This paper describes how a cognitive architecture builds a
spatial model and navigates from it without a map. Each constructed
model is a collage of spatial affordances that describes
how the environment has been sensed and traversed.
The system exploits the evolving model while it directs an
agent to explore the environment. Effective models are
learned quickly during travel. Moreover, when combined with
simple heuristics, the learned spatial model supports effective
navigation. In three simple environments, these learned models
describe space in ways familiar to people, and often produce
near-optimal travel times