Landmarking to prevent getting lost

I'm often spotting people who come out of a mall into the parking lot as they look around in desperation, trying to figure out where they parked their vehicle. For people with a bad sense of direction, remembering where one has parked can be difficult.

For these people, I have some suggestions. A technological solution is the portable GPS navigation device. Some models have a feature that allows you to set the spot where you parked and bring the device with you into the mall or whatever, then when you're ready to return to your vehicle, the device will guide you back to your vehicle's location. A not quite so technological method involves landmarking. While standing beside your vehicle, take note of your surroundings in terms of what you can see that's recognizable from this spot. You might notice that down the aisle from your car is the entrance to a particular store, or a sign on the side of a building, or some other uniquely memorable item. To get a more precise spot, you could even use multiple landmarks to create a specific spot within the lot (see picture). When you exit the mall, simply find that landmark again and head down that particular aisle. This might seem like a logical technique but you'd be surprised how many people have never tried it.

In the picture example, the driver of the car circled notes that they are straight down the walkway from the treed end of said walkway (A) in one direction, and straight down the aisle from a mall entrance (B) in another direction. So when they exit the mall later, they simply have to walk straight and once they arrive at the walkway with the trees at one end, they should be pretty close to their car.