There is no God's eye view of an outcrop. Rather, the rocks and the earth must be interpreted to be understood. So it is with much of our experience. As humans, we are narrative beings. Individuals and cultures cast the events of their lives into a narrative structure in order to understand who they are, how they came to be the way they are, and to anticipate where they are going.
Geologists rely on similar narratives to understand and interpret the earth.
A geologist's primary method is to observe an outcrop and then a variety of contemporary environments looking for an analogous match. If there is no contemporary environment to use for comparison, geologists combine bits from different environments, extrapolate, and use them to interpret the outcrop. The reasoning process at the outcrop involves something more that mere mechanical matching of features. For example, although no one can know everything about the Grand Canyon, one person can know enough about the rock formations to be able to find water and the way out if left in an unknown side canyon. This sense of orientation allows the geologist to engage their imagination, to envision the outcrop.