I will die on the hill that maps and navigation becoming digital is one of the greatest technologial innovations of the modern age. Everyday software such as Google Maps is a fantastic technology. I think it’s safe to say that nearly everyone uses it, or some other map software like Apple Maps or Waze. It’s just amazing stuff. I can put any place on Earth (but realistically in the country) and it’ll just tell me, live, exactly how to get there.
I use it in my daily life, but I also use it in my work/field. I’ve visited a handful of oceanographic institutes, universities, and hatcheries either for school visits or volunteer work or paid work. For example, The Wood’s Hole oceanographic institute is in Wood’s Hole, MA. I could use a paper, analog map to figure out what highways and roads to take to get to Wood’s Hole, but once I’m there, I either have to find a whole new map of just town, ask for directions, or just explore aimlessly until I find it. With my phone, I can just punch it in and it’ll tell me exactly where to go. Discovery is a wonderful side effect of digital maps as well. I can find restaurants, shops, and fun things to do on Google Maps that I would never be able to find without having been to that town previously or asking someone for recommendations. It’s so seamless and easy. I think that phones are a bit too capable these days, and if I could boil a smartphone down to just a few essentials, I would pick an app for phone calls and texting, and app for searching the web, a calculator, and an app for maps.
I do admit that paper maps have their value. I keep paper maps for all of the New England states (and New York) in my car. I have paper maps of hiking trails in the White and Green Mountains in New Hampshire and Vermont respectively. If your phone or GPS is dead, it’s important to know how to read and use these maps, but the fact that you can have all of the world and directions to every part of it in your pocket on one device is an incredible thing.
I’ll make a quick TLDR of the benefits of digital maps. But I’ll also include some of the drawbacks. I can’t make a good argument without acknowledging them.
The benefits:
1. Navigation: You can go to anywhere in the world you want, without needing an entire atlas of every town and place in the world.
2. Discovery: You can find restaurants, gas stations, shops, mechanics, whatever you may need at the press of a button.
3. Live Information: Digital maps will record your position live and show you live information around you. This includes traffic, road closures, and more.
Some drawbacks:
1. Tracking: To know where you are at all times, your phone has to know where you are at all times. Some people can be really uncomfortable about that. Fortunately, most phones will let you disable all that stuff if you don’t want to use it.
2. Reliance on Infrastructure: Most phones don’t have satellite-based cellular data, so if you’re in the middle of absolutely nowhere with no connection or low battery, you can run into trouble. Good to have a paper map if you plan on wandering off!
3. Reliance on the Software: I don’t know about you, but I find that I can sometimes rely on the digital maps TOO much, and I won’t remember how to get somewhere as well compared to if I did it by paper. Having the information always reliably available lessens our needs to memorize routes. I do my best to not overuse the digital maps, and I recommend you do the same.