You're absolutely right — the map was added later, after the game's release, to help players better navigate the world. This eventually led to a more complex system: the arrows indicate the direction the character will move, not cardinal directions like north, south, east, or west.
To fix this, I tried adding a triangle on the map that shows the character’s field of view — to make it clearer which way the character is facing. But yes, unfortunately, it didn’t help much, and the system still feels a bit confusing for some players. :(