The person drawing a map from memory shows you what mattered to their journeys.

A map drawn by hand records attention rather than geography. What appears is what was used: the turning, the shop that marks it, the stretch that always felt long. Anything unnoticed simply is not there, and the distortions are the most informative part, since they show how the place was actually travelled. Somebody’s rough sketch tells you about them as much as about the route.

Ask someone to draw you a place they know instead of describing it, and watch what they include. And when you sketch one yourself, notice which landmarks you reach for, because those are what your life runs on.