BFTP: But I miss paper maps!
Monday, April 2, 2018 at 05:46AM 
A colleague and I were visiting about the need for print reference resources, when the subject of print atlases came up. "Do we really need them?" I asked. "We have easy access to GoogleMaps. GPS in our phones and cars. A million maps online. Aren't paper maps and the ability to use them sort of an anachronism?"
"Oh, but I just love print maps!" she lamented.
And so do I. I have always loved maps. I own atlases. I have old maps framed and hung on my walls at home. I stop at the welcome center each time I enter a state to get its latest highway map. But I also recognize that I may be the last generation who so loves print maps.
And print books. And turning off one's cellphone now and then - and prefering talking to texting. And using a keyboard. And having a desktop computer. And getting a newspaper delivered to my door each morning. And enjoying with my grandchildren picture books that don't always sing and dance. And attending F2F conferences and meetings and inservices. And hanging on to a host of analog things that are now digital.
I constantly ask myself if a change - print maps to digital maps and GPS - is truly negative or if it is just uncomfortable to me as someone who grew up analog, now being shoe horned into a digital world.
My sense is that a knee-jerk reaction either approving or rejecting a digital way of doing something is dangerous - and that any new medium will have both its benefits and its weaknesses which may not be known for years. But I am inclined to try the new and especially to accept that the new for me is the de facto experience for our students.
Here there be dragons, indeed.
PS - five years after writing this post and five (more) years of using the GPS, now moved from a separate device into my technology overlord (iPhone). I still keep paper maps as a backup, I still prefer to hike with paper maps, and I still have maps hanging, framed on the walls of my house. Just ordered a new map of the Superior Hiking Trail!
But I wouldn't give up my GPS!
Reader Comments (4)
I love maps too! You know what kind I really love - Historical Atlases. I have a great one that shows map changes over time from the ancient world to now. It's super cool. Digital maps are ephemeral. As much as I love Google Maps for day to day navigation and such, it can't replace historical maps. (And I hope someone somewhere is still printing maps - I would hate to lose the history of modern boundary changes, etc.)
And I just realized. There's probably an app for that. Sigh. There's a a historical atlas map app, I'm betting. Oh well. Still love my map book.
Hi Pam,
Yeah, I like historical maps as well. I have a great book of Minnesota maps from a variety of time periods that I treasure, as well as a an old county map that I have framed. Maybe more sentimental than useful, I do love a paper map and glad to know others do as well.
And I don't think there is an app for everything!
Doug​
Hi Pam,
Yeah, I like historical maps as well. I have a great book of Minnesota maps from a variety of time periods that I treasure, as well as a an old county map that I have framed. Maybe more sentimental than useful, I do love a paper map and glad to know others do as well.
And I don't think there is an app for everything!
Doug​