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Paper map sales are booming

wsj.com

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Re: Paper map sales are booming

#161

Post by massysett »

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…

In a lot of ways, electronic maps are still inferior to the Triptik.

Even the Rand McNally showed highway rest areas and picnic areas. The Triptik also showed gas stations. Electronic maps often lack this entirely, at least in easy form.

The Triptik shows what you need to know while on a long motor trip. The electronic map emphasizes details I don't need.

At a glance the paper map tells me whether a road is free limited-access, toll limited-access, multi-lane divided, two lanes but major, two lanes and minor, a country lane, or a dirt road. Electronic map only tells me this if I zoom in on a satellite view, and it might even route me over a two-lane road to save five minutes on a two-hour trip when there's a much safer freeway that most drivers would prefer.

Paper map has little dotted lines for scenic routes. Electronic map doesn't.

Mostly I'm surprised the electronic maps don't have these things after all these years. Maybe Apple will get them eventually. Google is busy stuffing ads into its maps.

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#162

Post by wirrbel »

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…

The German equivalent still offers this and out of curiosity I ordered it once it was fairly disappointing, a map, some travel info, thats about it.

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#163

Post by panza »

maptime wrote: post #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 hu…

I'd really like a breakdown on what these maps are actually used for. They could just be wall art, perhaps a (growing?) niche of custom guide books, maybe a renewed interest in exploring offroad/outback etc.

Or maybe just more people are acknowledging that a fallback paper map in the glove box is a good idea.

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#164

Post by tppiotrowski »

ghaff wrote: post #5
joshstrange wrote: post #2

> His customers, he added, aren’t just looking to maps for directions, but as inspiration for future trips or even as art worth hanging. I think that alone accounts for the vast majority of this increase. The article throws that in as a minor detail but I'd bet money it's the only reason. Of course you don't get as many clicks for "More people are buying maps as art". 2 of the 3 examples of maps they give at the end…

Essentially retro-chic. Some may have also discovered some utility in being able to have a big picture view of a destination. However, I wouldn't impute too much utility to the explanation. I'd be pretty surprised if younger generations are suddenly discovering that it can be really useful to have a physical backup in case their phone battery dies.

I agree with the big picture utility. A good project would be a map where you can choose to display all Best Westerns, Shell gas stations, etc at state zoom level so you can visualize a day's worth of travel including food, gas and lodging destinations without needing to repeatedly search GMaps. (i.e. it looks like there's a Shell station in 15, 65 and 128 miles along our route...)

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#165

Post by dudul »

fooker wrote: post #157
dudul wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always been a bit surprised by the sentence "learn to read a map". What is there to learn exactly?

Given a map, can you find where you are in the map without GPS? How about planning a route from contour plots? Or maybe figure out which direction you should go without a digital compass?

Yes to all. The map is a projection of your surroundings. You just need to "map" what you see to the map to be able to see where you are and where north is. I guess contour plots is a tad more advanced since it's trying to represent the z axis on a flat sheet of paper.

I'm not trying to be obtuse, I genuinely don't see how it is difficult to read a map.

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#166

Post by dudul »

ryanianian wrote: post #148
dudul wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always been a bit surprised by the sentence "learn to read a map". What is there to learn exactly?

Looking at a map and doing basic a->b route planning is straightforward. Doing it well is a skill. Finding yourself when you don't know where you are and have limited landmark info, and using the cartographically-significant features of the map to plan a route that avoids hazards or navigates with tolls, highways, and rest-stops in mind are very much a skill that needs to be practiced even if the MO is simple at firs…

I feel like we're diverging towards trip planning here more than just reading a map. That, sure i can see how experience can make a difference.

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#167

Post by Pxtl »

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…

Travel agents still exist. If they don't know how to plan the vacation of your dreams, they know somebody who does. I used one to plan a trip to Florida, which was obviously a normal-ass tourist thing but they got in touch with another agent who knew the ins and outs of where to stay at the Space Coast and the pros and cons of onsite stay vs offsite for Disney.

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#168

Post by panza »

ghaff wrote: post #10
folli wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... and know how to use it ...

Fair. As someone who grew up with physical maps, using them is pretty intuitive but I can see how it wouldn't be for everyone. And, of course, some aspects of topographic maps take some education. With respect to compass, I'm not sure how critical real orienteering is for most people. It's more about not being totally turned around and/or being able to make sure you hit some feature like a road.

I've seen some otherwise capable people struggle with compasses and map reading. It's a good idea to print out some basic map reading instructions and attach it to the map just in case. That way, anyone else in your family/party will have a running start if something happens to the 'map guy'.

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#169

Post by Pxtl »

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?

Funny story - I was at Disney for new year's, and Disney parks have an impressive mapping app, but phones aren't great at detecting your heading when you're not at driving speed and the walking directions mode was awful. As a result, it was basically a dumb map with lots of excellent live data on it and a "you are here" dot.

A lot of people were having trouble with it because we're all used to "turn left here" instead of the top-view get-your-bearings go-that-way approach to a map.

Re: Paper map sales are booming

#170

Post by nemonemo »

massysett wrote: post #161
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…

In a lot of ways, electronic maps are still inferior to the Triptik. Even the Rand McNally showed highway rest areas and picnic areas. The Triptik also showed gas stations. Electronic maps often lack this entirely, at least in easy form. The Triptik shows what you need to know while on a long motor trip. The electronic map emphasizes details I don't need. At a glance the paper map tells me whether a road is free limi…

Those two types of maps are targeting different groups -- paper maps targeting the somewhat advanced users who know the basic navigation and have little need to consult the legend. The electronic maps target much wider audience and can be dumbed down since people can interact with the map. Sure, the electronic maps probably can stuff more info to be shown at a glance, but my impression is that they chose not to.
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