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Mourning the End of Paper Maps

theguardian.com

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Re: Mourning the End of Paper Maps

#11

Post by chrisseaton »

jacquesm wrote: post #9
chrisseaton wrote: post #8

There is no way that digital maps are anywhere near as practical, let alone more practical, yet. Digital maps: * rely on precious battery charge and weight * aren't very robust * are extremely hard to use in the dark or with night vision * can't be cut and folded into something small and light enough to hold in a hand * when portable aren't large enough for displaying on a table or wall for people to gather around

I was with you until the 'extremely hard to use in the dark or with night vision' because that is just about the only time they work much better than paper ones. But maps of all sorts are a dying breed, the bulk of the uses for maps were to find directions and turn-by-turn voice navigation has made the map component pretty much optional.

What displays do you use for in the dark? For paper you can shine a pin-point of green light and read it. That works for old-style LCD like a CASIO watch but I've not seen it work for a display designed to be backlit like a tablet. And you'd need a specially adapted display that used an IR backlight to use with night vision - I haven't seen something like that in practice. My smart watch has a night vision mode, but that's an LCD.

Re: Mourning the End of Paper Maps

#13

Post by davidw »

rbritton wrote: post #4

I actually print and use paper maps a lot, specifically topographic maps. We do a decent amount of backcountry riding, and while not completely accurate, the USFS and USGS maps have various trails marked on them that are useful. USGS publishes nicely formatted quadrangle-sized PDFs when smaller areas are enough, and CalTopo provides custom PDF generation when it’s more useful to specify a range. These I print at home…

Yeah, I'll carry a paper map for mountain biking out where I may not have a cell phone signal, as a backup to any maps stored on the phone.

That said, I remember saving up a bit of money as a kid to get 2 or 3 USGS topo maps. Now, I can get pretty good topo maps of the entire world for free from my browser. That's a beautiful thing.

Re: Mourning the End of Paper Maps

#14

Post by jacquesm »

chrisseaton wrote: post #11
jacquesm wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was with you until the 'extremely hard to use in the dark or with night vision' because that is just about the only time they work much better than paper ones. But maps of all sorts are a dying breed, the bulk of the uses for maps were to find directions and turn-by-turn voice navigation has made the map component pretty much optional.

What displays do you use for in the dark? For paper you can shine a pin-point of green light and read it. That works for old-style LCD like a CASIO watch but I've not seen it work for a display designed to be backlit like a tablet. And you'd need a specially adapted display that used an IR backlight to use with night vision - I haven't seen something like that in practice. My smart watch has a night vision mode, but…

Anything with a backlight.

As for night vision, you mean when wearing vision enhancement optics? I did not fully understand you the first time, I thought you meant night vision as in 'night adapted eyes', where you'd lower the intensity as much as possible not to ruin your night vision. Not sure what the implications would be for electronically enhanced optics but if they use a display you could of course put the map straight on the display?

Re: Mourning the End of Paper Maps

#16

Post by chrisseaton »

jacquesm wrote: post #14
chrisseaton wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What displays do you use for in the dark? For paper you can shine a pin-point of green light and read it. That works for old-style LCD like a CASIO watch but I've not seen it work for a display designed to be backlit like a tablet. And you'd need a specially adapted display that used an IR backlight to use with night vision - I haven't seen something like that in practice. My smart watch has a night vision mode, but…

Anything with a backlight. As for night vision, you mean when wearing vision enhancement optics? I did not fully understand you the first time, I thought you meant night vision as in 'night adapted eyes', where you'd lower the intensity as much as possible not to ruin your night vision. Not sure what the implications would be for electronically enhanced optics but if they use a display you could of course put the map…

Yeah I meant image intensifying optics. They're usually not digital unfortunately - they're analog - so you can't easily use them to look at digital image.

And how are you going to take a compass bearing off an image being beamed straight into your eyes?

And the problem with a digital map with a backlight is it lights you up like a beacon!

Re: Mourning the End of Paper Maps

#18

Post by oldandcold »

I knew some folks that worked for Natural Resources Canada. They were part of the "press team" who printed all sorts of wonderful maps. The press room held an enormous high-speed press... I loved the smell of the place. Ink, oil, machinery and reams of paper. These guys... so highly skilled, as much art as technology. The maps were beautiful...even the ones with mistakes. They would cut them up and make scratch pads out of them. All this was shut down years ago... they knew the end was coming. It makes me sad just thinking about it.

Re: Mourning the End of Paper Maps

#19

Post by jacquesm »

chrisseaton wrote: post #16
jacquesm wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anything with a backlight. As for night vision, you mean when wearing vision enhancement optics? I did not fully understand you the first time, I thought you meant night vision as in 'night adapted eyes', where you'd lower the intensity as much as possible not to ruin your night vision. Not sure what the implications would be for electronically enhanced optics but if they use a display you could of course put the map…

Yeah I meant image intensifying optics. They're usually not digital unfortunately - they're analog - so you can't easily use them to look at digital image. And how are you going to take a compass bearing off an image being beamed straight into your eyes? And the problem with a digital map with a backlight is it lights you up like a beacon!

Ok, so in that situation something like e-ink might work?
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