25 replies to this topic

[Old Crow]

GPS/paper-map storytime...

 

This thread reminds me of two bicycle-campers I met this Spring in Florida at Osceola National Forest's Ocean Pond campground. I had noticed them come in and set up nearby the previous evening.  The next morning I ran into them at the shower building.  They were a 30-ish couple from Massachusetts who told me they were mountain-biking from the Georgia-Florida border to Key West and trying to do as much of it as possible on the Florida National Scenic Trail.

 

They were hanging out at the shower building to charge their smartphones and had a small GPS (one of the Etrex ones, I believe).  Oddly, they asked if I knew where we were, how far it was to the nearest town, and how to get to the nearest Florida Trail segment  (which they had to have crossed on the way in to the campground). Their questions seemed a little off but maybe they were just trying to confirm what they already knew. But according to their body language, they were a bit lost and upset about it.

 

I answered as best I could and asked how the GPS was working out for them.  The guy said not very well as he had downloaded a route someone had made of the trip they wanted to take but the GPS wasn't working.  Each time they tried to use it, the GPS would calculate for 45 minutes and then try to take them to the beginning of the route. Every time. Uh-oh.

 

I knew the Florida state road map shows the Florida Trail so I offered to get mine from my truck for them to look at while I showered and maybe that would help them get oriented. (I also have a Delorme Gazetteer for Florida in the truck and figured I might have to get that out for more detail or perhaps use some of the maps on my iPad.  The Florida Trail admin office in Gainesville happens to be only about 60 miles on along their general course-line. They could pick up paper maps of the trail there.)

 

When I came out of the shower their body language was very different: they were oriented.   I told them they were welcome to keep the map as I could easily get another. They were now quite happy and anxious to get on with their day.  The guy told me they had decided they'd bike into Lake City and get a big breakfast and a motel and then decide what to do next.  That prompted the woman to ask if I'd join them for a selfie shot.  She said she'd title it "This is (Old Crow) and he gave us the map." 

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[Andy Douglass]

I recently overheard someone say "I can't tell which way is north on this map." It was a normal, modern map.

[Shadyapex]

The Death Valley Park Rangers have a phrase to describe those who blindly follow their devices without paying attention to the terrain. "Death by GPS." I imagine most of us have heard the story of the guy who tried to get to the Racetrack via Hunter Mountain and Lippencott Pass, in a rental Camry, in the middle of the night, in the summer. He was following his GPS.

Having said that I'm an "all of the above" kind of guy. I carry lots of maps, pay attention to the terrain and have Topo Maps, Earthmate and Pocket Earth all loaded onto both a phone and a tablet and carry an inReach in case of a worst case scenario. Plus sometimes it's  just nice to let someone know where you are, especially if you're alone.

[Shadyapex]

Another thought on paper "vs" digital. No digital device can do what your eye and brain combo can do with a paper map.

If you zoom in on a device to see the detail you will lose the overall perspective of where you are and if you zoom out you will lose the detail.

On the other hand, looking at a USGS quadrangle, for instance, your brain can retain the larger perspective even while you focus on the fine detail. You see with your eyes, you perceive with your brain. That's the main reason I won't ever stop carrying and using way too many paper maps even as I continue to embrace the digital devises for what they're good for, eg. confirming that I actually am where I think I am. When I was a mountaineering guide in the 90s and 00s we knew our terrain well enough that we could find our camp on Mt. Hood even in a full white out, but it sometimes took some time. One time it took a rather long time and one of the clients asked why we didn't use GPS. I didn't have a good answer so we changed our companies policy so that all guides carried a GPS. Also, our Forest Service Special Use Permit stipulated that we take all usual measures to ensure safety and we were a bit behind the curve. But of course the guides still carried a map, altimeter, and magnetic compass. As someone said, ski3pin I think?, "never trust your life to something that runs on batteries."

[windy]

These days paper maps are made using gps

[JaSAn]

These days paper maps are made using gps

 

USGS topo maps are made from stereoscopic aerial photography using on the ground surveyed control points.  GPS coordinates are added to the maps.