Like Cellular phones, GPS systems have worked their way into our lives and have taken away the favorite excuse of many of the eternally lost. With the GPS system you can no longer blame someone for not reading the map right or some such excuse. For this reason alone, the GPS can never replace the old-fashioned paper map.
Let's face it; there is nothing like spending 15 minutes puzzling over a map, trying to orient it in a way that makes sense to the direction you are facing. Sure the GPS serves a purpose for the person always rushing about in life but there is always a kind of charm in the paper map and the art of getting lost. I have seen many wonderful things while randomly driving around trying to find myself in some heretofore-unknown region of the town I have been living in for the last 10 years. With a GPS system you always know exactly where you are and all you have to do is tell the system where you want to go and it takes you there. It takes all the adventure out of the trip!
Like so many people out there, I myself own a GPS system and even use it occasionally. At the same time, I still have mapquest book marked on my computer and I still occasionally look at other conventional maps. Make no mistake the GPS system is handy but it has its flaws. When I pull up mapquest or pull out a conventional convenience store map I am able to see the route I am going to take, even if I don't get all the step-by-step instructions. I can look at the road in advance and know what to expect. The GPS systems I have seen rarely give this option. Sure they tell you how far it is until you reach your destination and even how fast you are traveling but you rarely see more than a mile or two in advance.
The good old-fashion conventional map has the advantage that you can write on it. On more than one occasion I have taken the time to make notes on the map so I can remember a partiular point of interest, a note about a restaraunt, or any one of a number of other things. No digital system I have seen allow you to make notes. Some of my older maps have so much writing on them you might mistake them for a treasure map! Little notes to myself all over the place as well as any number of other vital travel info I feel I will need to remember.
GPS systems serve their purpose in our lives. Conventional maps still play an important role and I think they will for the foreseeable future. If we get to the point where we are moving too fast to slow down and get lost on some country road at least every now and again then I fear we are already a lost civilization. We need some of that wanderlust in us; otherwise, we will all become shells devoid of personality with no sense of adventure. Having a GPS is nothing to be ashamed about. Just remember to leave it at home once in a while and get a little lost. It will you your soul good.