Maybe I don’t read a map quite like this. But close. (Image courtesy of Flickr user clappstar)
A few weeks ago, a few co-workers and I piled into my car for lunch at Issac’s. As she slid into the back seat, my friend noticed my giant map book.
Friend: Do you ever actually
use this thing?
Me, straight-faced: Every day.
Friend 1 and Friend 2, in unison and somewhat incredulously: Really?
Me: What? No. Who uses a map anymore?
My parents get me a paper map for every new place I move to — I got a map of Virginia and Harrisonburg when I went off to school, a map of Carlisle and Pennsylvania when I started my first job, and a map of York and I believe Gettysburg when I started at the YDR. And they all gather in the back pocket of my passenger seat in my car, never to be touched again.
Don’t get me wrong, Mom and Dad — a nice gesture. I do tend to get lost at least once every time I try to go somewhere new (although I found Spoutwood Farms with zero turn-arounds, which a friend told me is miraculous).
But what 20-something uses a map?
We have Mapquest. We have Google Maps. We have GPS units. We have GPS in our phones. We have GPS built into our cars. And we’re increasingly relying on technology instead of paper.
But what happens when a GPS unit loses a signal and we haven’t written out directions? What happens when a phone’s GPS function drains the entire battery? Are we too reliant on technology?
This weekend I went down to visit a friend outside of D.C., and wouldn’t you know it — something was wrong with the volume on my GPS unit. I tried to mess with its settings while driving at 65 mph on I-83 and staying mostly in my lane. But that gets a little tricky, not to mention dangerous and entirely nerve-wracking. Of course, I also have some trouble with the suction function on the unit, which means it usually rides in the passenger seat rather than the window, and I rely primarily on the voice.
Suffice to say, I was glad I’d written down the highways I was taking and the distance traveled on each. Navigating 695/95/495 is hard enough without getting lost.
Has your GPS conked out on you when you needed it most? What do you think, Gen Y’ers? Could you survive with just a paper map?
I’m not 20-something, but I do use GPS and the navigation on my phone all the time. And, yes, on more than one occasion, my phone hasn’t located a signal and the GPS unit I got three years ago isn’t updated, so I’m stuck and have to ask for directions the old-fashioned way. When we went to OBX last year, I printed out directions from Google maps and Mapquest AND we had GPS on in the car. At some points in our journey south, each set of directions said something different and I remember thinking that I wish that I had one of those old paper maps!
It IS a miracle that you didn’t get lost finding Spoutwood Farms! And I won’t judge you by the paper maps in the back of your car. Your mom and dad were just trying to give you some direction …
Seriously though, the paper maps can come in handy. I confess to using one earlier this year en route to the ocean (and it was actually a huge help when the outdated GPS tried to take us on the wrong road). I also like being able to see where we are in relation to where we’re going. It gives me the “We’re almost there!” effect.
Sometimes I think paper maps would come in handy — but its always in areas I don’t have maps for.
I drove down to North Carolina for a thesis interview in college, and just had printed directions — no GPS at that time. I missed my exit and ended up driving the wrong way on a one-way street and having a homeless man at a gas station yell at me for it. And then he gave me directions (that made no sense) and asked if I had any dollars to spare.
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