“Google Map-style Thinking” — How placing a “Google Map of thoughts” in my head made life a little smoother [Column] The Science of Thought (No. 62)

A small map inside your head.

The details, the big picture, the emotions, and the logic—.
When you unfold your thoughts like a map, the scenery of life begins to look a little kinder.

🌈 “Google Map-style Thinking” The Science of Thought: No. 62

—How placing a “Google Map of thoughts” in my head made life a little smoother

🔍 3 Key Points of this Column

• 1️⃣ 🧭 Learn a way of thinking to find your “current location” and “destination” in your head.

• 2️⃣ 🔎 Acquire the ability to flexibly switch your thinking by zooming in and out.

• 3️⃣🚶‍♂️ Gain a perspective that utilizes detours and confusion as a “path of learning.”

🏁 Introduction | Are you making full use of Google Maps?

🗺️ Are you really making full use of Google Maps?
Even if you thought, “Of course!”, please think about it for a moment.

• Do you not only look at the map, but also search for routes with navigation?

• Do you freely switch perspectives by zooming in and out?

• Do you explore the city as if walking through it using satellite photos and Street View?

• Do you drop a pin on your current location and start your journey from there?

🌟 Actually, I love Google Maps.
I often look around places I'm going to visit or cities I've never been to
using maps and Street View.
It's fun to imagine what the atmosphere is like, as if walking on the map.

Sometimes, there are areas where the roads don't connect.
At those times, I walk as far as I can, stop there, and look up at the sky.
—Playing “city walk” through Google Maps is a small pleasure of mine.

🚶‍♀️ Suddenly, I thought of this.
“What if I could look over my own thoughts like a Google Map?”

• What if I could drop a “pin” in my head to show my current location?

• What if I could choose a “route” to the future I want to go to?

• What if a navigation system helped you when you were lost without realizing it?

🌐 This column was born from that very idea.
Titled—
“Google Map-Style Thinking”.

Together, let's embark on a journey to
open up your “map of thoughts” while zooming in on ideas, switching layers, and taking detours.
your “map of thoughts”.

It's okay.
It's fine to get lost or stop for a while.
After all, even Google Maps will guide you through a detour✨

Now, are you ready?
🧭 Set your own personal navigator in your head, and let's set off!

🧠 Chapter 0 | The changes Google Maps brought to the world and its design philosophy

🗺️ If Google Maps didn't exist...
How would you walk through an unfamiliar city right now?

A paper map? Or would you ask someone on the street?
Try to imagine it for a moment.

🌟
We have become more accustomed to aworld with Google Mapsthan we realize.
But in fact, it has even changed ourstyle of thinking and acting.

📚 1. The era without Google Maps vs. the era with it

About 20 years ago, I used to drive around Kyushu for work, visiting high schools and providing guidance for further education🚗
My partner back then was this prefectural Mapple.

For those of a certain age, this brings back memories, doesn't it?
It's a paper map book🗺️

At the time, I had collected eight volumes: Nagasaki, Saga, Fukuoka, Oita, Kumamoto, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, and Yamaguchi prefectures🗾

Before a business trip, I would check the “destination,” “route,” and “landmarks” in advance,
calculate the travel time based on experience and approximate distance... and so on🧭

Thinking about it now, it was quite a lot of effort.

I asked a subordinate if they knew what a Mapple was,
and they asked back, “Huh, an Apple?🍎”

Now, we live in a society where we don't even need car navigation systems, as we can search for maps on our smartphones📱

The world has become something I couldn't have imagined back then🙀

So, let's first compare the “era without” and the “era with” Google Maps!

• 🔍 [Information Access]
  Era without: Relied on books or word of mouth to look things up
  Era with: Instant search and navigation on the spot

• 🧭【Spatial Cognition】
  　Era without it: Walked relying on one's own senses and memory
  　Era with it: Head to the destination while following navigation

• 🎲【Contingency】
  　Era without it: Getting lost created chance encounters
  　Era with it: Follow the shortest route, reducing detours

• 🤝【Human Relationships】
  　Era without it: Interacted with people while asking for directions
  　Era with it: Completed on a smartphone, communication opportunities decreased

• 🏡【Lifestyle】
  　Era without it: Planned in advance and acted cautiously
  　Era with it: A style of moving flexibly and deciding on the spot

🧠 2. What is the design philosophy embedded in Google Map?

Google Map is not just a map app.
Behind it, such a deep “philosophy” flows👇

• 📍【Current Location Principle】
  　Everything starts from “here and now.”

• 🚶‍♂️【Free Route Principle】
  　There isn't just one way to go. You can choose the route that suits you.

• 🦅【Principle of Alternating Between Overview and Detail】
  　The freedom to look over the whole city and zoom in on details.

• 🔄【Real-time Response Principle】
  　Routes and information are updated according to the situation.

• 🎯【User-Driven Principle】
  　You are the one who chooses. The map just navigates.

✨ 3. Summary | A “Map of Thoughts” can also be just as flexible

Just as a map connects a “current location” to a “destination,”
our thoughts also,

• Where am I now?

• Where do I want to go?

• Which path should I choose?

I think we have entered an era where we canflexibly designthese things.

🌐 That is precisely why
a
flexible thinking techniquelike “having a Google Map in your head” will become increasingly important from now on.

🔍 Chapter 1 | Zooming Thinking: Freely switching between details and the whole

Now that we have confirmed Google Map,
it is finally time for the main topic of this column.

🗺️ When you're using Google Maps, don't you do things like this?

• Zoom out because you want to see the whole city

• Zoom in because you want to check a narrow alleyway

• Switch the magnification level repeatedly as needed

👀 This zoom operation can actually be applied exactly to your “thinking”!

🧠 1. What is zooming in thought?

• 🔎 [Zoom In]
  Focus on fine details and specific tasks
  → Become stronger at noticing small differences, details, and local issues

• 🦅 [Zoom Out]
  Look at the big picture and the overall flow
  → Become able to notice strategies, directions, and background or environmental changes

🎯 The ability to freely switch between an insect's eye (micro) and a bird's eye (macro) view.
This is the key to living lightly through a complex era.

🚥 2. What happens when your zoom balance is off...?

• 🐜 [Excessive Zoom In]
  Getting so absorbed in the task right in front of you that you lose sight of the goal

• 🦅 [Excessive Zoom Out]
  Only talking about dreams and visions without being able to reach reality

💡 Zooming in thought is just like focusing a camera.
Consciously adjusting “which zoom is optimal right now?” is important!

📍 3. Practical tips | A few tricks for switching zoom

• 🎯 If a problem looks complex, first zoom out and try to get a bird's-eye view of the “big picture”

• 🛠️ If you feel overwhelmed by the whole thing, zoom in and focus on the “one step you can take”

• 📅 Create a 5-minute “zoom time” every week to practice switching your mind

• 📖 Make it a habit to ask yourself, “Am I only looking at this from one perspective?”

🌈 4. The benefits of zoom thinking

• 📌 [Problem solving becomes faster]
  Because you can move your perspective freely, it's easier to notice the essence!

• 🔥【Clarify your next step in action】
  Don't stop at abstract theory; see your concrete next action!

• 🧩【Effective for human relationships too】
  Understand both the other person's perspective (zoom in) and the overall situation (zoom out)!

✨ 5. Summary | Let's attach a zoom wheel to your thinking!

📸 If a camera didn't have a zoom function,
you wouldn't be able to get closer to or further away from the scenery you want to see, would you?

Thinking is the same.

🧠 Being able to freely switch between details and the big picture.
That is the secret to creating flexible and vibrant thinking.

Just like a mouse scroll wheel,
why not attach a flexible zoom wheel to your thinking?🖱️

🚶‍♂️ Now, let's take it a step further—
let's move on to the thinking technique of switching 'layers' on the map!

🗺️ Chapter 2 | Thinking by Switching Layers: Facts, Emotions, and Values

🗺️ When you look at Google Maps,
you can switch to 'Satellite,' 'Terrain,' or 'Traffic' with a single button, right?

Now there are even layers like 'Bicycling,' 'Wildfires,' and 'Air Quality'!
Features to 'Measure' and check 'Travel Time' have also been implemented.

🌟 Actually, our thinking also has such “layers”.

🧠 What are thinking layers?

• 🧱【Fact Layer】
  A mode for viewing data, situations, and objective facts

• ❤️【Emotion Layer】
  A mode for viewing movements of the heart, such as likes, dislikes, joy, and regret

• 🌈【Values Layer】
  A mode for viewing beliefs and judgment criteria like 'this is how it should be' or 'what I want to cherish'

👀 It is fascinating how, depending on which layer you view from,
the same event can feel like it has a completely different meaning.

🎭 For example, like this...

• 🚦 When you are kept waiting by a friend for an appointment

  • 【Fact Layer】→ 'They were late for the agreed time'

  • 【Emotion Layer】→ 'I feel like I'm not being valued'

  • 【Values Layer】→ 'Keeping time is proof of trust'

😮 Depending on the layer, your feelings, reactions, and responses will all change.

🛠️ Practical Tips | Tips for Switching Layers

• 🔍 When you feel fuzzy, first try to be conscious of "which layer am I looking at right now?"

• 🎯 When organizing problems, zoom in to the "fact layer" once

• 💬 When a conversation is misaligned, confirm with the other person "which layer are we talking on?"

• 🌈 For problems involving values, focus on "respecting differences" rather than "searching for the correct answer"

🌈 Good things that layer thinking brings

• 🧩 [Fewer misunderstandings]
  If you notice a layer mismatch, you can prevent emotional conflict!

• 🔥 [Smoother problem solving]
  If you talk based on facts, you can organize things calmly!

• 🌱 [Deepens self-understanding]
  You can re-examine "what do I value?"

✨ Summary | Add a layer-switching button to your thinking!

When you switch to "satellite view" on Google Map,
you can see the greenery of the town and the flow of the river.

🗺️ Thinking is the same.
Just by changing the layer,
the scenery you seechanges completely.

🌟 Now, next—
let's continue the journey tothinking that places a pinon your current location!

📍 Chapter 3 | Thinking that places a pin on your current location: Visualizing the here and now

🗺️ When you open Google Map,
the first thing you see is the blue pin of yourcurrent locationright?

🚶‍♂️ To draw a route,
you need to know not just the destination,but "where you are now".

This is exactly the same in thinking and in life!

🧠 1. What happens if you lose track of your current location?

• 🌪️ You feel vaguely anxious

• 🌀 You lose track of the direction you should be heading

• 🧳 Becoming easily swayed by others' opinions and trends

📍 "Being in a state of not knowing where you are" is
exactly like that feeling of anxiety when you lose your current location on a map app.

🔎 2. So, what is the "current location" of your thoughts?

• 💬 [Emotions]
  What you are feeling right now (confusion, excitement, anxiety, hope)

• 🧠 [Thoughts]
  What you are thinking about right now (immediate tasks, worries, goals)

• 🌈 [Position/Situation]
  What kind of environment you are in right now (work, home, health, relationships)

✨ It's the image of visualizing these three layers with pins!

🛠️ 3. Practical Tips | 3 Steps to Pin Your Current Location

• 📖 1. Try putting into words "what you are feeling most strongly right now"

• 📍 2. Make a note of "the tasks or interests you are currently holding"

• 🗺️ 3. Try objectively writing down "the position/environment you are currently in"

🖊️ With just this,
your thought navigation might automatically start rerouting!

🌈 4. The benefits of pin-drop thinking

• 🚀 [Faster recovery when lost]
  Once you grasp your current location, your next move becomes easier to see!

• 🎯 [Goal setting becomes more stable]
  You can understand the distance from "now," not just your dreams!

• 🧘‍♂️ [Peace of mind]
  Being able to reconfirm that "I am properly here" brings a strange sense of relief!

✨ 5. Summary | First, let's drop a pin on "here and now"!

🏙️ No matter how wonderful a destination you set,
if you don't know your current location, the navigation won't work.

For both thoughts and life, it all starts by dropping a pin on
"here and now".

🌟 Next, let's finally move on to—
the story of thought navigation that also enjoys "detours" and "side trips"!

🔄 Chapter 4 | Thinking that embraces detours and side trips: Breaking away from the shortest-route principle

🛣️ When using Google Maps,
you sometimes get a notification saying, "This route avoids traffic."

🚧 Whether it's roadwork, traffic regulations, or unexpected trouble.

At times like that,
you have no choice but to give up on the shortest route and
take a detourinstead.

🧭 Actually, don't you think this isvery similar to our thoughts and lives?

🌟 1. Why is "detour thinking" important?

• 🌀 It is actually natural for things not to go as planned

• 🌈 Detours and side trips are filled with accidental encounters and discoveries

• 🌱 By taking the long way around, you gain unexpected skills and experience

👀 If you only seek the shortest route,
you might miss out on "things that can only be gained through detours."

🛠️ 2. Practical Tips | Tips for enjoying detours and side trips

• 🛤️ Intentionally include "buffer time" or "white space" in your plans

• 👟 If you fail, ask yourself, "What kind of scenery did I see?"

• 🎯 Enjoy the process flexibly without losing sight of the goal

• 🗺️ Developing the ability to "find an alternative route" makes you stronger against trouble

🎁 3. The benefits of detour thinking

• 🌟 [Increased creativity]
  New ideas are born precisely in unexpected situations!

• 🚀 [Resilience is built]
  You become stronger against trouble and your mind becomes more flexible!

• 🎒 [Experience deepens]
  You can meet "scenery" and "people" that can only be seen by taking the long way around!

✨ 4. Summary | If you can think that "there is meaning in detours," you are strong

📍 The shortest route is efficient, but it can sometimes be dull.

🏞️ Sometimes,
enjoy the detour,
and open your heart to the scenery along the way.

Such a flexible journey of thought should
make you even richer.

🌟 Now, what's next—
a story about offline thinking mode, where you sometimes 'close the map' and move forward!🚶‍♂️✨

🌐 Chapter 5 | Offline Map Thinking: Information Blocking and Sensory Navigation

📡 Google Maps has a feature called 'Offline Maps.'
Even in places where you can't use the internet, you can rely on maps you've downloaded in advance to get around.

🌟 But this also gives us a very important hint for our
thinking.

🧠 1. Why is 'offline thinking' necessary now?

• 📲 An era where there is too much information, making it easy to get lost

• 🧭 Because you can search immediately, your own senses tend to dull

• 🗺️ If you rely too much on maps (information), you won't develop the 'ability to find your own way'

👀 That is why, sometimes—
you need to practice closing the map and trusting your own navigation!

🛠️ 2. Practical Tips | Recommendations for Offline Map Thinking

• 🚶‍♂️ Try an intentional 'information-free walk' (walk without looking at your smartphone!)

• ✍️ When thinking things through, try writing them down on paper first without searching

• 👂 If you are unsure about a decision, try listening to your 'body's senses' rather than your 'head'

• 🌿 Sometimes, intentionally create 'time to not look for answers'

🌈 3. The benefits of offline thinking

• 🎯 [Self-confidence grows]
  Small successful experiences of 'I made it through with my own senses!' accumulate!

• 🌱 [Five senses are sharpened]
  You can perceive living information... scenery, smells, the feel of the air, people's expressions!

• 🚀 [Boost your ability to take action]
  A stance of “just try it for now” when you’re unsure becomes second nature!

✨ 4. Summary | Sometimes, close the map and walk

🗺️ Maps and information are convenient, but
in the end, you are the one who moves forward.

🌟 Once in a while,
it might be nice to close the navigation,
and walk relying on the scent of the wind and the feel of the road.

That is when
your true navigation system might just wake up.

🧭 Now, next—
let’s head toward the “summary” and “what’s next” of this journey of thought!

🧩 Summary | You can redraw your map of thought as many times as you like

🗺️ You are already a fine “thought navigator.”

What we have traveled through in this column was
the creation of your very own map of thought inspired by Google Maps.

Let’s look back on today’s journey one more time here 🌟

📚 1. The 5 steps of thought we walked through in this column

• 🔍 [Chapter 1 | Zooming thought]
  Freely switching between details (insect’s eye) and the big picture (bird’s eye)

• 🗺️ [Chapter 2 | Layer-switching thought]
  Seeing the world from different perspectives: facts, emotions, and values

• 📍 [Chapter 3 | Pin-dropping thought]
  Visualizing “here and now” to confirm your own position

• 🔄 [Chapter 4 | Thought that embraces detours and side trips]
  Not obsessing over just the shortest route, but enjoying the detours

• 🌐 [Chapter 5 | Offline map thought]
  Closing off information and finding your own path through intuition and senses

🌈 2. Your thought navigation is already starting to move

• 🧭 When you’re lost, zoom out and look at the whole picture

• 🔍 If your vision gets cloudy, try switching layers

• 📍 If you come to a standstill, try re-pinning your current location

• 🛤️ Let's accept that unplanned paths are also a rich journey

• 🌿 Let's let go of information and walk using our senses as a navigator

🚀 And above all, the most important thing.

It is that a map
can be redrawn as many times as you like
.

✨ 3. Finally, to you

🌟 The future is not a single path.
There are countless routes, and detours and wandering are all part of your journey.

Let's continue to walk your own path,
freely expanding your Google Map of thoughts
with your own hands.

I'm rooting for you 🧡

🍀 Afterword | Taking that first step to open the map

🧭 This column, "Google Map-style Thinking," was born
from my own daily feeling
of wanting to "travel through my thoughts more freely."

🌱 Through the "Science of Thought" series,
I want to explore the joy of thinking, feeling, and innovating
together with you, the readers.

Thoughts can be freer.
You can play with them more.
You can redraw them more.

I would be happy if I could continue to gently deliver that message.

🧠 About this column

• ✨ Written utilizing generative AI (ChatGPT)

• 🚀 Exploring a new form of thought inquiry through the collaboration of generative AI and humans

• 🗺️ The theme was a small adventure called "opening the map of thoughts yourself"

🌟 If this column could, even a little,
become a companion on your journey of thought—

• 💬 It would be a great encouragement if you could leave a comment!

• 💛 I would be happy if you could continue this journey with me by "liking" or following!

🧳 At our next destination, I am sure we will draw
a new “map” together again✨

I look forward to our continued journey together!

Profile | Kazuomi Matsunaga

🧭Thinking Navigator

Biography:Graduated from Kyushu University, Faculty of Engineering (Materials Engineering) ⇒ Engineer at a metal materials manufacturer in the Chukyo region (Production Technology) ⇒ Advertising sales for a local Nagasaki free paper ⇒ University staff (← Currently here). A person in their 50s living in Nagasaki Prefecture. Both children have left home for college, and I live with my wife. I am a writer who lets my thoughts play daily at the intersection of “questions” and “curiosity.” Recently, I have been writing about my unique perspectives on themes such as education, storytelling, psychology, AI, and design, centered on my serialized column series, “The Science of Thought.” I am exploring “free knowledge design” that transcends existing frameworks. My motto is “Imagination opens up the world.”
In my professional life, while working in university and education-related fields, I value carefully observing the moments when “people start to like something” and “scenes where questions sprout.”
🧭 I would be happy if I could deliver articles that leave you with one “new perspective” after reading them.
📮 Impressions and messages of support are always welcome!