The ecological validity of three spatial ability tests was studied: The Embedded Figures Test, the Shepard/Metzler Mental Rotations Test, and the Differential Aptitude Spatial Relations subtest. The Building Memory Test was also examined in an attempt to replicate a previous study which supported its validity. These four tests were administered to 353 undergraduate students, along with two measures of environmental knowledge, a landmark location task and a route knowledge task. Both of these tasks were based on a slide-simulated walk through an unfamiliar urban environment. As hypothesized, the Differential Aptitude Test was predictive of both environmental tasks. Both the Building Memory Test and Embedded Figures Test were related to the landmark location task. However, overall, the spatial tests were more related to each other than to the two environmental tasks. Although mental rotation and disembedding appear to be part of the skills necessary to replicate a cognitive map, researchers would do well to distinguish spatial ability from environmental cognition. (Author/GDC)