Printing out directions to different cities:
Posted by ggfchl@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 16 comments
I’m sure we all know that physical maps are of importance when cellular and/or internet goes out, making routing places on devices near impossible. Can you create a route from point A to point B, just by a paper map? I probably could, but I’m not entirely confident. I’d probably second guess and maybe stress over going one way vs another.
So my idea would be to print out directions from my house to other major cities both within my state and in the country. (Remember Mapquest back in the day?) In my case, I live in the Chicagoland area. So I’d route to downtown Chicago, Rockford, Bloomington, Springfield, Peoria, Moline, Champaign, St. Louis, Madison, Indy, just to name a few. I might never go specifically to those places, but rather to a city that’s close enough. (I’m not printing out directions to every city in my state; If I can get to Rockford, Freeport isn’t too far off and won’t need extra directions).
This could be applied to everyday life or whatever survival situation may come my way.
What do you think? Is printing out (detailed) directions a good idea?
CollectiveJohn@reddit
Just get a map and a compass
silasmoeckel@reddit
A Offline maps they are a thing make sure you have them including topo's.
B This is hard like literally find the two points and take a highlighter to show the path you want to take. This should be basic kit in your car I can get a fold out make to get town to town via major roads at the welcome center of my state for free.
C Preplanning as a substitute for a skill is problematic often your going to have to reroute on the fly.
Traditional-Leader54@reddit
I get having maps and even directions to certain locations but why would you want to head to a city? Is this for a year or two after SHTF?
Responsible-Sun55@reddit
Just get a Rand McNally road atlas.
DirectorBiggs@reddit
Here you go all, get your free state maps here: https://www.heyitsfree.net/free-state-maps/
datguy2011@reddit
You know you could just go to a local truck stop and buy a road map.
Tinman5278@reddit
I am confused on why you'd want to even attempt this. What happens if the specific routes you print out don't exist when you try to use them? What happens if the route you print into Chicago isn't safe? Wouldn't a general road map be more useful?
Personally I think a better use of time would be to look at maps and learn the geography so that if push comes to shove, you don't need a map at all. I mean, I live just outside of Boston. But I can get to downtown Chicago without a map - digital or printed.
CasualJamesIV@reddit
AAA used to (they may still) offer TripTick services, which were basically routes between one city and another. They were step by step paper maps, on a ring. I remember using them 25ish years ago, before GPS was prevalent. It may save you some time if you're a member
SheistyPenguin@reddit
Mapquest-style printouts are helpful if you know exactly where you need to go. I printed some for navigating to a second location, just to make things super-simple.
Otherwise, I try to practice navigating with a road atlas whenever we go on road trips.
AmosTali@reddit
I have paper maps and an atlas and I grew up before electronic mapping was a thing so I don’t stress about the silliness of what to do if my fancy doohickey can’t tell me where to go.
My advice, put your doohickey away for a while (six months?) and learn and practice navigating by paper maps. It’s not rocket science…
Jay4Kay@reddit
Because you're in the US you might want to consider adding the Numbered Highway System rules to a cheat sheet.
bismuth17@reddit
Another alternative might be an offline map application for your phone, with maps downloaded for wherever you care about. As long as the GPS satellites are still in the sky and your car has gas to power your phone charger, you can still get live turn-by-turn directions without Internet. And even if GPS also goes away, you can still get mapquest-like step-by-step instructions.
aerialadvantage14@reddit
bismuth17@reddit
I think a better prep would be buying maps and practicing navigating using them. It's fun! People did it all the time before MapQuest.
Gufurblebits@reddit
It’s super easy to get maps of entire areas that have everything you could possibly need on it.
I’m not sure why you’d waste the time and ink printing out stuff that already exists.
Liichei@reddit
I can't figure out from the post whether or not you already have paper maps of your area, but I reckon it'd be better to acquire them (if you don't have them already) and work on the skill of pathfinding by using the map, rather than printing detailed MapQuest-like instructions.