Maps

[Dawg Hair, SASS #29557]

Question.  With GPS in cars and cellphones does anybody use maps anymore?  I remember arguing with my co-pilot/better half/wife, who could not tell the difference between North and South, in long car trips about where to turn off or just where in heck were we!  Now, of course, I've got a woman's voice coming out of the dashboard telling me what to do.  In my Chevrolet Silverado she always says "please turn", but in my BMW she never says "please", the damn "kraut" doll just orders me to turn.

I kinda miss the old paper maps though.

[Chantry]

I keep a road atlas in my car, between that, the car's GPS and my phone's GPS, I think I'm covered

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

I know how to read a map, I don't have GPS and wouldn't know what to do with it if I did. When I started making my Az. to Ohio trips a few years back, the guys at work were astonished when I showed them a Road Atlas. They were even more surprised when I showed them my Playlist, a stack of CDs.

[Rye Miles #13621]

I had 4 different county maps in my car when I was working full time. I really don’t miss em at all. I like my Apple Maps on my phone. It’s hooked up to my car (blue tooth) and she doesn’t talk if I have my radio on unless there’s an alert about a speed trap. If I have the radio off she will talk but I always have the radio on. They give me 2 or 3 choices of different routes. I think it’s awesome! 😎 

[Old Man Graybeard]

I retired 6 or 7 years ago...I drove truck for 47 years. I depended on the motor carriers atlas. when you see all these trucks in stupid places...it was usually the fault of GPS. The run of the mill GPS may be fine for cars...but not for trucks...and even the truck specific GPS units have errors in their programming. They can be handy at times...but I won't ever rely on one of them

[Injun Ryder, SASS #36201L]

For offroading, I took pictures of detailed local National Forest maps and use them to supplement the offroading app on my cellphone and Garmin GPS. I can zoom in on the map area and see it much better than the map itself. The NF maps contain much more detail on roads, terrain, water tanks, etc.

 

I also carry the NF paper maps in my SxS.

 

I carry a DeLorme state atlas in my pickup and have the western states set as well as numerous AAA maps at home and use as needed.

 

I like maps as I can get a broader view of areas than with GPS apps. I like to see what is miles away and maps satisfy that desire.

[Blackwater 53393]

I don’t use GPS! When I was traveling and vending at SASS matches, I would pull out the Rand McNally atlas and put my route together before I set out. 
 

I remember one particular time when we were all headed to Comin’AtCha’! There were a few of the vendors who had not been to T-Bone’s place before and Jimmy Spurs ended up out in a field that wasn’t very close to our destination.  He was using GPS.

 

At my job, before retirement, all of our busses were equipped with Garmin units.  I usually found an atlas in the driver’s compartment when I was performing service on those vehicles. Many of them had the Garmin stuck up in a cabinet.

 

I asked one of my driver friends why he didn’t use the GPS. He said that on any number of occasions, he could see the destination venue, but the GPS would send him on the wrong route and he would eventually stop and get directions from a local.  Mostly, it was sending drivers down one way streets the wrong way and other dumb stuff.

 

I have the Google map app and sometimes use it for locating a place on the expanded view of the final few small streets not shown in the atlas, but I print a picture of that map and place it with the last page in the atlas to refer to once I reach the destination town or locale.

[Alpo]

Back in 8. I am taking my daughter's family to Mule Camp. They have moved it from Gainesville to Conyers.

 

On their website they gave directions and they had a map drawn. I printed out both the directions and the map. So we're tootling down the interstate, and I tell my son-in-law - we just passed our exit.

He taps the thing on the dashboard and tells me that TomTom says we should continue on down the road.

TomTom took us into the middle of downtown Conyers. Because the range address was not in its memory. And since it could not find "1 2 3 Elm Street Conyers Georgia", it just took us to the middle of Conyers Georgia.

So we get back on the interstate and we go back up the road about 10 miles and get off at the exit that the instructions told us to and followed the map. Worked great.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

I really miss Thomas Brothers maps.  When I had my own business I travelled all over California from Mexico to north of the San Francisco Bay area without much else, just a compass on my dash and a note pad and pens.

 

Finally got a huge flip phone a year before I retired.

[watab kid]

i have maps of all nonboring states as well as my own and any i might venture to , i also have maps for some historic sareas , state and national parks - i have one for voyagers when i take my boat in there , so yes i still have maps - when your gps fails you need them mine has failed a few times ......its also nice to put things in perspective on paper sometimes rather than that narrow small phone screen or even that larger one in the car , once in a while i want to look at alternative routes that take me off the beaten path for some location not on my agenda ...i switch it up a bit from time to time, 

[Sheriff Dill]

11 hours ago, Old Man Graybeard said:

I retired 6 or 7 years ago...I drove truck for 47 years. I depended on the motor carriers atlas. when you see all these trucks in stupid places...it was usually the fault of GPS. The run of the mill GPS may be fine for cars...but not for trucks...and even the truck specific GPS units have errors in their programming. They can be handy at times...but I won't ever rely on one of them

I remember responding to many calls of big trucks stuck on roads they couldn’t be on. When asked why they are there they would always respond “ the GPS” said too. There are a few roads here that the state has the light up boards miles and miles away telling big trucks not to take the road or get fines. I’ve had my gps in my Kia and my iPhone take me down one lane roads. 

[Sheriff Dill]

Growing up it was maps then my father bought atlases. 

[Eyesa Horg]

The DeLorme State atlases were always good. Still have em!

[Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001]

DON'T let the 2LT have it 

 

ya will be lost for a while 

[Jimmy Reb, SASS #54804]

Here in Wyoming there are many areas where GPS doesn't work.

When we moved here I looked for maps of the major cities.  There were very few, so I created a three ring binder of city maps. Delorme atlas is good and I have 1 in each truck.

[Sedalia Dave]

14 hours ago, Old Man Graybeard said:

I retired 6 or 7 years ago...I drove truck for 47 years. I depended on the motor carriers atlas. when you see all these trucks in stupid places...it was usually the fault of GPS. The run of the mill GPS may be fine for cars...but not for trucks...and even the truck specific GPS units have errors in their programming. They can be handy at times...but I won't ever rely on one of them

 

Yep I have a Garmin GPS plus Google maps on my phone.  Several times the Garmin would route me incorrectly and seldom if ever gives traffic alerts in time enough to take a detour.

 

Last big error was found was to Smokin Guns at Rabbit Ridge. I knew the way because I had been there before. Garmin gave me directions that ended with a 1/4 mile drive across a corn field.

 

Another match that GPS always gets the directions to wrong is Shootin in the Shade.  You have to follow the directions provided by the club. If you follow your GPS you'll end up on private roads and trails only a jeep would use.

[Sedalia Dave]

My preferred road atlas. is the large scale version. It comes spiral bound and shows roads in better detail than the typical atlas, has more city maps, and gets updated every year. The spiral binding makes it easy to keep open to the page(s) of interest.

 

 

[Sedalia Dave]

3 minutes ago, Sedalia Dave said:

My preferred road atlas. is the large scale version. It comes spiral bound and shows roads in better detail than the typical atlas, has more city maps, and gets updated every year. The spiral binding makes it easy to keep open to the page(s) of interest.

 

 

 

Just discovered that there is a motor carriers version in large scale. Going to have to get one.

 

I still like Google maps on my PC/Phone because it typically shows recent road closures. 

 

 s

[Cypress Sun]

39 minutes ago, Sedalia Dave said:

 

Yep I have a Garmin GPS plus Google maps on my phone.  Several times the Garmin would route me incorrectly and seldom if ever gives traffic alerts in time enough to take a detour.

 

Last big error was found was to Smokin Guns at Rabbit Ridge. I knew the way because I had been there before. Garmin gave me directions that ended with a 1/4 mile drive across a corn field.

 

Another match that GPS always gets the directions to wrong is Shootin in the Shade.  You have to follow the directions provided by the club. If you follow your GPS you'll end up on private roads and trails only a jeep would use.

 

I don't know if it still does but the Lake Co. Pistoleros used to have a problem with some Garmin type apps sending you down a dirt road in farm land that led to a bunch of sugar sand. They'd get buried up to the frame.

[Alpo]

2 hours ago, Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001 said:

DON'T let the 2LT have it 

 

ya will be lost for a while 

Utah Bob posted a story some time back. Winter training in the FRD, saving the world from the godless communist in the DDR.

They are schussing (as Bob explained - That's what you do on skis. You schuss) along. And at one point, as he is in the lead, someone who was apparently a little worried says, "Hey Ell Tee, you know where we're going?"

 

To which Bobby replied, "Of course, I've got the map right chere".

It's a great story. You just need to remember that Luger has an r in it.
 

[Trailrider #896]

I'm going on 84. My Dad taught me to read maps as soon as I could read. I'd navigate for him when we took road trips.   I have ridden in a number of vehicles where someone else was driving, where they were depending on GPS. Sometimes we were even going places in my neighborhood,  so I knew the routes I usually take. Danged GPS would have you going by Robbins' back barn! Also wouldn't show where street repairs had sprung up. When I bought my Ford Flex about 8 years ago, I intentionally bought one that does NOT have GPS. I usually print out a map or several of where I'm going. Danged GPS, even with the female voice is too distracting. 

[watab kid]

18 hours ago, Sheriff Dill said:

Growing up it was maps then my father bought atlases. 

i still have atlasses - i have maps of lakes here and a book of detailed maps of the entire country p not sure how accrte they are any more as they date to the 80s , i have maps with GFPS coordinates from the 90s - i think they might be accurate as GPS has remained the same 

[Kid Rich]

I just bought a new 2027 road atlas.

kR

[Alpo]

[John Kloehr]

I used to always have paper maps in the car. Had a stack in the glove box for wherever I was likely to go, and would call AAA for more when I was going somewhere else.

 

All good, collected a nice box of maps for the region. some years went by. I moved somewhere else. Called AAA to get maps of the nearby cities and such... No longer offered, not offered in years. They still offered TripTiks, but not the regular old plain folding maps. And I do not want a big national book of maps, I just want to have enough to get home when the New Madrid fault lets loose, knocks out power to the cell network, which goes off line as the batteries all go empty. Then if I come across a bridge which fell in the river or a tree across the road, I want to pick a path around it. BTDT in the Loma Prieta quake.

 

Still, GPS is great as long as it is working. Back in the day, as a halfway benefit of google maps, I would print out turn-by-turn directions when going somewhere I was not familiar with. Now I start my vehicle, bring up the soft keyboard on the dashboard screen, type in my destination, pick one of the offered routes, and it tracks my progress. If I pick a different road or miss a turn, it sorts itself out and puts me back on track. Also get warnings for stoplight cameras, speed enforcement, even accidents and alternate routes to avoid them. It's great! But it can lead to being blind to where one actually is, and how to get home if the system quits.

[watab kid]

i do have some obsolete maps in my truck , they would work in a pinch to get me close , i keep an older GPS unit as well , it will work as well as that map , but my phone is the go-to these days , , it works better now that i have the new one 

[Rye Miles #13621]

6 hours ago, watab kid said:

i do have some obsolete maps in my truck , they would work in a pinch to get me close , i keep an older GPS unit as well , it will work as well as that map , but my phone is the go-to these days , , it works better now that i have the new one 

My IPhone map never fails me. It’s great! 

[watab kid]

15 hours ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

My IPhone map never fails me. It’s great! 

i guarantee you that if you p[ut our range in there it will take you to the airport fence a mile down the road - happens all the time , people call - i talk them back and all is good , not sure why but its so common i just start giving directions to turn around and drive back - havent tried putting it in mine as i know where im going 

[Texas Joker]

On 6/4/2026 at 7:56 PM, John Kloehr said:

I used to always have paper maps in the car. Had a stack in the glove box for wherever I was likely to go, and would call AAA for more when I was going somewhere else.

 

All good, collected a nice box of maps for the region. some years went by. I moved somewhere else. Called AAA to get maps of the nearby cities and such... No longer offered, not offered in years. They still offered TripTiks, but not the regular old plain folding maps. And I do not want a big national book of maps, I just want to have enough to get home when the New Madrid fault lets loose, knocks out power to the cell network, which goes off line as the batteries all go empty. Then if I come across a bridge which fell in the river or a tree across the road, I want to pick a path around it. BTDT in the Loma Prieta quake.

 

Still, GPS is great as long as it is working. Back in the day, as a halfway benefit of google maps, I would print out turn-by-turn directions when going somewhere I was not familiar with. Now I start my vehicle, bring up the soft keyboard on the dashboard screen, type in my destination, pick one of the offered routes, and it tracks my progress. If I pick a different road or miss a turn, it sorts itself out and puts me back on track. Also get warnings for stoplight cameras, speed enforcement, even accidents and alternate routes to avoid them. It's great! But it can lead to being blind to where one actually is, and how to get home if the system quits.

Go to a state welcome center they still provide folding maps for free.

[Texas Joker]

You can go on ebay or Amazon and buy a brand new old atlas. If you look up 2025 rand mcnally motor carrier atlas you can buy a new one for about $20.  Roads didn't change that much in the last 6 months and if you're driving most regs listed stayed stable, I do know  one 13' railroad bridge that isn't there anymore, but that's a net positive not a negative.

 

 

[Kid Rich]

You can buy the new ones in Walmart for $19.95.

kR

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

3 hours ago, Texas Joker said:

You can go on ebay or Amazon and buy a brand new old atlas. If you look up 2025 rand mcnally motor carrier atlas you can buy a new one for about $20.  Roads didn't change that much in the last 6 months and if you're driving most regs listed stayed stable, I do know  one 13' railroad bridge that isn't there anymore, but that's a net positive not a negative.

 

3 hours ago, Kid Rich said:

You can buy the new ones in Walmart for $19.95.

kR

Truck Stops still have a Rand McNally Large Scale road atlas. It's 35% larger than your average atlas, and is spiral bound so that it lays flat. As a "bonus" it has a large section in the back that shows mileage between many cities and towns so that you can figure travel time. They're more expensive, but I think that it's worth it.

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

I have always kept Maps on hand for the areas/routes I plan to travel.  I mostly prefer the Handy Folding maps that are plastic coated.  I also rely heavily on GPS Navigation Systems.  The "on-board" nav system in my previous cars was quite nice once programmed.  However, it was an absolute pain in the butt to tell it where you wanted to go.  I find it really handy for alternate route information if your current route becomes untenable. 

 

Presently, I have discovered Apple Car Play and using Apple Maps for navigation.  Absolutely superb and frequently updated with the most current road information.  The OEM "on-board" nav system for my current car truly SUCKED!!