Why You Should Always Have a Paper Map with You
Table of Contents
True navigation begins in the human heart. It’s the most important map of all.
Elizabeth Kapu’uwailani Lindsey
Even in the computerized, satellite GPS era, I still enjoy using road maps. I can have a cup of coffee at the kitchen table and get lost in a map. With my entire life ahead of me, a good one makes me feel like a child once more.
Yes, I use an iPhone to navigate small distances. But the teenager in me usually takes the wheel. I put the phone away and use paper and an instinct I’ve developed over years of driving throughout the lower 48 states, back when I was a general-assignment newspaper reporter and drove a lumber truck down country roads by day.
Paper Never Quits
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The epitome of analog is paper. It never locks up when you’re staring at it, starts up a grating Software Update warning, or loses power just as it’s needed the most. A road map is unaffected even if you spill coffee on it, which is more than I can say about my phone.
Paper Maps Are Accurate
The satellite images of the highways and the countryside astound me. They are generally pretty accurate. Strangely enough, there are times when the software that converts between satellite and map view has trouble doing so.
I’ve discovered that paper maps are almost always accurate, unless they get out-of-date.
Paper Maps Connect You
A paper map is an easy, tried-and-true way to help you feel spatially and directionally connected to your environment. I can estimate mileage quite precisely and get a better feel of travel time, obstacles, and how long different legs of the trip will take using an atlas or a fold-out paper map.
I can mark my preferred route on a paper map, as well as any particularly significant sites or crossroads, on the way. Indicators of my directionality such as roads, railroad lines, bridges, lakes, and rivers that cross or run parallel to my route also provide essential information about how close or distant I am from my objective.
Paper Helps You Chose Alternate Routes
When the GPS navigation system senses a slowness and attempts to identify a speedier route, customers dread the familiar word “recalculating.” Your phone can lead you to a different path that’s absurd or where you’ll lose connectivity. Again, an algorithm controls everything.
If you have a map, especially in a remote location, you can plan your own detour. You can now resume your game by stopping, pulling out your beloved road map, and taking the closest exit.
Paper Maps are Comparative
A paper map can be compared to a Google map, satellite image, another map, or a larger atlas. If you only have your phone with you, there is no other source of information unless you’re willing to switch between competing mapping apps.
HERE the tourist map of İzmir.
