Good USA Road Atlas

[Sunset]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarah in SC Yeah but it is hard to see some of those faraway places from the porch!

Not if you are in Alaska, you can see Russia from the back porch, at least from Sarah Palin's house

[harley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jim584672 People still use an actual paper road atlas? That is so old school.

GPS is only useful if you know where you want to go. I've been sitting in stand still traffic in a strange city, and the GPS has been totally useless. I would have killed for a paper map so I could cruise the back roads and alleyways to work my way through. It's also a pain to try to get a GPS to take the road less travelled. Now I try to have an atlas for the highways and a detailed paper map for the cities. It's also great for pre-planning a trip. Printing out Google maps just doesn't do it.

[Dreamer]

We have an older GPS, a car with a Nav system, my DH has an Iphone 6 and he was just saying that he would like to have a map. We are going back on our schooner trip in ME again and we would like to go a different way and see different things. We would like to get off of the interstates this time. That large print atlas looks perfect!

[Chuckanut]

Thanks. I picked up the spiral bound Rand-McNally Atlas for home use. For the car, i will bring more compact folding maps.

[NW-Bound]

Rand-McNally Road Atlas? Oh boy, I bought one years ago, but have not used it for so long I don't know where it is now (I know I would not throw it away).

For extensive RV'ing, I have been using map software on a laptop, plus Google map on an iPhone. I cannot see planning a cross-country trip on a handheld GPS or a phone, so a laptop software is a must for me. Handheld devices are good for exploring into towns, however.

Active RV full-timers who boondock a lot buy Delorme Topo paper maps so they can go off-road. And for hiking, you would need detailed trail maps.

[Sarah in SC]

Oh and a shout out for Waze. I used it to navigate on a recent trip out west with my niece and it was perfect. Helped me avoid heavy traffic areas. It's an app for the phone, though Google owns it and the traffic info is built into their map app as well.
I discovered my niece will not be going into any cartography intensive fields when she graduates--got me lost the first time I asked her to navigate!! And that was just from the Denver airport to Stapleton!

[38Chevy454]

I also use the spiral bound Rand-McNally maps. You can get them in a couple versions at any truck stop. I keep one in the motorhome, and another at home as it is nice to be able to see the overall route. Full size fold-out state maps are more detailed than the R-M has.

[annenrob]

My husband used an 8.5 x 11" US atlas that he got from State Farm for years to sit at the window seat on domestic flights and track our locations. He's lost it, and I can't find an equivalent one anywhere. This was not spiral bound; it had highways and enough detail (about one state per page) to keep him located. Any ideas?

[CaptTom]

I'd never seen The Next Exit, I'd have bought one of those for road trips back in the paper maps days, for sure.

But of course, I checked and now there are a number of apps for that. One was even named Next Exit. No clue if it's the same folks, but that one got poor reviews.

Moving map software has gotten much better lately. I too remember having a hand-held GPS hooked up to a laptop via a serial cable, and using DeLorme and Microsoft apps. It was so cutting-edge back then!

Although the software can now identify traffic jams and route you around them, it still doesn't give you the "big picture." It can be terrifying to suddenly realize you have no clue where you are, how you got there, or how to get where you're going.

Happened to me one time when the GPS insisted I turn onto a ramp to an elevated highway. In front of me was the demolished remains of the ramp. No matter where I turned, it kept trying to bring me back to that same ramp. I finally had to drive straight for about 15 miles in some random direction before it found a new way onto the highway. A paper map would have been very handy at that point!

[BOBOT]

A little off topic:

We're on the road now. A couple of days ago we stopped at a welcome center to get a current state map. (Btw, I often go to state tourism websites & order maps & guides for long-range planning.)
Anyway, while we were there a young woman came in & asked the staffer where she could find a store of some kind. The staffer asked which direction she was heading on the interstate. She replied "I don't know, I just follow the gps".

I find that funny, but sad.

[Lawrencewendall]

I just use the Waze app. Every time I did not trust Waze, I regretted it. Waze was bought by Google and is better that Google Maps IMHO.

[harley]

DD uses Waze, and I've tried it. However, in the places I live there usually are only one or two options available during times of heavy traffic. So I haven't found it much use. Last year she was coming to visit (at the beach in MD), and Waze told her there was a 4 hour delay on the only highway on which she could reasonably make decent time. I checked Google Maps Traffic, and they said it was green. I told her and she drove straight on in, no delay. I don't know what happened to Waze, but I don't trust it much. She still does, though.

[EastWest Gal]

If you belong to AAA, you can get all kinds of paper maps for free. States, cities, regions.

[Bamaman]

I keep a Walmart Rand McNally road map under my bed.

You never know when you wake up in the middle of the night if you need to plot a road trip out suddenly--before you forget it.

But after traveling extensively for business for 36 years, I seldom even use road maps in the eastern half of the U.S. My mind is almost a road map.

[gerntz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EastWest Gal If you belong to AAA, you can get all kinds of paper maps for free. States, cities, regions.

Yep. And they are huge compared to atlas maps. At least 2x & sometimes 5x depending on location.

[Ronstar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bamaman I keep a Walmart Rand McNally road map under my bed. You never know when you wake up in the middle of the night if you need to plot a road trip out suddenly--before you forget it. But after traveling extensively for business for 36 years, I seldom even use road maps in the eastern half of the U.S. My mind is almost a road map.

I'm a map geek, but I have to admit that I don't have any under my bed. Great idea though. I do have my iPad under the bed for strategizing, but it would be much better to have a full size map.

[CaptTom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by annenrob My husband used an 8.5 x 11" US atlas that he got from State Farm for years to sit at the window seat on domestic flights and track our locations. He's lost it, and I can't find an equivalent one anywhere

I used to buy those at Wal Mart too. It's equivalent to the Rand McNally everyone is mentioning (see below.) Although, if you have an app on your phone that contains offline maps (I use nautical charts) you can do the same thing on the airplane. GPS is a receiver, not a transmitter, so it's OK to use even in "airplane" mode.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bamaman I keep a Walmart Rand McNally road map under my bed.

A co-worker and I used to keep one on the bookshelf outside our offices. One or the other of us was always planning a trip, or helping someone plan a trip, or regaling our co-workers with stories of a trip.