We were on a road trip back to Midwestern City 1 from Midwestern City 2, with the grandparents driving. Every 50 miles or so I'd flick the rear door ashtray closed, and we'd immediately screech to a stop on the side of the interstate/freeway, as 'we have a blowout.'
Paper map sales are booming
81–90 of 326 posts
Re: Paper map sales are booming
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
an interesting thought experiment is to ponder just how many skills are being lost due to technology. I know how to read a map and how to find rough compass bearings but i was never in a situation where i needed either skill. Could i manage without GPS - probably but i’m not confident. If GPS died tomorrow because of a solar flare, would the younger generations manage?
https://www.gislounge.com/spatial-orientation-and-the-brain-... Studies have shown that people just cannot read maps anymore due to dependence on GPS apps in their daily lives.
That's odd to me. Even when using GPS I'm always looking at the map to figure out what the upcoming turns are because I have zero faith in the accuracy of the voice directions and arrows. Do people just follow the directions without understanding the route on the map?
Re: Paper map sales are booming
#83I generally use paper backups for tickets. I used to print out directions when I had my first GPS, but now I usually have enough redundancy that I don't feel like I need a paper map.
I should point out that my printed directions saved me a few times with my first GPS. It was really bad, it would get confused and make me take off ramps and then get right back on; or it would make me drive in circles. One time it tried to send me 100 miles up a dirt road. (I turned around and relied on printed directions.)
Re: Paper map sales are booming
#84I am sure excited to teach my kids (current age, 2.5 years, and 4 months, so there's a bit of time) to use a map. I must have my old road atlas somewhere.
As an engineer and product manager (and just in general) I constantly think about, metaphorically, where I want to get to and how to reasonably get there. We literally call this "the roadmap" - it's the ability to visualize a viable path.
I love Google maps (I've relied for it on 6 continents for driving, transit, and walking, it's amazing) but it basically does the "how" for you and I want my kids to be able to do that.
So if we're ever doing a roadtrip, I dunno, from NYC to Miami, I want my kids to be part of the planning - how many miles can we do a day? What are the natural destinations along the way? Basically, I think mapping and trip planning is a very natural example of breaking down the problem into sub-problems that are both meaningful in their own way and add up to the whole.
It's also interesting to trouble-shoot this kind of stuff. If Google Maps suggests to us a route that is very different than what we mapped out - why? What is it optimizing for vs what are we optimizing for? I am excited to teach my kids to think this way.
Re: Paper map sales are booming
#85Something I find really fun when traveling in the car with kids is to give them a paper map and ask them to plan a route a for us to get to our destination. Then when you're driving ask them to follow along and give the directions. Obviously they can't be too young and they're not going to be perfect, but if you have a child around 7-13 they'll probably find this quite fun. Being able to use a map is one of those ski…
an interesting thought experiment is to ponder just how many skills are being lost due to technology. I know how to read a map and how to find rough compass bearings but i was never in a situation where i needed either skill. Could i manage without GPS - probably but i’m not confident. If GPS died tomorrow because of a solar flare, would the younger generations manage?
Yes they will learn quickly as I did before gps
Re: Paper map sales are booming
#86I definitely find paper maps are better (for me) for planning long trips and I always keep a set in the car for places I normally go. (Basically, the east coast of the US.) GPS is fantastic for last-mile directions/where exactly is that house sorta thing, but "best" route for me is rarely shortest path, and it's just easier to visualize on a big paper map.
Agree. I prefer major interstates for road tripping — something Siri & Gigi (the name we came up with for Google Maps persona) don't always seem to get right.
So in our road-tripping van, we keep a trucker's road atlas for the U.S.
Re: Paper map sales are booming
#87I thought I was the Luddite, I have a leather bound north America map in my 300D for when the mobile phone networks get shutdown by solar flares.
Re: Paper map sales are booming
#88I generally use paper backups for tickets. I used to print out directions when I had my first GPS, but now I usually have enough redundancy that I don't feel like I need a paper map. I should point out that my printed directions saved me a few times with my first GPS. It was really bad, it would get confused and make me take off ramps and then get right back on; or it would make me drive in circles. One time it tried…
Especially traveling internationally, I try to have a paper backup of important information. I can imagine arriving in a city having lost my phone and having no idea of where I was staying.
Re: Paper map sales are booming
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
an interesting thought experiment is to ponder just how many skills are being lost due to technology. I know how to read a map and how to find rough compass bearings but i was never in a situation where i needed either skill. Could i manage without GPS - probably but i’m not confident. If GPS died tomorrow because of a solar flare, would the younger generations manage?
https://www.gislounge.com/spatial-orientation-and-the-brain-... Studies have shown that people just cannot read maps anymore due to dependence on GPS apps in their daily lives.
One of the many things we unlearn or never learn because of the „smart“ phone
Re: Paper map sales are booming
#90Anybody remember Triptiks from AAA? You'd go to a AAA office or call them on the phone, tell them where you were going, and in return you'd get a printed spiral top-bound pad with your trip broken down in to multiple legs, the roads/routes pre-highlighted, gas stops and prices estimated in, a list of sites for stopping off at, etc. All human curated and human annotated (the roads on your route were literally gone ove…
Travel is such an personal thing - it's people in an environment at least somewhat foreign to them. Trusting someone to plan it is a pretty intimate thing, and companies don't do intimate things very well anymore. Too many people, too few companies.
I'd pay good money for more personal experiences from companies, especially when it comes to something like this, but it's not easy. The wife and I were looking for a honeymoon package, but neither "beach" nor "romantic European getaway" were on our list. Roughly 90% of travel companies were out of ideas after that. It's literally their JOB to plan trips and they can't deviate from a template. It's pain incarnate.