Living in a huge metropolis like São Paulo (aprox. 20 million people), pincushioned by buildings as it is, I developed a simple technique to navigate. When I'm lost, I follow the buildings numbers. Here in Brazil, address numbers indicate the approximate distance to the end of street closest to the city center, this will ussually lead to a larger, busier street wich with luck will lead to an avenue that will take to another until I'm somewhere familiar.

Works most of the time, except for a friend of mine, he went a neighbouring town. The greater São Paulo is made of several towns that merged in a single urban sprawl, but each one has it's own building numbers pointing to their respective centers. Well, my friend was lost in Guarulhos and decided to follow the numbers bacwards. He got to the center... of Guarulhos. When he finally admited defeat and asked for direction he realized he was in another municipality and he should be following the street signs saying "São Paulo"!

But then, this friend is the kind of guy who gets lost even with a GPS. Following him anywhere just to realize he took a path twice as long as necessary always makes want to punch him.

I look around until I see mountains. Then I turn 45° to the right and I know I'm facing north. That's the advantage of living in Denver.

When I'm somewhere other than the foothills of the Rocky Mountains I'm lost, but that was true before I started using my smart phone for navigation.