TODAY’S POLL

LAST POLL RESULTS

49.7% of you voted A paper road map or atlas in yesterday’s poll: What was your primary navigation method before smartphone GPS?

“We were part of the map generation. We used paper maps to go places.”

“Atlases mostly for long trips, but definitely used printed directions a lot, too!”

“I still keep a map in my car. I don’t trust online directions.”

“I still use a map to navigate. GPS doesn’t work in rural areas with no signal.”

“I still use maps. My car doesn’t have GPS. I’m much better than my granddaughter, who never learned to use a map, at giving directions.”

“I loved my atlas. I still have it. I still look through it, though I use my phone now while roadtripping.”

“I miss maps! Phones are tiny! Where are we!?”

“And maps supplied by AAA.”

“Easy to get maps from AAA.”

“I remember the days when I went to AAA, and they mapped out my route for me.”

“AAA TripTiks and a Garmin GPS.”

“TripTiks — and someone else to navigate!”

“TripTik roadtrip planners! My kids loved flipping through the pages!”

“Always used a paper map to travel. Kinda miss those days of unfolding and folding it and writing directions down on a pad along with the mileage between exits.”

“The Thomas Guide was indispensable for working in film and TV in Los Angeles. They even put the page number and grid coordinates for a shooting location on the daily call sheets. Mine was tattered and worn by the time I moved out of the City of Angels. Maps were also a must when traveling outside the city limits.”

“Laminated state maps for the win.”

“Google Maps was great. Prior to that, I used a paper map. I remember when I was little, I was my father’s guide for trips. We’d get out a paper map and draw the route. My job was to look out for the upcoming towns. My other job was to look for gas stations that gave out S&H Green Stamps.”

“I’d look up directions on MapQuest and either print them out or write them down. Before the internet, I either used a map or got verbal directions that I’d write down. Makes me wonder how I didn’t get lost more often back then, lol!”

“MapQuest, ftw!”

“I printed sooooo many MapQuest directions. Sigh.”

“Good ol’ MapQuest, and I printed it out at work because I didn’t have a printer. 🤣”

“I remember printing directions from MapQuest!”

“MapQuest on paper. I kind of miss those days.”

“Bring back MapQuest!”

“Oh, the days of MapQuest!”

“Haha, the panic that would set in when I missed one of my printed MapQuest directions! Don’t miss those days!”

“Before MapQuest, AAA TripTiks for long road trips, maps for in-state travel, and gas stations for local info along the way. I’m old!!”

“I’m old enough to have navigated by handwritten directions, a Rand McNally atlas or paper state maps, MapQuest printouts, a really bad early GPS, and, out of desperation, the old ‘call from a payphone because you’re lost’ method.”

“A mix: Garmin, Streets & Trips planning (printed), printed online maps, and actual paper maps before that! I have great recall, so once I’d traveled somewhere, I usually remembered!”

“Natural navigational skills → map → MapQuest printout → standalone GPS → phone. Only if I was severely displaced did I stop and ask for directions.”

“We went between printed directions and an atlas road map in our glove box!”

“Always — plus a map in the car.”

“Directions were either handwritten or printed from the internet, and the planned travel path wasn’t going to be detoured. An atlas, paper map, or similar if the trip or detour was impromptu.”

“As a longtime salesman, I always had a huge map in my car, no matter what. Now I just plug my phone into my car, and the directions light up on the dashboard. It’s truly amazing how far we’ve come. I feel like the generation that grew up when electric lights, automobiles, and telephones were just invented. The only difference now is that progress is going a thousand times faster.”

“I traveled quite a bit before smartphone GPS. I’d sometimes get directions from my destination, then chart them on a map and transfer them to written directions that were easy to read at a glance. I’d already be familiar with the route from my research, but wow! Smartphones make it so much easier. They also make it less stressful, though mine no longer uses the term ‘recalculating.’ I miss it.”

“I had a standalone GPS narrated by a woman with a heavy German accent. Hearing her try to pronounce the Spanish street names in LA and San Diego added suspense to my driving. For backup, I always had printed online directions and/or a city atlas as well.”

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