) the
nav apps say "head northwest" or "head south" (or whatever) but I don't know
which direction is that. (Yes, it corrects easily, but why not head right?)

Do you use a compass for when the nav apps tell you to head in a direction?
Which ones are good?

On 10/1/2021 8:48 AM, Your Name wrote:
>
> Invariably (especially when in a large parking lot nowhere near a road) the
> nav apps say "head northwest" or "head south" (or whatever) but I don't
> know
> which direction is that. (Yes, it corrects easily, but why not head right?)
>

In navigation mode, Google Maps displays a small compass (double-headed
arrow with red end pointing North) between the volume & magnify icons.
And if you click on the compass icon, it changes modes so that the map
becomes oriented with North at the top.

Regards,

-David

On 10/1/2021 8:59 AM, I wrote:

>
> In navigation mode, Google Maps displays a small compass (double-headed
> arrow with red end pointing North) between the volume & magnify icons.

Looks like they've eliminated the functional compass from nav; it seems
to be a fixed icon now that just triggers map mode (view)

-David

In comp.mobile.android, on Sat, 2 Oct 2021 04:48:06 +1300, Your Name
<YourName@YourISP.com> wrote:

>I'm going alphabetically store to store in areas I'm unfamiliar with while
>shopping for Halloween party essentials that I had never bought before.
>
>Since I haven't learned how to nav in an efficient one-by-one loop yet, I
>pick one store to visit, and then in the parking lot of that one store when
>I'm done with that store, I pick the next store on my alphabetical list.
>
>Invariably (especially when in a large parking lot nowhere near a road) the
>nav apps say "head northwest" or "head south" (or whatever) but I don't know
>which direction is that. (Yes, it corrects easily, but why not head right?)
>
>Do you use a compass for when the nav apps tell you to head in a direction?
>Which ones are good?

I haven't had this problem but my rearview mirror has a compass.

I also carry a regular 1.7" compass but that's mostly for when I'm out
of the car hiking. The car's magnetic field makes it hard to use a
regular compass in the car.

You can also use the shadows of posts and poles, or even wider things
like trucks and building corners, as sundials to see what direction
you're going. Even at noon there is a shadow except on cloudy days or
at night. The shadow direction will move 180 degrees in 12 hours or so
depending on the season, so that's 15^ per hour. So when it's 3PM, or
half-way to sundown, the shadow points NE, or halfway to east, or 1:30
on a clock if north in 12 (and you know what a round clock looks like)
, or half-way to east. So just take the number of hours before or
after noon, divide by two and that will be the the number of hours to
the west of north, or east of north respectively if you imagine that
north is 12.

Since you don't know which is north, look at it the other way. If it's
3PM the shadow will point to 1:30 on the clock and north is 45 degrees
counter clockwise.

And in the summer what's called 1PM is really noon.

Believe me, it gets easier after a few times.

When I didn't have a car compass, I'd do this while the car was moving,
to see what direction I was going. I'd have to hunt for poles. It
should be easier in a parking lot with those lighting poles. It 's
confusing at first but that can go away.

Doesn't going alphabetically make you waste a lot of distance and time
backtracking.

I would set up my path from the PC where it's easy, self-evident, how to
add addtional steps to a route (click on + add destination), then you
can send your route to your phone by text or email or both. (Send
directions to your phone.)