Allothetic means being centred in people or places other than oneself, and is used in navigation models (e.g., of a rat in a maze) as in the phrase "allothetic map" to indicate that a global map, not orientated or centred on the subject was used, rather than idiothetic

Idiothetic

Idiothetic literally means "self-proposition" , and is used in navigation models as in the phrase "idiothetic cues" to indicate that path integration was used to determine the present location instead of allothetic, or external, cues...

, which means a navigation system centred on the subject.

See also navigation research

Navigation research

Whereas originally the term Navigation applies to the process of directing a ship to a destination, Navigation research deals with fundamental aspects of navigation in general...

.