Do you still keep paper road maps in your car?

[crgildart]

Might also come in handy to start a fire to keep warm if I break down outside of cell phone coverage.

 

[albertanskigirl]

Definitely paper maps. Most of where I drive has little cell signal outside of the cities: Alberta, interior BC, Yukon, Alaska, Montana...
I love google though for roads inside of cities - nothing better than that!

 

[Sibhusky]

Since I don't have a smartphone, I download all the maps for my route ahead of time. So I don't need WiFi. It turned out to be critical last year when after 25 miles through the forest the road was closed due to beaver activity, with no detour markings. I was able to reroute us only because I keep "local" maps on the tablet all the time. We'd left the Garmin home because "we knew where we were going". The minor roads we took are definitely not on any atlas, we'd have had to have had local maps for the area. I've downloaded the entire state of Montana and its adjacent states for just such an occurrence. I highly recommend Maps with Me as an app.

 

[crgildart]

Not sure I get all the objections where no cell signal is a problem. I don't need a cell signal to use a GPS. Satellite reception is usually pretty solid everywhere... cell coverage not so much. Really bad weather can interfere with satellite reception SOME. but not much.

If I didn't have a stand alone GPS I'd definitely need maps in addition to cellular device for navigation.. Maybe once a year I've had satellite signal issues, and only for an hour or so..

 

[KingGrump]

I use couple of stand alone GPS until they get funky. And they do get funky sometimes. Then it's paper map as the next fall back.

 

[albertanskigirl]

Not sure I get all the objections where no cell signal is a problem. I don't need a cell signal to use a GPS. Satellite reception is usually pretty solid everywhere... cell coverage not so much. Really bad weather can interfere with satellite reception SOME. but not much.

If I didn't have a stand alone GPS I'd definitely need maps in addition to cellular device for navigation.. Maybe once a year I've had satellite signal issues, and only for an hour or so..

GPS depends on having satellites directly overhead, and sometimes the satellites affiliated directly with your service. In northern Alberta, BC, Yukon, Alaska, that is pretty sketch. I've even waited 20-30 minutes before just to get sat phone reception in areas near the Alaska highway. Satellite radio or GPS - forget about it.

I think this is probably a rarety though, I think most people do just fine with GPS

 

[Sibhusky]

I have a daughter who, though now thirty, has spent the last dozen years on adventures in remote locations where there was NO cell service, sometimes for work, sometimes for fun, sometimes alone. We own one of those SPOT devices as a result. I can tell you from personal experience (yes, I'm such a mom) there are tons of areas of terrain where the device does not have a signal at all, FOR HOURS AND HOURS. In the mountains (river beds, canyons, etc.) or the desert (cracks in the desert floor). But generally speaking if you're driving, eventually you'll drive out of the area. It might be a long back track, but if you've got the base map you might not need to know more than generally where you are.

The satellite direction for our TV is so low in the sky we're starting to have tree issues with our downhill neighbors. And it takes several minutes for my tablet to figure out where I am. I'm guessing Alaska is worse yet.

 

[crgildart]

The satellite direction for our TV is so low in the sky we're starting to have tree issues with our downhill neighbors. And it takes several minutes for my tablet to figure out where I am. I'm guessing Alaska is worse yet.

Satellite TV and phone are totally different networks and require a lot more solid data connections than simple GPS units do. If my GPS utility was even 1/100th as sketchy as satellite TV can be in hard rain I would agree that it's not reliable enough to depend on.

As little as three years ago GPS signals were trouble some for me in more remote mountain areas, even in town sometimes. I've driven pretty remote areas from here all the way to as remote as Idaho and Montana get.. Never lost the GPS signal the whole time... just last month. You folks should give GPS another try. It's gotten WAY better in the past year or two.

 

[Philpug]

GPS, Smartphones are about the destination. Maps are about the journey.

 

[pais alto]

GPS, Smartphones are about the destination. Maps are about the journey.

Oh, I am so stealing this.

 

[JeffB]

I carry a gazetteer for the state(s) I am in and, if going hiking, backpacking, camping, or otherwise planning to be outside, I also have the paper USFS maps with me and a compass. Rarely if ever use them. Can't remember the last time I used them during a journey in fact. But makes me feel better to have them, even if the best use they will see is either fire tinder or toilet paper. I also carry a very old Michellin road atlas I haven't opened in many years.

That said, absent a true emergency, I'd be hard pressed to burn or wipe with that stuff because I like paper maps too much. Have a number of truly old ones framed and on the walls in office and home. Would make me feel like I wiped my soiled rear end with a puppy ... can't do it.

 

[Sibhusky]

As little as three years ago GPS signals were trouble some for me in more remote mountain areas, even in town sometimes. I've driven pretty remote areas from here all the way to as remote as Idaho and Montana get.. Never lost the GPS signal the whole time... just last month. You folks should give GPS another try. It's gotten WAY better in the past year or two.

Er, think I pretty clearly said I'm using GPS via: Garmin, car, and tablet. The only map in my car these days is a 13 year old local road map. All three have their shortcomings. And if you haven't lost GPS, then you're sticking to some pretty boring roads.

 

[TexasStout]

I travel using Google maps/Waze. My wife brings paper maps (just in case!) when we go on long trips to other states. I'll often review the route on Google maps on my laptop before we head out and make sure my phone version follows the same path.

 

[Snowfan]

Nope. I can't "get lost" if I don't know where I'm going.

 

[noncrazycanuck]

maps or charts always on hand , electronics are easy but paper compass sextant always works.
in some of our remote areas I ve followed gps directions when i know they are wrong just to see where we eventually wind up.
sometimes it was in the middle of nowhere, ok if you know the way out not so good if you don't

 

[Plai]

On a recent trip I had to purchase a paper map because I forget to bring some from home. Like many before, I tend to travel to places not marked by the "devices". Seems like the devices usually really good in "civilized" places.

Also like many before, I like to get intensionally lost, just to see what's there.

 

[Bad Bob]

Children, if you don't have paper along, you deserve whatever happens. Nature always calls.

 

[Philpug]

Might also come in handy to start a fire to keep warm if I break down outside of cell phone coverage.

Isn't that why someone has a Samsung Galaxy?

 

[Troy]

GPS,Smartphone can never take place of my paper map. Brain needs a visual view of my surroundings. I always travel with my TomTom, Dennis Hopper voice guidance and support.