When Maps Guided Us
A time when getting there mattered as much as arriving.
“Hey, Siri! How do I get to [insert location here]?”
“Alexa! How long will it take me to get to [insert location here] from my current location?”
“Hey Google! Take me to the nearest gas station.”
Waze tells you that there’s an accident up ahead. Good thing there’s an alternative route" you think to yourself as you turn right onto the next side street, avoiding the traffic chaos altogether.
It’s so easy to find your way around these days, isn’t it?
Speak into the air, seek and ye shall find.
Someone - or some thing - is always listening. And in an age of continual notifications and digital updates, it’s no surprise. We’re used to it. We expect it. Speaking into the ether is part and parcel of our everyday lives. It’s the cost of doing business - personal or professional - in the digital age. Gen Z and Generation Alpha have not known any other way. It’s just is the way it is.
But it wasn’t always this way.
Those of us of a certain age can vividly remember experiences that are now forever relegated to the past, never to be experienced again.
Maps, or the kindness of strangers, were the way that we found our desired destinations back in the day. And reading maps was, for some of us, a challenging but necessary task.
No more.
Not since GPS on the car screen or phone became as common as maps in the glove compartment used to be.
Who needs to learn how to read a map when you can just ask your AI companion directions? Siri, Alexa, Google and others always have the answers. They never disappoint (although they can take you off the beaten path every so often).
And GPS helps those who want to do such pedestrian (pun intended) activities such as walking.
On an unplanned stroll through the city, I suddenly realize that man, am I thirsty! As a matter of fact, and come to think of it, I’m hungry too! Clearly this stroll through the city that originated as a short walk for some fresh air, lasted much longer than originally planned. Now, hunger and thirst have set in.
No worries I think to myself, as I whip out my phone.
“Hey Siri! Take me to the nearest Starbucks or coffee shop,” I instruct my digital companion.
A large coffee and a sandwich sound good just about now.
“Okay,” Siri immediately responds. “You have three options that are five to seven minutes away,” as she simultaneously shows me a map on my screen with the locations clearly indicated. All options include a range of pricing, from the most expensive to the least, indicated by dollar signs. At this point, if I wanted to request more specificity, all it would take would be a few simple commands. Seek, and ye shall find.
You’ve probably experienced a similar scenario yourself. Perhaps you’re using ChatGPT or a similar AI app on your phone. You speak into the microphone and request directions to the closest coffee shop. Within seconds, a plethora of options appear. Not only that, the very polite artificial intelligence companion spits out the following:
“Would you like me to categorize them in order of distance, pricing or reviews, from negative to positive?”
You reply a simple “All.”
Again, and seconds later, a list of all categories, with detailed information is provided, giving you more choices than you could ever have received by just reading a conventional paper map. And if you’re lucky, the AI will compliment you on your stellar choice of dining locale, as it has been known to do.
So back to the beta version of navigation from not too long ago.
Maps - the physical ones, often made of varying grades of paper, used to be a standard staple in every vehicle that ventured down the road. Today, it’s safe to say that paper maps are for the most part, relegated to the annals of history. Yes, some pragmatic and/or cautious folks still have them in their car’s glove compartment, “just in case,” for good measure or simply plain old nostalgia, but this is more uncommon than not. For those of us who rely heavily on technology, who love our gadgets, devices and the latest software on each, paper maps just don’t cut it. And in spite of our better judgement and a keen understanding of Murphy’s law, we just don’t think that a technological emergency will hit us. I mean, what is the likelihood of our cell signal, GPS connection and/or device(s) completely conking out at the worst possible time of our journey? It’s possible but highly improbable, we think to ourselves, our firm confidence in technology to get us through any intellectual or physical journey we may find ourselves in.
Paper maps are for the most part, relegated to the annals of history
Times Change, People Change. So Do Expectations.
Maps, back in the day, were the way that we found our desired destinations and reading maps was, for some of us, a challenging but necessary task.
In more modern times, specifically the age of the automobile, the trusty map in the glove compartment could not be underestimated. When we started driving, we had the opportunity to travel further than ever before, and we were primed to take our families on road trip vacations and the like. Maps allowed us to do so, and depending on one’s acuity with reading maps and directions in general, they helped us get on our way.
For Gen-Xers, the trusty and well-worn road map was a staple of a life when connections were analogue-only.
For Gen-Xers, the trusty and well-worn road map was a staple of a life when connections were analogue-only.
Without them, we were relegated to stopping who we hoped was a kind stranger on the side of the road and shouting at them “Excuse me, Sir, but do you know how to get to this address?” And then we’d give them the location we desired and crossed our fingers that they knew where we were going. If they didn’t, we may push our luck one more time and ask another unwitting stranger to help us find our coordinates. Finally, and perhaps with a hint of desperation, we may actually spring for a new purchase – a map – that we would pick up at the nearest gas station or convenience store. Those were the days.
And of course, let’s not forget that popular (and perhaps a tad sexist) trope of the dad – the driver – who would refuse to ask for directions. That was another issue all together.
“Excuse me,” your Dad yells out the car window, full family in tow, as he disrupts an unsuspecting stranger’s walk. He may or may not have a well-worn, well-used physical map in his hand while yelling.
“Can you tell me how to get to [location coordinates or specific landmark here]?”
The helpful stranger looks at the map and the two of them sort out where Dad went wrong, or, if no map is part of the exchange, said stranger verbally guides the misplaced car of strangers onto the right track (or road, as it were).
Good times to be had by all.
The Road Trip, Getting Lost and Still Finding Our Way Through Confusion
Part of the fun of family road trips or even quick jaunts not too far from home, was in the finding of our final destination. Would we be able to make it just by winging it? Should we open the glove compartment and concede defeat while simultaneously scrambling our brain cells by trying to make sense of the paper map? Should Dad swallow his pride and sense of “manliness” by pulling up to the nearest pedestrian and revealing that he did not - I repeat: did not - know how to get to where he was going?
It all added to the act of getting into the car in the first place, regardless of the end location. It could be a 15-minute drive within the city or a days-long journey across the country.
GPS technology on all of our devices as a standard, not an exception, has changed our lives forever. It is all too easy to speak into the ether and receive specific latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates of any place in the world. And let’s not even start to discuss Google Street View or Google Earth.
GPS technology on all of our devices as a standard, not an exception, has changed our lives forever. It is all too easy to speak into the ether and receive specific latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates of any place in the world.
Maps? Who needs ‘em?
Not us.
Right?
Sure – we still look at maps in certain instances. At school, our kids do peruse atlases and physical globes (I think?) to help them grasp and understand the expanse of the earth, the size of countries, and the relationship of each to each other. They learn about cartography and the history of maps as a genre, likely in later grades and in post-secondary settings. But they’re not taught how to read maps. Why should they learn at this point in time? Will they or their parents really be using them the next time the family heads out onto the open road?
Likely not.
And as sad as this fact may be, it is a reality that we must accept. Physical paper maps, as in many must-have supports from the past, just don’t hold the importance that they once did. Those rumpled, well-worn pages that folded up in the most annoying ways – these relics of the past aren’t getting much use anymore. Sadly, map usage has hit a dead end. We’ve finally reached the end of the road with this paper artifact of bygone days.
I keep a paper map in the car even though it is lower end technology, but they actually are very sophisticated. I grew up with maps too, as well as mom or dad stopping to ask for directions, and also getting detailed instructions from people we were going to visit. I've noticed that the map services are usually smart enough to give you good warnings (go through this intersection and turn left at the next) and reasonable instructions in a timely way.
But nothing beats having a map in your head, no matter how you achieve it. You can still do this with the services if you pay attention and look at the route before you go. That's probably the best; you can almost use it as a back up and then you have a much better sense of where you are. So we can use a service as an educational tool as well. Maps always had a tendency to tear where you fold them, and chances are you will need the info where the tear was. I think it's always best to be familiar with all levels of common technology. You never know when it will be handy. One guy recommended crumply a map up into a ball rather than folding it to avoid the tearing! It's still important for hikers to use maps, because a dead battery is particularly bad in the middle of the woods.