Is paper map reading becoming a lost skill?
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Map Fans
- Thread starter Odyssey
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It's certainly a perishable skill. I have to review my map-and-compass stuff every so often, or it goes out of my head.
One of the casualties of maps is that, increasingly, it's easier to see wherever you are as the center of the world.
One of the casualties of maps is that, increasingly, it's easier to see wherever you are as the center of the world.
I am a fan of paper maps. I always use one.
Jim
Forgot to say I used to be a surveyor and a cartographer for a title company and a draftsman for an engineering firm. They are a part of who I am.
Jim
Forgot to say I used to be a surveyor and a cartographer for a title company and a draftsman for an engineering firm. They are a part of who I am.
Ditto. I began my professional life as a US Air Force navigator, instructor, and eventually a senior navigator flight check officer. Those were back in the traditional skill dinosaur days before anyone even knew how to spell "GPS". Map study (charts, really) was how I lived. As a civilian my accomplished pleasures center around wilderness backcountry off trail navigation. The thought processes of land navigation are not all that different from air navigation. I have trained wilderness guides in serious land navigation techniques and I am a state Search and Rescue certified crew boss and instructor. The state Division of Homeland Security hired me as a Subject Matter Expert to train law enforcement and other related professionals in land navigation. I have accumulated in excess of ~400 USGS topo maps including most of my State and a few of adjoining and disjoint areas as well.
Certainly digital access and electronics technology has changed some aspects of the skill, but even so it all comes down to being able to read and interpret what a map can tell you about your travels and expectations.
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I always print out maps and use them in a waterproof case.
In the winter months I enjoy looking over potential routes on larger scale maps near the wood stove.
I have the GPS apps on my phone and download where I am going as a back up, but I have only needed them a couple times to confirm I was on the right track.
Bob
In the winter months I enjoy looking over potential routes on larger scale maps near the wood stove.
I have the GPS apps on my phone and download where I am going as a back up, but I have only needed them a couple times to confirm I was on the right track.
Bob
My undergraduate degree is in geography. One of the required courses was cartography during which we had to assemble the info we needed and draw a number of different maps. All of this work was done by hand in the early 1970's before digital maps were made. More than 50 years later I still have those maps.
Paper maps and digital maps each have their benefits and drawbacks and I like having both available.
I think for people that didn't grow up with GPS and screen images, paper maps probably still have relevance and may be preferred. But for people that grew up using devices with internet and GPS satellite access, there are features and capabilities (and conveniences) of digital maps that make them the map source of choice. So reading a paper map isn't going to be a skill that's missed very much.
I grew up with paper maps, and surveying and cartography were an essential part of my job responsibilities, so I appreciate a well drawn paper map. But I was also trained to use GPS and GIS and appreciate being able to use georeferenced vector and raster datasets and digital imagery. GIS mapping software can be used to develop amazing digital cartography that can be displayed on a screen or printed out. I think we're living in the best of both worlds.
Added: I meant to include that I'm not sure that "reading" a paper map is much different than "reading" a digital map. From my experience the biggest difficulty some people have is interpreting topographic lines and being able to "see" the terrain features they represent, which is the same difficulty whether on paper or on-screen.
I think for people that didn't grow up with GPS and screen images, paper maps probably still have relevance and may be preferred. But for people that grew up using devices with internet and GPS satellite access, there are features and capabilities (and conveniences) of digital maps that make them the map source of choice. So reading a paper map isn't going to be a skill that's missed very much.
I grew up with paper maps, and surveying and cartography were an essential part of my job responsibilities, so I appreciate a well drawn paper map. But I was also trained to use GPS and GIS and appreciate being able to use georeferenced vector and raster datasets and digital imagery. GIS mapping software can be used to develop amazing digital cartography that can be displayed on a screen or printed out. I think we're living in the best of both worlds.
Added: I meant to include that I'm not sure that "reading" a paper map is much different than "reading" a digital map. From my experience the biggest difficulty some people have is interpreting topographic lines and being able to "see" the terrain features they represent, which is the same difficulty whether on paper or on-screen.
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I use a map and compass. On a long remote trip I carry three copies. One to use and the other two as backups in separate packs.
I’m not personally concerned if map reading becomes obsolete, so long as I can get paper maps. I mean, I don’t think it will be the end of civilization. I do always wonder what GPS users do when the batteries die, the device gets dropped into a deep lake, or just quits working.
I don’t know how to use GPS, but will be using it soon as backup so family are slightly less concerned about me.
I’m not personally concerned if map reading becomes obsolete, so long as I can get paper maps. I mean, I don’t think it will be the end of civilization. I do always wonder what GPS users do when the batteries die, the device gets dropped into a deep lake, or just quits working.
I don’t know how to use GPS, but will be using it soon as backup so family are slightly less concerned about me.
I love land navigation/orienteering. I used to do adventure racing and it came in handy since a lot of teams could run or bike really fast but coming out of the land nav sections we were usually far ahead.
The local National Guard have a permanent land nav course set up with 50 check points and it's accessible to the public.
The local National Guard have a permanent land nav course set up with 50 check points and it's accessible to the public.
I still use a map, I don't own a GPS. I carry a compass but have never used it while canoeing iirc. I have always sort of kept my bearings with the map, keeping an eye out for certain landmarks to confirm my location.
If I was bushwacking the compass would be necessary, but as a canoe tripper I have never had to, just following portage trails.
If I was bushwacking the compass would be necessary, but as a canoe tripper I have never had to, just following portage trails.
An old wilderness guide once advised me to always carry three compasses. One as my primary, another as a backup, and a third to give to some poor soul I come across who has lost or broken theirs. I have twice given away one of those. Usually I carry only one map in my favorite heavy duty map case (never trusting it just in a ziploc bag), only sometimes also a spare map for redundancy on important most remote trips. I have given one of those away as well.
While I am all about paper maps, when I prepared to paddle the Yukon River canoe races, I found that existing available topo maps, both in Canada and Alaska to be hopelessly out of date and inaccurate. Braided segments of the river (especially in the "Flats") can alter course every year or two. Especially before I paddled the 1000 mile race, I studied multiple sources, relying mainly on recent Google Earth imagery for every river bend, island and potential short cut out of the winding historic main channel route. I plotted nearly 800 GPS waypoints, each labeled using Excel computations with a name including LT/RT (left or right turn) and its accumulated distance (in tenths of a mile) from Whitehorse.
Using GE and a large screen monitor, I actively "flew" my route down the river dozens of times as I worked out on a canoe paddle trainer, memorizing every significant turn point and alternate shortcut. It was well worth the effort after I got to paddle on the actual river. I printed the route and GE map images, each page with roughly ten mile segments, on waterproofed computer paper pages to take with me. Since my continuous SPOT location transmissions could be viewed and recorded in near real time by my pit crew, my Excel program was written for it to compute accurate updates and predict my canoe's future arrival at any point on the river, especially at the finish line.
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I also carry three compasses distributed among packs. Also knives and Bic lighters (used to be waterproof matches.) I was taught to keep enough supplies in each pack to live on in case you lose some.
I find compasses useful for lake crossings. With a bearing, I can paddle straight across to the next portage. Also came across one long portage that had been logged. Used the compass there, too.
I've only needed a compass in the Everglades, where it was indespensable to find my way in the mangroves. Other than that I've used it on river trips to help find my location on a map.
I do use the compass on my iphone for bushwacking in the forest in Pa., or just to orient myself when I want to know where the sun is going to be. It did fail me one time when my phone froze up, so I should carry a real one and not rely on the phone.
I do use the compass on my iphone for bushwacking in the forest in Pa., or just to orient myself when I want to know where the sun is going to be. It did fail me one time when my phone froze up, so I should carry a real one and not rely on the phone.
the only way you're getting my map and compass is to pry them from my cold, dead, hands...
My phone is reserved for emergencies and is locked away in an otterbox in my barrel, and twice I've had GPS's die when water got into the battery compartment. I learned long ago that electronics don't fare well in the northern bush.
I carry a map in a case on the thwart with a compass tied to it, another compass lives on my PFD for quick reference, and there's usually a third in my pocket or daypack, there's at least one map in that day pack too, and I usually hand out copies to others in my group- I've been corrected before when I was looking at the scenery and got off course.
I once traded a map for a mickey of whisky, I volunteered the map but they insisted I take the bottle, who am I to argue....
My phone is reserved for emergencies and is locked away in an otterbox in my barrel, and twice I've had GPS's die when water got into the battery compartment. I learned long ago that electronics don't fare well in the northern bush.
I carry a map in a case on the thwart with a compass tied to it, another compass lives on my PFD for quick reference, and there's usually a third in my pocket or daypack, there's at least one map in that day pack too, and I usually hand out copies to others in my group- I've been corrected before when I was looking at the scenery and got off course.
I once traded a map for a mickey of whisky, I volunteered the map but they insisted I take the bottle, who am I to argue....
