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| Yes | 51% | 347 votes | Total: 676 votes | |
| No | 49% | 329 votes |
Yes
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Add to FavoritesThe problem with the question is the presence of the word 'ever'. In the strictest sense, there should be little argument that, at some point in the future, maps will become an anachronism. They are bulky, prone to tearing, awkward to search and ultimately not the best way to answer many of the inquiries that someone using a map really wants answered. Questions like "Which way will get me there the fastest taking the current traffic into consideration?" "Which route is the most scenic?" "Which route goes past the most antique shops (or pubs...your personal choice for important criteria will depend on your inclinations ;))
When you get done to it, these are the reasons that conventional maps will go away. They will stop being useful. They can only answer a couple of questions and these are rarely the most important questions that a navigator wants answered. They have been used until now because there were no alternatives. But that is in the process of changing. Ten years from now, you won't be able to purchase a new car that doesn't have a built-in GPS system. And while that is fine for your car, it's still not enough to kill off maps completely. That will happen when you carry around a map with you all the time...in your cell phone.
That will be the tipping point for GPS over conventional maps. When your cell phone lets you easily answer all of the questions that a map cannot, there will no longer be a need for a map. This isn't to say that all printing of maps will stop. The Yellow Pages are still printed, even though the vast majority of the information contained inside is more readily accessible on the Internet. Newspapers are also in the process of going through this disruptive process. And at the end of the road, the industry will not look anything like it does now.
The same will happen with map publishers. They will be force to adopt to the new technology and the habits of their clients. Those that make the shift will survive. Those that won't will be added to the rosters of companies that 'used to matter'. A list that contains such luminaries as Digital Equipment Corporation, most railroad companies, Western Union (twice...first, they could have purchased the patent on the telephone and second, they failed to foresee the impact of technology on messaging). It hasn't happened to map companies yet. It might not happen in the next five years. But make no mistake...it will happen. And all of us will benefit when it does, because that is the legacy of disruptive technologies.
Learn more about this author, Bruce Johnson.
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No
Garmin, TomTom, and a whole slew of other portable GPS devices that most people wouldn't think of leaving home without. A lot easier to deal with than the traditional road maps that can never be refolded into their original configuration; and they can be consulted while driving. Try that sometime with a traditional map - well, for the sake of safety, don't really try it, but you get my meaning. If you've ever tried to read a map while driving, you know how hard it is. Maps also don't talk to you like your GPS does.
One might be tempted to think that with such widespread use and availability of these handy, easy to use devices, the traditional map is going the way of the dinosaur. If I were you, though, I wouldn't consign maps to the recycle bin just yet.
For one thing, GPS, the Global Positioning System, is not truly global. Much like the mobile phone network, there are areas of the globe that are not adequately covered. Coverage depends on the orientation of the system of satellites, and there remain areas of the earth that get no useable signal. Find yourself in one of them, and your GPS becomes a handy paperweight to hold your map down while you consult it.
Writers will also be users of traditional maps for a long time to come. Don't believe me? Try sometime to use a GPS to plot the flow of characters in a novel, or to get a broad view of an area for an article. You can use the GPS to plot the time it takes a character to travel from point A to point B, but that is about the limit of the device's usefulness. I've tried it, and without a map, a lot of the character of the journey is lost; important if you are to write convincing prose. It simply cannot be done without a real map, spread out on the desk or floor.
For routine travel in most of the developed world, the GPS will continue to be the directional device of choice and will undoubtedly supplant traditional maps. But, if you travel to some of the lesser developed countries, or need a map for research, the GPS will not suffice. No GPS has yet been developed that can show a wide area effectively, especially areas outside cities where landmarks consist of contour lines or ridge lines rather than intersections or major buildings.
To paraphrase the writer Mark Twain, rumors of the death of the traditional map are premature.
Learn more about this author, Charles Ray.
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