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Paper map sales are booming

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121–130 of 326 posts

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#121
post #91
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…

A lot of cars have the option to display a map on the radio screen, so I'm kinda surprised. I love using that thing! I always have an idea of the alternative streets available when I'm stuck in traffic because it's always there.

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#122
post #75
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?

It is incredible how much of the human mind is centered around orientation and direction. It makes sense from an evolutuonary perspective, but there have been studies about how quickly the skill atrophies without use.

I believe it is a valuable skill to maintain or develop. Kids most obviously develop it now through games like Minecraft, but I wouldn't be surprised if there is a correlation between navigational skills and general memory ability.

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#123
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 a kid on many a roadtrip in the 80s, I have a special fondness for triptiks. It gave me something to focus on and it gave my parents some peace as I quietly studied maps. I have a vivid memory of going to AAA before a roadtrip where someone would walk us through the route they chose.

However, it's all nostalgia. There is nothing about them that I would've preferred over a phone or tablet with working internet, had they been a thing back then.

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#124

Paper maps can have pitfalls to their usage. The family of James Kim ended up lost in the Oregon wilderness because they took an ill-advised route based on using their paper map. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Kim

and navigation software has driven people into lakes or snowy mountain passes.

both systems need to be updated with better and current information, and yes, internet connected is easier to update, but is also now receiving spam.

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#125
Traditional paper maps or charts are not booming at all.

The biggest producer of physical nautical charts has had to withdraw from the market as they have become unprofitable.

The increased availability of good open geospatial data along with amazing free open source tooling has made making beautiful maps easier than ever. Tools like QGIS and blender are world class

Maybe contentious but is it really a map if it's hung on a wall for artistic merit? At what point is it considered art?

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#126
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…

Old-school AAA TripTik® Walkthrough [0] [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcMih8fjq5Q

This is amazing! It's exactly how I remember them in my head!

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#127
post #90
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…

Just curious here—what sort of things were on your list that you couldn’t find? If there were better templates, what kind of trips would you expect to be able to plan?

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#128
post #69

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.

Is that abnormal? I remember not being able to read an analog clock at that age, several decades ago. Even back then they were uncommon.

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#129
post #75
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?

Don't even get me started on the compass :/ the coddling that our technological advances provide are erasing entire swaths of generation intellectual wealth.
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