London and Tokyo taxi drivers are the apex… the map apex… the mapex (pronounced MAY-pex)?
“Take me to that hotel that’s in front of a pub, I think it’s called The Fox & Hounds… I think it’s between a park and a Tube station”, and the crazy bastard could figure out exactly where you meant, even though there are multiple pubs named The Fox & Hounds in London.
London and Tokyo taxi drivers are the apex… the map apex… the mapex (pronounced MAY-pex)?
“Take me to that hotel that’s in front of a pub, I think it’s called The Fox & Hounds… I think it’s between a park and a Tube station”, and the crazy bastard could figure out exactly where you meant, even though there are multiple pubs named The Fox & Hounds in London.
Take me from where I am to where I’m not
The taxi driver knows where he is at all times. He knows this because he knows where he isn’t.
Wherever you go, there you are.
For those that are interested, I present the studies:
London taxi drivers: A review of neurocognitive studies and an exploration of how they build their cognitive map of London
Navigation-related structural change in the hippocampi of taxi drivers
Everyday taxi drivers: Do better navigators have larger hippocampi?