Hex maps (from the player’s perspective) badly undermine that dynamic because it’s far easier to just say “I travel a hex east, then a hex northeast, then a hex north” than to pretend you don’t have access to the convenience of hexes on your map.
If I described a ridge they saw and they would point at their map and say “hey, we must be here” I would shrug and neither confirm nor deny. No hexes, no squares – just an open terrain map … they would say “march southwest into the woods for three miles, looking for a big tree” and then we’d check Wilderness Lore to see if they went anywhere close to where they intended. I want more of the feel of players navigating by landmark, finding points of interest and traveling from one to another because sight navigation is easier than heading directly to the end destination, similar to Ben Robbins’ West Marches game ( see comment #7 here).