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Paper map sales are booming

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Re: Paper map sales are booming

#91

Post by bombolo »

kypro wrote: post #20

Something 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…

> Being able to use a map is one of those skills which admittedly isn't all that useful today

I've met people who constantly get completely lost despite the use of the phone.

The issue with the phone is that especially under rain or trees, the position can be off of several hundreds meters, so you have to look around and find yourself on the map, because the phone really has no idea and is just guessing.

The compass thingy also works terribly on android and iphones alike, but for some reason people still think that if the arrow points a certain way, you can actually trust it.

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#92

Post by dieselgate »

dljsjr wrote: post #49

Anybody 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…

As of about 7 years ago AAA was where I'd always go to get paper maps in general - wasn't aware of Triptiks at all

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#94

Post by ghaff »

kulahan wrote: post #90
dljsjr wrote: post #49

Anybody 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 hon…

There are specialty outfits specific to an area/country and/or type of activity that I've used which are pretty good. But most mainstream travel agents have been book a cruise/flight/tour for pretty much forever.

My dad had one for years who was better than that but I've only sometimes used specialty agencies, e.g. for English walking trips.

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#95

Post by tradertef »

poulpy123 wrote: post #85
eldaisfish wrote: post #28

Earlier 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?

Yes they will learn quickly as I did before gps

This is answer to a lot of question. The fact that people are dependent on some technology today does not mean that they will be non-functional when that it is taken from them. People adopt very quickly.

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#96

Post by astrange »

bombolo wrote: post #91
kypro wrote: post #20

Something 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…

> Being able to use a map is one of those skills which admittedly isn't all that useful today I've met people who constantly get completely lost despite the use of the phone. The issue with the phone is that especially under rain or trees, the position can be off of several hundreds meters, so you have to look around and find yourself on the map, because the phone really has no idea and is just guessing. The compass…

The phone compass often works poorly near magnetic metal (which is… often). Once you start moving it will calibrate itself, but that can take a block or two of moving in a straight line in an urban area.

Mounting your phone on the windshield helps with GPS some, as does getting a newer phone with L5 GPS.

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#97

Post by InitialLastName »

kypro wrote: post #69
eldaisfish wrote: post #28

Earlier 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?

My GF has been telling about how there's a lot kids at her school that don't know how to tell the time on analogue clocks anymore. She says it's because kids don't interact with analogue clocks much anymore and Covid lockdowns meant that a lot of kids never learnt it in school either. So apparently there is now a generation of kids who are around 10 - 12 who have no idea how to read the time from an analogue clock.

On one hand, I get the concern about this because mechanical clocks still exist, familiarity informs me that they're easy to read, and nostalgia tells me they're important.

On the other hand, they are unintuitive, less common with every passing year, and I'd rather my children get any recess than add "learn to use another antiquated tool" into the school curriculum. I do complicated math for a living, but nobody's offended that I didn't ever get good at using a slide rule.

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#98

Post by astrange »

moomoo11 wrote: post #17

I’ve pretty much ditched Apple Maps and use the compass in my car and landmarks to navigate lol. It’s a lot of fun for me, using maps just ruins the fun of exploration.

Maybe it's just me, but I thought the point of having a nav app open was to tell you about traffic/detours, not because you need directions.

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#100

Post by rjh29 »

kulahan wrote: post #90
dljsjr wrote: post #49

Anybody 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 hon…

I understand why that niche doesn't exist - most people looking for a personal experience tend to plan it themselves. Though it would be nice to say "I want to go here, here and here" and have someone book all of the hotels and transport.
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