I Pulled Out a Paper Map—And a Gen Zer's Reaction Made Me Realize How Much Has Changed

I love GPS navigation systems for getting around. To me, that’s the number 1 most useful technological innovation to come in the last couple of decades. I would give up almost any new technology this century except for GPS navigation. But I still *love* paper maps. If you want point-to-point direction, use GPS. But if you want to plan a trip, or a walk, or a day sightseeing, you need a map. You don’t just want a start and end point and directions in between. You want to see the surrounding area, places along the way, side trips, points of interest. It’s not always about the fastest route from here to there. Sometimes you *intentionally* want to take the byways, not the highways. Unfortunately, it’s getting harder to find road maps for trip planning. There are some places you really cannot rely on GPS or having a cell signal, like on a backcountry backpacking trip or even some remote drives. I use maps for hiking. But I also like to have maps in the car for longer drives in case I lose cell service. And I also enjoy creative and artistic maps. Some tourist maps are very fun. And even maps not drawn for fun can be pleasing and beautiful. There’s a word for people who love maps — cartophile.