Folding a map

[dad911]

Amazing, Rand McNally still sells folding maps.

[Noah930]

There's something about opening up a map on a table top (or hood), and looking at all the places you could go.

That being said, I wonder what ever happened to Thomas Bros. Pre-GPS days, they made a must-have map book that could find you a street address down to the block.

[vash]

maps are badass. i love them. folding them..err. not so much.

[ckelly78z]

Call me old school...I have never programmed, or used GPS, I would rather look at a map, and trust what I see. I will write down directions on a destination that I want.

I rarely get messed up, or turned around, but following GPS that my wife sets up has sent us in the wrong direction several times.

[Evans, Marv]

I have always liked maps, having made them in college & used them a lot over the decades. I tend to think in terms of relative locations, so a network of locations from a map tends to stand out in my consciousness. I get amused with young people who have no idea about direction or distance locations and can only follow directions from their smart phones. I had a friend a long time ago who was a geography major. He had a special way of folding maps (which I don't remember now) that could get to the part of the map you wanted by unfolding one part. He said it was the most important thing he had gotten from his geography education.

[shadowjack1]

Every time I cross a state line I stop and get a map at the rest area. At some point maps will be obsolete.

[island911]

Yeah, folding maps.. seems like a good idea but can you see the crease?

Besides, if Apple doesn't make folding maps then it's probably not a good idea.

[dad911]

I loved maps, unfortunately my wife is not a map reader/navigator.

GPS has saved my marriage, and countless travel time.

[911 Rod]

Snowmobiling everyone has a GPS on their sled and trail maps on their phone.
When we stop someone pulls out a map and we all hover over it.
Old school!

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by ckelly78z

Call me old school...I have never programmed, or used GPS, I would rather look at a map, and trust what I see. I will write down directions on a destination that I want.

I rarely get messed up, or turned around, but following GPS that my wife sets up has sent us in the wrong direction several times.

That's one of the benefits of map-reading skills (and a good sense of direction). There will always be times when the unexpected crops up. And if I was prepared by actually looking at a map and rehearsing how to get there, then it's a lot easier to make things up on the fly and use a bit of dead reckoning to get to my destination. There are also plenty of times where technology (battery life, internet connectivity, etc) still fails me, and I'm glad I had a plan going in, other than "listen to her voice on the GPS."

[masraum]

Maps are awesome. I've always loved maps. When I was a kid and we'd take trips, we'd get maps at the rest stop for each state. Plus, I had years and years of maps from National Geographic. I had saved all of the maps including some from overseas. I can't remember if I still have them in storage or if I got rid of them when we downsized.

I have a good sense of direction. What I don't have is a good eye for distance, ie 30 yards, 100 yards, 400 meters, 1/2 mile, etc....

[NY65912]

Love me some maps. Fun to point at it and say "here, here and here".

[GH85Carrera]

We make maps for a living. Not road maps, just aerial orthophotos to a set specific scale. We always put a north arrow on it, and a scale bar and flight date. Of course it is not a true map unless a surveyor is our customer, and they put their stamp on it.

It always amused me when the first thing many people do is rotate the map upside down or sideways because they "always drive in from the north" or some other silly excuse. The up arrow should point up here in North America. It might be different in Australia, since everything else is down there.

Of course Texas (always has to be Texas) is all messed up. They had surveys from railroads, landowners and anyone else and just spit on the ground and say, that is the start point of the world, and build off at any odd angle at random. Much of Texas is sideways! They have no concept of cardinal directions.

If a city is built around the bend of a river there is some excuse, but in the middle of nowhere, why build roads at random angles? Trying to figure out a Texan is impossible.

[Hugh R]

If you lived in LA 40 years ago, the first thing you bought, if you were smart, was a Thomas Guide. Used to have LA, Orange County and Ventura guides, each one was amazing in detail and about 1" thick.

[GH85Carrera]

In my office just feet from my keyboard is a display we put together of some OLD road maps. Central USA from 1950. Texas in 1936. Colorado from 1950. California 1950. Alabama and Georgia from 1973 and North and South Dakota from 1950. They all came from my grandmother-in-law's house when the family was cleaning out the place.

They are all in pretty good shape. They are folded and just show the covers, but the entire map is there.

[sammyg2]

When my son was very young (maybe 3 years old) he loved looking at maps. He'd lie on the floor and study every single detail of a map until he had it memorized.
My FIL belonged to AAA so he ordered state maps from all over the country for my son to look at.
There were times he had 5 or 6 maps open all at the same time like a jigsaw puzzle. We got pretty good at folding them after a while.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

In my office just feet from my keyboard is a display we put together of some OLD road maps. Central USA from 1950. Texas in 1936. Colorado from 1950. California 1950. Alabama and Georgia from 1973 and North and South Dakota from 1950. They all came from my grandmother-in-law's house when the family was cleaning out the place.

They are all in pretty good shape. They are folded and just show the covers, but the entire map is there.

Very cool.

[mocha07]

Originally Posted by Noah930

There's something about opening up a map on a table top (or hood), and looking at all the places you could go.

That being said, I wonder what ever happened to Thomas Bros. Pre-GPS days, they made a must-have map book that could find you a street address down to the block.

https://thomasmaps.com

[flatbutt]

I always use paper on my bike trips. I luv poring over one in the evening planning the next day's route.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

In my office just feet from my keyboard is a display we put together of some OLD road maps. Central USA from 1950. Texas in 1936. Colorado from 1950. California 1950. Alabama and Georgia from 1973 and North and South Dakota from 1950. They all came from my grandmother-in-law's house when the family was cleaning out the place.

They are all in pretty good shape. They are folded and just show the covers, but the entire map is there.

I would love to look at those maps.

Maps, for an ex-helo pilot, are golden scrolls.