Can your kids read a map?

Dave Plowman (News) scribbled

There were better maps than the London A-Z 40 years ago. Nicholson's Streetfinder was/is still in a different league for usability.

No, I have been through them in my rallying days, but that was intentional and there wasn't such a thing as a SatNave.

Doesn?t cost anything to use the GPS on the phone you already have and that is much more up to date than any map can ever be.

What phone? Ye don't think I spent £500 for a so-called "smart phone", eh? My PAYG phone cost £13 in TescOS and I put about a tenner a year on it.

I know - I'll spend the £500 saved on a set of OS maps for the UK.

When I was learning to fly, rotating the map so that planned track aligns with direction of travel was the recommended method (certainly for VFR - I don't know if they maintain that method when you get to IFR)

Do you think that person would do any better while peering at a map on the steering wheel?

I'm with you. My 'phone cost £12, and £5 pm for more calls than I make. I have no desire for a smartphone, I don't want to be instantly available for calls and messages. And I can read maps.

OS maps are things of beauty in their own right. I buy Landranger maps for everywhere we ever go in the UK. I hope to own the entire UK before I shuffle off this mortal coil.

And after this evening, I hope Tomtom burn in Hell.

It's a damn sight easier to read upside down than being consistent in transposing or not left/right instructions as your heading changes. B-)

More of an issue if you are not fairly closely following where you are on the map.

The phone that anyone with even half a clue has.

Don?t need to spend anything like that for one that does GPS.

One the does GPS doesn?t cost any more than that on ebay or aliexpress.

Just as true of the one that does GPS too.

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes

I do tend to put mine on (well nowadays I use Google maps on my phone) as the live traffic can be useful. I've avoided a few bigs snarls up because of it.

But it made our life so much easier, as though SWMBO is a good navigator, she gets very travel sick - not have to read a map makes her life easier

Indeed.

I tend to buy maps if we are going to be somewhere for a while. Though they only really get used for walking/cycling or for general looking at. Navigating tends to be done with the satnav

I somewhere have a little printed out sheet with the maps sheet key on which I've coloured in the maps i've bought over the years

Any recommendations?

But so many choices! 1:50 first series, all the way up to the modern Tesco Finest style. Do you feel the need for a matching set?

The nicest map we have at the moment is the Swiss one (I think 1:25K). The shading etc is lovely. Expensive though, and the OS ones are actually more practical.

Fraid not, I prefer high end smartphones myself because I want to be able to do everything with it, including replace all the cards and keys and camera and ipod satnav etc etc etc, all in the one device and with it being totally secure if it gets stolen or lost.

Some of the medions and bahns that Aldi sells aren't bad value at all used on ebay etc.

Not my cup of tea tho, but much better value than a stupidphone with no GPS at all for similar money.

I have PAYG too. But my phone has a built in satnav. And a decent enough camera too.

It tends to get used for more of those 'extras' than as a phone. ;-)

The thing about the stupidphone is it has rather better battery life, and is almost certainly more robust, so as a rarely used phone, it's a lot more useful. Which makes it better value.

If you don?t use it much, easy enough to turn it off when you aren't using it so you get the same battery life. Clearly that only works if you mostly use it to make calls rather than receive them.

Costs peanuts to get a case that sees it even more robust.

Can't agree with that at all. Lot less useful without a GPS.

No.

Naah. That way madness lies.