I trusted a 2007 article saying paper maps would be extinct by 2012

I was driving through rural Montana last summer and my phone had zero signal for like 60 miles. That old article from a tech blog swore GPS would make paper maps completely pointless by 2012. Well here I am 12 years later stuck because I threw out my dad's state road atlas. Had to stop at a gas station in Butte and paid $8 for a paper map that saved my whole trip. Anyone else keep a backup map after getting burned by bad predictions like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

carter.julia8d ago

Did I actually pay $8 for a paper map just to feel like a time traveler from 1995? Yeah, pretty much. My glovebox now has a 2019 Rand McNally I snagged at a thrift store for fifty cents. It's all crinkled and missing a corner but I refuse to get rid of it.

allen.amy8d ago

Read somewhere that paper maps still outsell GPS units in some parts of the country because people like having the whole picture in front of them. There's something about not having to zoom in and out that makes route planning feel more natural. Did you ever find yourself taking a weird detour just because the map showed a squiggly road you wanted to try?