From Roadmaps to Roadside Navigation

Since the beginnings of early sea travel adventurers of all sorts would draw up maps to try and visualize how the world looked. Map-makers or cartographers as they were sometimes called would make pictorial representations of the world drawn onto a page and make them drawn to some kind of scale. From the ancient times the map was drawn onto parchment with some kind of brush, these limited the amount of maps that were circulating. Then with more technological advancements such as the printing press, more maps were made available to the public. Then more recently with orbital imaging from spacecrafts, very accurate designs of the world were able to be created. Other technological advancements such as the telescope and magnetic compasses also helped with the development of accurate maps.

Now GPS have taken the place of road maps. The bits of information that feed into the GPS devices through the satellites are replacing the atoms of a physical road map. With technology like this there always comes a battle between new and old. The idea of being able to read a roadmap and locate one's location of latitude and longitude is becoming a skill that is rendered obsolete. The GPS devices not only give the user a live feed of the roads in a map-like image, but also has a voice that verbalizes the directions. This can cause errors as well because just like any electronic devices there is the threat of failure. The GPS may freeze up causing the user to miss a turn, or it may not recognize one-way streets, which is what happened to me at one point in time. The GPS didn't recognize the one-way street and asked me to turn left when the street was running right. Passing that street I thought the GPS would now redirect me with another route (which it usually does when a direction is missed), but rather it took me in a circle back to the point at which I could not turn left again. Seeing this happen a second time I realized I had to look at the map on the GPS screen and find my own alternate route to the destination. So while technology does make life easier it should be a supplement to skills and not a complete substitute.

These GPS systems though have made life easier as one no longer needs multiple road maps of cities when traveling, but rather one device with a satellite connection. That is even better yet when doing traveling by foot, one does not need to fuss with maps that take 30 creases in order to fold completely and shove into the fanny pack. This is a technology that has taken the place of conventional maps and improved upon its concept tenfold. No longer are compasses needed to assist with map reading, because the GPS has built-in magnetic trackers as well. Furthermore, this is a technology with the capability to continue growing into an even bigger market.