Article worth reading

[KCNC]

I'm a map geek. Absolutely love maps. I probably spend more time on Google Maps than any other website. I still buy a Rand McNally Road Atlas every couple of years, just to thumb through. I buy trail maps of places I *might* go, 'one day." I have map apps, I LOVE MAPS!!!

I also love my gadgets, but it is RARE that I blindly follow a gadget without having a reasonable idea of where I'm going when I set out. (This is why I love Google Maps, I can look at the map, check out some landmarks, then use the gadget to help navigate the best route based on things not obvious, such as one-way streets.)

Nothing will ever replace spatial awareness. I have it in spades, in high school I went to London on a school trip, it was my second visit in 5 years. I could come out of an Underground station and intuitively walk towards our destination based on my experience 5 years prior, much to the astonishment of everyone I was with. I don't just read maps, I study them. If you only look at where you want to go on the map and never look at where you might end up then you'll spend a lot of time finding yourself! Now, when I'm going to a new place, I'll check it out on Google Maps and even scan the area on street view. It's amazing how much easier it is to navigate a more "familiar" area, even when going there the first time.

Distance, direction, surrounding landmarks - the more you know, the less likely you are to get lost.

Unfortunately, most of my family can get lost in a round room with a single door unless you give them directions. Fortunately, they're quite good at following (and reversing) directions!

[Bronk]

Even with paper maps this can happen. I can't tell you how many "roads" are listed on topo maps that are totally impassable because they haven't been maintained in years or even decades. Without 4WD and a chainsaw you just aren't going to make it. I was frustrated to no end when I went to South Dakota a couple years ago...after more than 14 hours on the road I finally made it to my destination just an hour or two after the forest service office closed...no big deal, there was a kiosk with maps just outside the office. There was a larger and more detailed map on the board at the kiosk, but the road to my camping spot was clearly outlined on the paper maps they had available. So I got in the car and drove there. But just a few miles before my destination I came to a locked cattle gate with tire tracks across the pasture on the other side that disappeared in the distance. No way I was getting through there and not sure I should drive through there even if the gate weren't locked. So I went back into town and had another look at the more detailed map on the board. Found a different route. Went back out there and ran into another locked gate. Third time was the charm and I finally made it to my destination.

And Google maps is equally unable to distinguish between real roads and what used to be roads. More than once I've sent a tow truck out into the national forest to recover a vehicle whose owner thought that their GPS was sending them on a shortcut only to find that they were driving on a goat path through a foot of snow in the middle of nowhere.

[rocketsocks]

My peeve is loosing resolution while zooming in, for me it’s worth it to carry a map and see the broader picture at the same time, and in this case the eyes are way faster at opening windows so to speak by scanning multitudes of info and processing.

[illabelle]

KCNC, hey we might be siblings! I wouldn't call myself a map geek, but I do enjoy studying them. Ages ago my mother got several National Geographic maps, and they were passed down to me. I have a map of the moon, a map of Antarctica, a map of the ocean floor, and several maps of populated areas. It's fascinating to see the deep oceanic trenches and the ridges and the tiny little volcanic islands, and the areas where water is shallow - and then to imagine how ancient peoples might have migrated from here to there.

Completely agree with your comments about spatial awareness. My daughter, poor thing, can't cross the street without her GPS. Pre-GPS she and I were studying a simple route on the computer screen to a destination in downtown Knoxville, 20-25 minutes away. She left, and I was confident she'd have no trouble. Sometime later she called me for help. She had crossed the Tennessee River four times!

I'm a map geek. Absolutely love maps. I probably spend more time on Google Maps than any other website. I still buy a Rand McNally Road Atlas every couple of years, just to thumb through. I buy trail maps of places I *might* go, 'one day." I have map apps, I LOVE MAPS!!!

I also love my gadgets, but it is RARE that I blindly follow a gadget without having a reasonable idea of where I'm going when I set out. (This is why I love Google Maps, I can look at the map, check out some landmarks, then use the gadget to help navigate the best route based on things not obvious, such as one-way streets.)

Nothing will ever replace spatial awareness. I have it in spades, in high school I went to London on a school trip, it was my second visit in 5 years. I could come out of an Underground station and intuitively walk towards our destination based on my experience 5 years prior, much to the astonishment of everyone I was with. I don't just read maps, I study them. If you only look at where you want to go on the map and never look at where you might end up then you'll spend a lot of time finding yourself! Now, when I'm going to a new place, I'll check it out on Google Maps and even scan the area on street view. It's amazing how much easier it is to navigate a more "familiar" area, even when going there the first time.

Distance, direction, surrounding landmarks - the more you know, the less likely you are to get lost.

Unfortunately, most of my family can get lost in a round room with a single door unless you give them directions. Fortunately, they're quite good at following (and reversing) directions!

[peakbagger]

I still use a Delorme Gazateer as in the past they were updated on frequently and showed gates. I am not sure how often they will be updating them now that Garmin bought them.

[rocketsocks]

KCNC, hey we might be siblings! I wouldn't call myself a map geek, but I do enjoy studying them. Ages ago my mother got several National Geographic maps, and they were passed down to me. I have a map of the moon, a map of Antarctica, a map of the ocean floor, and several maps of populated areas. It's fascinating to see the deep oceanic trenches and the ridges and the tiny little volcanic islands, and the areas where water is shallow - and then to imagine how ancient peoples might have migrated from here to there.

Completely agree with your comments about spatial awareness. My daughter, poor thing, can't cross the street without her GPS. Pre-GPS she and I were studying a simple route on the computer screen to a destination in downtown Knoxville, 20-25 minutes away. She left, and I was confident she'd have no trouble. Sometime later she called me for help. She had crossed the Tennessee River four times!

the old Mount Everest map is most impressive as well, love the sea floor map, had it pinned on my wall growing up.

[Zea]

I grew up relying on a GPS to get me around while driving... especially when I was new to it and didn't know the roads very well it was invaluable. A couple years back I bought a new GPS that turned out to be a piece of junk... half hour to find a satellite and then it loses it so frequently that it's practically useless. Anytime I have to be somewhere new now I just print off a google maps image/directions combo, or handwrite the directions if I don't have a printer around. Never once had an issue finding something, although occasionally it does take a little longer.

I bought a Garmin GPS for hiking last year and still have yet to use it except for a practice run of following a local gpx track. I think I'll really only carry it on winter trips, just as a safety net if I lose the trail. For whatever reason, I think a GPS takes a little bit of joy out of traveling for me sometimes, and at other times it creates new opportunities.

[Another Kevin]

My grandmother, who was in grade school about 1900, thought that using a slide rule made me stupider.

I love having a sensitive GPS receiver on my phone. When I'm trying to make a trail map, I don't need alidade, plane table, sighting rod, measuring chain, and a 4-man crew; I can pretty much just walk the trail a couple of times and transcribe the track.

But I figure that if I need the GPS to navigate, the battery will be dead. If I'm expecting any navigational issues (i.e., not bloody likely on a superhighway like the AT in summer), I'll have a paper map, a paper route card, a compass and an altimeter. (And generally have committed to memory an ultimate fallback like 'Down goes to the river. The river flows north and intersects Route 90. The way to the car is a right turn from that point.')

[El JP]

I think i've relied on GPS for route info exactly one time.

I used to drive for a living and for the most part it was rare that GPS gave a better route that could be plotted with a look at a map plus knowledge of road, traffic, and weather conditions. Despite the blazes and all I flat out will not go on the trail without map and compass. When i worked the parks we would have the occasional lost hiker/tourist situations and heard of way too many times when someone went the wrong way and got disorientated and compounded the problem by going in the wrong direction from safety. In certain places you can be less than 100 meters from a start point and be in deep kimchi if you go off on the wrong heading.

[Rain Man]

Am reading "Deep Survival" by Laurence Gonzales. So far he has discussed several examples (case studies) including those of hikers and others becoming lost. It's fascinating to read how the human brain and life experience lead victims down obviously wrong paths.

I'm not done with the book, but recommend it for those who might realize these things are not nearly so simplistic and "black or white" as superficial "analysis" might seem (or to put another way, might lead one astray to think).

For what it's worth, I love maps and actually had a college job drawing maps. Still, my GPS has gotten me around many, many hours of delays on road trips. I certainly appreciate and value that.

Use the right tool for the right job?

[gwschenk]

Here out west, I am beginning to see the beauty of total reliance of thrus on Halfmile and guthook apps. It restricts this horde of lemmings to a narrow stretch of trail only a few feet wide, leaving the rest of the penninsular, traverse, Sierra and Cascade ranges wild and free.

It's a shame, though, that these people miss out on some stunningly beautiful and rugged country.

[TexasBob]

I put calculators and GPS in the same category...neither has much value unless you have some idea of the desired answer.....

My grandmother, who was in grade school about 1900, thought that using a slide rule made me stupider..................

Number sense and directional sense are both something that people don't really develop without practice and using a bit of common sense. Technology is good but like Crossup says it can get you in trouble if you don't check the answers they give you against what you expect to find and what is reasonable.

[rocketsocks]

Am reading "Deep Survival" by Laurence Gonzales. So far he has discussed several examples (case studies) including those of hikers and others becoming lost. It's fascinating to read how the human brain and life experience lead victims down obviously wrong paths.

I'm not done with the book, but recommend it for those who might realize these things are not nearly so simplistic and "black or white" as superficial "analysis" might seem (or to put another way, might lead one astray to think).

For what it's worth, I love maps and actually had a college job drawing maps. Still, my GPS has gotten me around many, many hours of delays on road trips. I certainly appreciate and value that.

Use the right tool for the right job?

great book!

[rocketsocks]

I think the problem comes for many not at the macro level, they know I’m in North American, I’m in Tenn, I’m on the AT, but at the local area...am I on this side of the valley or that, did we pass XXX, gps solves this. O’corse If you have time and enough food most will find there way home.

[JJ505]

I definitely have had GPS adventures (as I call them). I don't know what happens, maybe I put in the wrong address or something, but end up finding myself far off from where I started and not probably in the right direction. I agree that it becomes something of a crutch, but it does save time and energy. I don't learn other cities as much as I used to, unless this is my fourth time I've been there or something.

[Odd Man Out]

I will pour over as before visiting a new destination. As soon as I can spot a landmark, I visualize my location on my mental map. This happens repeatedly when traveling by subway in a big city. Everytime time I come up from underground I have to reorient my mental map. But I do find myself relying on GPS when driving, especially when going places I haven't been and did not have the chance to look over maps before hand. Reading a map while driving is tricky.

[Game Warden]

I drove from PA to Knoxville TN to see the eclipse; I car-camped at Shernando Lake in the Washington-Jefferson National Forest (a delightful spot near the AT). and used a GPS to Knoxville. The interstate highway was jammed with out-of-state vehicles heading south, and I despaired of reaching my destination in time. I had a Rand McNally US road atlas with me, and discovered a county road paralleling the interstate. It was crowded, but moving, and all local vehicles. I made it in time to see the eclipse, thanks to Rand McNally.

[Traveler]

I drove from PA to Knoxville TN to see the eclipse; I car-camped at Shernando Lake in the Washington-Jefferson National Forest (a delightful spot near the AT). and used a GPS to Knoxville. The interstate highway was jammed with out-of-state vehicles heading south, and I despaired of reaching my destination in time. I had a Rand McNally US road atlas with me, and discovered a county road paralleling the interstate. It was crowded, but moving, and all local vehicles. I made it in time to see the eclipse, thanks to Rand McNally.

While not disparaging maps, most GPS devices for cars generate maps based on fastest time of travel. These devices typically have a selection "switch" to filter out multi-lane state and interstate highways, which are usually included in fastest time routing. Discovering this feature provides routing using secondary and tertiary roads and can save a considerable amount of time when traffic snarls up.

[cmoulder]

Even quicker if using smartphone and Google Maps with real-time traffic updates. The caveat there being that you need a cell signal, of course.

This got me around a mondo construction back-up on I-81 in PA and used backroads to get me home going thru Connecticut during afternoon rush hours.