Pathfinder I
Are we forgetting the basics like map reading and relying on electronic's and gadgets to much?. I think we are I have known people that can not use a map and compass to find there way around.
Are we forgetting the basics?
- Thread starter Roger352
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Influencer II
yup I would say were way past basics.... but that isn't just in "overlanding". I would venture to say that half of us don't even really know how to read a map or use a compass. But what can you do? Times have changed and everything is digital. Just last night I was telling my pre teen son how we had to go to a library and look for the damn cards then go find the book and actually read it to do our book reports.....
First piece of gear I put in my car is always a highway map/atlas.
Never know when your phone will kick out.
Never know when your phone will kick out.
I agree... its important I feel to have these things and to teach kids how to read them as well.
But with cell coverage becoming more and more reliable and broader less and less people care about it. I've started to get coverage now in areas out here in the desert that never had them before. Its both amazing and scary at the same time.
Traveler III
Reading through the Overland Navigation forum, you will find several threads on paper maps and guide books. And in threads where people list what they always bring, many times a map and compass will be listed. Whether the user could truly navigate using one, I don't know. I'm old enough that learning map reading and orienteering was just normal.
I agree Steve. I remember lots of people could read a map, but couldn't figure out how to fold one correctly. Lol
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To be fair, I'm pretty sure some of the maps out there require an in depth knowledge on non euclidean geometry to understand how to refold
I know for our emergency bags I have a full map of the area around us to find alternate routes. With a large lake dividing where we live and Seattle it becomes important to know some other ways around.
I keep an old Rand McNally road atlas in the map pocket behind my seat. (Are they called map pockets? That's what we always called then growing up) At least we can do rough navigation with that if the phones or GPS go down.
When we would take family road trips out West all we had was an atlas and state maps. There was nothing else. We had a mobile phone for emergencies, but it was in a huge bag under the seat.
When we would take family road trips out West all we had was an atlas and state maps. There was nothing else. We had a mobile phone for emergencies, but it was in a huge bag under the seat.
I'm not sure a compass is all that useful where roads are involved. Usually we just follow the road same as a GPS track. I haven't been too many places where you couldn't track where you were or where you are going with just a good map and a pencil to mark unmapped roads.
I have only really used GPS a couple of times to follow a route. Particularly a few weeks ago on the Mojave Road. 20 years ago we spend a lot of time scratching our heads and looking at the guidebook. This time, I just followed the purple line. Kinda boring.
THAT SAID, most of my overlanding has been in the desert west where being on the ground is like being on a bog 1:1 scale map.
-M
I have only really used GPS a couple of times to follow a route. Particularly a few weeks ago on the Mojave Road. 20 years ago we spend a lot of time scratching our heads and looking at the guidebook. This time, I just followed the purple line. Kinda boring.
THAT SAID, most of my overlanding has been in the desert west where being on the ground is like being on a bog 1:1 scale map.
-M
Traveler III
I have about two dozen Delorme Gazeteer books, and always have at least the ones I'm traveling through in the vehicle, as well as a state map.
Off-Road Ranger I
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I like collecting the free state maps at the welcome centers, but they do take up a lot of space when you start to have over 30 of them in the map pockets behind the seats. I use them quite a bit when the highways are closed due to accidents or when I just want to take a more scenic route to the same old boring place that I have traveled to many times already. Plus, state maps are free!
Enthusiast II
My get home bags all have compasses and local maps. The compass may never be used but then again, if you really need it, you don't want to be without it.
Then again, I learned orienteering as a kid, how to navigate, how to read a map (how many people today could hike using just a topo map, compass and pencil?)
I usually keep a trucker's atlas in the car because they also often show fuel stops and other useful info that the regular road maps won't contain.
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Then again, I learned orienteering as a kid, how to navigate, how to read a map (how many people today could hike using just a topo map, compass and pencil?)
I usually keep a trucker's atlas in the car because they also often show fuel stops and other useful info that the regular road maps won't contain.
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