by P. Clifford

Created on: March 25, 2009

Will GPS replace maps? Yes, and it will largely be because of electronic ink. Imagine feeling like Ferdinand Magellan when you whip a scroll from your jacket's breast pocket. You unfurl it like a miniature window shade and ask, "Where am I?" The color screen (electronic ink will have evolved to color by this point) comes to life and a little two-dimensional world revolves and zooms in on your exact position like a scene from Google Earth. Your spouse swoons and the techno-geeks standing nearby are filled with intrigue and envy as if you were 'tweeting' from your iPhone in 2009.

"Would you like to see an aerial photo of our current location?" You ask as you try to hold back a self-exalting smirk.

You can almost hear the naysayers crowing, "Never! What about batteries and that cell tower dead spot between Montreal and the Yukon?" We all can concede their points are valid. No, we will never be without maps. There will always be the one Christopher Columbus penned and the ones they sell on Hollywood Blvd. showing the exact location of Abe Vigoda's villa. No wait, you could probably Google Abe's house on the scroll. The larger point is if you are not running the Iditarod you probably can use the electronic scroll.

You may ask, "What technological barriers stand between us and this magical device?" E-Ink's co-founder Russ Wilcox (E-Ink is the world leader in electronic ink) has said, "At the end of 2010, you will start to see improvements in the ink. We will have a whiter white and a blacker black, and we will start to experiment with color. You will probably see 2011 be the year of color." To which the skeptic might reply, "But, Russ, really the Amazon Kindle's screen refreshes so slow I can trim my hedges between pages." Mr. Wilcox says the speed will increase to an almost imperceptible rate by 2011/2012.

The longest time horizon for the rosy scenario printed here is for the flexible display. It may be five, ten or maybe fifteen years out. Even if you have to carry around an e-reader like the Kindle with a 12-inch screen, it has to be better than the two-foot tall atlases they are peddling at Wal-Mart.

So until the scroll comes to market, we will all have to bide our time either listening to the Kate Winslet-ish voice tell us to take the next left' or listen to our spouse tell us the resolution on the $5 atlas is not good enough to tell where we are. Either way, you can bet there is a service station employee weeping somewhere, desperately hoping someone will stop in and ask for directions to the nearest Crabtree and Evelyn.

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