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A few years ago, a person setting out on a long trip or going into an unfamiliar city would purchase a road map and try to plan his/her route. Individuals who traveled extensively from one side of the country to the other would purchase them in a collection known as a road atlas. Today, not nearly as many road maps are in use because they have become obsolete. How did this happen?
The beginning of the end for road maps came when websites like Mapquest became available online. These sites not only provided maps with routes outlined directly on them, they provided turn by turn directions that could be followed without the use of a map. As the technology became more refined, the need for a map ceased to exist.
Another nail in the coffin of road maps was driven home when GPS technology became available to the public. This was a closely guarded secret used by the military to track troop movements and locations for many years, but is now available to anyone. A relatively large number of people have installed GPS devices in their vehicles that can provide real time updates on location and distance to destination.
Most of these GPS devices have maps programmed into them that can be displayed on a screen. The driver can punch in the destination he/she is trying to reach and see the exact route traced out on the map. One advantage of these devices is that real time updates allow them to route individuals around heavy traffic or construction zones. Some even track accidents and guide drivers around them to avoid becoming snarled in traffic.
With these technologies at their fingertips, drivers no longer have a need to purchase paper road maps. These were normally so large when unfolded that they became a problem, and many people never did learn how to refold them properly.
Conservation groups see the changes as a positive because the advent of the electronic devices and directions on the internet reduce the number of trees that are cut down to produce the paper the maps were printed on. While trees are a renewable resource, there was a time when demand for paper products outstripped the land's ability to replace the wood consumed.
Another problem that people had with maps is that there were some who had no idea how to read them. All the roads and towns were marked with different symbols. While the maps included a legend that identified the symbols, many never learned how to read them properly. In some cases, people would even turn the map upside down, getting them so completely lost they would have to stop and ask for directions.
All in all, the need for paper road maps has been virtually eliminated in our society. Advances in technology are coming at such a fast pace that it not be surprising to one day soon be able to get into a car and type a destination into an onboard computer to have the car drive itself there choosing the best route to take based on GPS technology and radio transmissions.
Until that day comes, there are still the GPS navigation systems that people can purchase and place in their cars and the websites that provide explicit directions on how to get from point A to point B. The human must still drive the car, but finding the destination and choosing the best route is being more and more taken over by computers.
In the grand scheme of things, paper road maps have become completely obsolete. They have been replaced by electronic maps and destination data that take all of the guesswork out of finding a strange location and reaching it without becoming lost.
When one can get directions this clear off the internet or use a GPS to find the easiest and fastest route based on where is currently located, learning to read a road map seems a bit redundant. Eliminating the need to have them printed saves natural resources that could be put to better use elsewhere.
Advances in technology and outspoken conservationists have come together to create the demise of the traditional paper road map. Road maps are not needed when one can get directions from sites like Mapquest or pull up an electronic map with the route marked and directions being given in real time, as with many GPS navigation systems. Worry over the abuse of the world's resources has given voice to groups that recommend cutting back on the use of resources for items that are not really needed. To this end, fewer maps are being printed now than in the past.
Another thing that makes many maps obsolete has nothing to do with technology or conservation. It is that roads are always being constructed or changed in such ways that traditional maps may not show an accurate picture of potential routes anymore.
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