As a new driver who doesn’t know the names of anything, I must admit the idea of GPS is appealing. “Turn right, turn left” is nice when you just need to get there. But at the same time, I have stories from my friends whose GPS’s have directed them to a completely bizarre place, and they had no idea where to go from there, and no way to figure out how to get home. One time, my friends and I were meeting at a church in the suburbs… His GPS directed him to a golf course across town, and he had to call us so we could get on Mapquest and give him step-by-step directions! It worked out eventually, but took him an extra two hours to get there! I like the idea of having a map as a backup, and knowing how to read it.
Then there’s my mom. When she graduated from high school, she moved to college out of state. She’d hardly even driven the family car, but she bought a car with her own money when she got there. She got a job with a temp agency, and had to get around Minneapolis on her own. She had no idea of where things were, but getting to a different job every day was the only way she’d have food. She’s always telling me that her ability to read a map kept her from starving.
So I guess I like both, and hope maps stick around, at least until I learn all these arbitrary highway/freeway/exit numbers. Why can’t they just be numbered in a logical manner?!
I can’t help but wonder…. Am I really the only one who turns the map to be oriented in the same direction I am? My dad can’t figure me out and thinks this habit is some sort of a crutch.