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[Wimopy]

So, I just recently read the newest logs on what Toady's been up to and noticed that finding your way out of a worldgen fortress is still likely going to be at least a mild headache. Then it occurred to me that a simplified idea of 'fresh air is coming from that way, that should be the exit' might just solve it.

In essence:
Since the 'weather info' does nothing underground, it could instead be made so that it instead gives back the cardinal direction of the nearest way to the surface. You could mix it with the pathing system so that it finds a way out or just have it point through walls and everything directly to the main staircase.
I'm not sure if it would be viable in general underground areas, so it might have to be limited to fortresses (say, when the main staircase is within x steps).

Of course, doors would have to be treated as passable, even though in-game they're pretty much air and watertight.
Mind you, I'm not saying we need real airflow, just pretend it exists to make it slightly more convenient to explore fortresses.

[Starver]

I generally like the idea of 'instinctual' exit-finding (fortress dwarves, et al, have some sort of sense of route-findng, and yet an Adventurer seems rather lacking, but that's more than you're asking for) and the code exists for it once you identify one (or, for choice, each) entry/exit tile and maintain an "adventurer's pathmap" with options for what barriers count and which do not (Climb Limit: 2; Jump Limit: 1; Doors: Ignore; ...) within maybe a four-subtile area cast about the current locale, at the expanse of adding an extra memory map not currently granted.

Beyond that, though, if there's a 'breeze direction' applied to all open cells (may not be quite so dynamic, without performance hit) maybe it If it could be engineered ('air pump'?  ...or waterfall-powered venturi effect) to also effectively move air and thus miasma/smoke. In torch-lit future fortresses (rather than the currently assumed infravision) and where ductwork is necessary to flush stale air, it would be a significant additional element to gameplay needs.  (Too much?)

Still, the whispering breeze and other strange atmospheric effects is often a feature of stories featuring caverns ("The Breath of God" in Indy's Last Crusade, The Goonies, even the Mynock-infested Space Slug gullet in Star Wars).