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Paper map sales are booming

wsj.com

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Re: Paper map sales are booming

#111

Post by arp242 »

eldaisfish wrote: post #28
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…

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?

> If GPS died tomorrow because of a solar flare, would the younger generations manage?

I learned to read maps when I was like 10; maybe younger. It's not that hard. I'm pretty sure they'll pick it up plenty fast enough when required.

The real problem with a map shortages and scalpers selling maps for fucktillion dollars.

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#112

Post by arp242 »

ajmurmann wrote: post #82
zikduruqe wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I exclusively use the map and never use voice direction or arrows. Everyone I've mentioned this to or has seen me do it thinks I'm weird for doing so, so I'd say it's uncommon.

I find it a lot easier as I have a mental picture of things.

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#113

Post by TheSkyHasEyes »

kimbernator wrote: post #45

This is a little tangential, but last year me and my girlfriend went to Greece for the first time. A few days after we purchased the tickets, a book came in the mail. She had ordered a tourism guide for Greece that had some recommendations about what to see, where to eat, where to stay, etc. My first reaction was along the lines of "why would we do this when we have the entire internet? Each section is written by onl…

> low-quality clickbait articles that come up on google when you search "things to do in _____"

Reddit subs are handy for that. Search term: site:reddit.com/r/denver things to do

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#114

Post by sowbug »

kzrdude wrote: post #40

Just to note, all the hiking maps I get now are made in tyvek, not really in paper. It's a newer material, it doesn't wear as much (but still some) in the folds, it is water resistant and so on. It's a more usable map as a result. It does feel slightly waxy to touch.

Do you know whether there is such a thing as laser-printable paper that you can write on with dry-erase markers and still erase? I like annotating certain documents while I'm traveling, and I wish I could wipe them clean at the start of each trip. I currently laminate the things I reuse most (checklists), or just print a new copy each time.

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#115

Post by redtriumph »

While the article points out alternatives people use in modern era, I always had a pull towards paper maps. My father had a collection of atlas of India and its different cities. I spent lot of time parsing through them, even though I haven't been to upper half of country yet.

On recent vacation, while we were trying doing street shopping, I came across Lewis-Clark map [original size] and then I thought I might as well use maps as wall art. I ended up buying following two classic replicas.

a. Hindoostan map of 1827: http://www.davidrumsey.com/maps4000.html

b. Western North America of 1846: https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/hornbeck_mex_1/7/

Next lookout: Hydrological map of North America.

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#116

Post by algog »

eldaisfish wrote: post #28
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…

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?

Your thought reminds me of Socrates' quote on how writing makes people not use their memory.

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#117

Post by a_e_k »

kimbernator wrote: post #45

This is a little tangential, but last year me and my girlfriend went to Greece for the first time. A few days after we purchased the tickets, a book came in the mail. She had ordered a tourism guide for Greece that had some recommendations about what to see, where to eat, where to stay, etc. My first reaction was along the lines of "why would we do this when we have the entire internet? Each section is written by onl…

Regarding the "only one person recommending what they liked" aspect vs. second-guessing choices based on Reddit, it reminds me a bit of Segal's Law [1]: "A man with a watch knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure."

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segal%27s_law

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#118

Post by KMag »

pmontra wrote: post #101

If I go hiking in the mountains I'd bring with me a paper map just in case something happens to my phone or I run out of battery. A power bank backups only the battery, not a cracked or lost phone. Never lost a paper map though.

On a side note, hiking is incredibly popular in Hong Kong (mountain sides too steep to practically build residences right in the middle of one of the most densely populated places on Earth). However, Google maps is comically bad for hiking in Hong Kong.

For years, the Mt. Butler HF radio station was marked as "gas station". (It's the only gas station I've seen with barbed wire locked gate and signs warning of guard dogs.) They've since fixed the HF radio station. However, last I checked, hiking from the North Point MTR to Stanley, Google maps will still try and route you over some overgrown paths, and up the side of a rock quarry where you need to scramble up with the help of some tied together odds and ends of rope someone has helpfully fastened to a small tree. Any sane human would have routed up Siu Ma Shan and along the back side of the quarry over to Park View.

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#119

Post by rcthompson »

pdntspa wrote: post #75
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…

The flippant attitude that people have towards map-reading today is appalling. Maybe its the eagle scout in me but how can someone NOT want to learn to read a map? It isn't even that hard! What happens if your device fails you?

Back before ubiquitous smart phones, I had a (now ex) partner who I discovered couldn't read a map to save their life. I printed out the Google maps route to the nearest Target (we had just moved to a new city) and was surprised when they couldn't give me directions based on the map because I didn't also print out the turn by turn directions (which I considered a redundant waste of paper).

I think that incident was what made me realize that map reading was a skill that actually needed to be learned.

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#120

Post by fbdab103 »

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 am boring, but one of the reason I keep wanting to take a cruise is because I do not want to plan anything. Show up at this place, at this time and then there will be a bunch of exotic* stuff to see/do/eat.

*Exotic very much being in the eye of the beholder, but something different from my daily costal urban experience.

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