Does Anybody Nonetheless Use Paper Maps?

Seems, what’s outdated is new once more.

There’s no denying that smartphones have modified the world. Whether or not you’re watching a TikTok, studying a recipe, texting your bestie, watching a Dolly Parton video clip, or snapping a photo of your dog, smartphones are extremely helpful. Probably the most useful issues smartphones have completed, although, is make it almost not possible to get misplaced. Whereas all of us have one dad or mum who can nonetheless handle to go astray, smartphones with their built-in GPS and map apps imply that you may at all times discover a fuel station, a diner, or the quickest path to Nashville. So why are so many individuals returning to paper maps? Let’s take a deeper look.

“A mixture of maps as artwork and a seek for a much bigger image from younger vacationers has sparked a large bounce in gross sales,” stories NBC’s Sam Brock for TODAY on the current surge in paper map gross sales. AAA made 123% extra paper maps in 2022 than in 2021, according to TODAY. In truth, paper maps have been rising in recognition for a number of years now, beginning, as many issues did, within the early days of the pandemic, when automobiles felt safer than trains, buses, or planes. That 12 months, the UK’s nationwide mapping service, Ordnance Survey, saw a whopping 144% rise in gross sales of paper maps in 2020, adopted by a 28% rise the subsequent 12 months.

So why are maps booming now when most of us have a GPS in our palms always? Tony Rodono proprietor of Charlotte, North Carolina.’s MapShop, advised TODAY that it has to do with wanting to grasp the world, not simply drive by means of it. “In the event you merely wish to get from Level A to Level B by all means take heed to the GPS robotic voice,” Rodono tells TODAY. “If you wish to perceive the world round you, the robotic voice can’t assist. Maps provide contexts and clues as to why a spot is like it’s and the way you stand in relation to the locations round you.”

As for why paper maps are returning to recognition,  Brock speculates that it could need to do with individuals spending extra time in distant locations like national parks the place cell telephones don’t work and paper maps are the one choice. Meaning the subsequent time you’re planning a road trip, deliver your cellphone, however possibly pack a paper map, too, simply so the children will suppose you’re cool.

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