Saw a guy reading a physical map at the Denver airport gate last week and it got me thinking

He flipped through this beat up road atlas while everyone else was glued to their phones, and I wondered if he was onto something or just a really dedicated old school traveler, has anyone else noticed how rare paper maps are now?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_wesley22d ago

yeah so my buddy ryan is like that too, he drives for a living delivering med supplies and he swears by paper maps because his phone always dies at the worst times. one time we got lost going to a cabin in the mountains and his phone had zero signal but he had this ancient map from like 2005 in his glovebox and we found the place with that thing. its kinda wild how we all just trust our phones to work and never think about what happens when they dont. i see people panic when their battery hits 15% like its the end of the world lol. not saying paper maps are better for everything but they sure dont need to charge.

lewis.terry22d ago

Wait, he had a map from 2005 in his glovebox and it still worked? How is that even possible, don't those things fall apart or get outdated after like a year?

spencer_park2622d ago

Dude YES I just read an article about how paper maps actually hold up way better than people think. Apparently the ink and paper they used back then was way more durable than the cheap glossy stuff now. My buddy's dad still has maps from the 90s in his truck and they look rough but they still fold out and the print hasn't faded. Meanwhile my phone screen cracks if I look at it wrong.