Old and New Ways to Get Lost:
Paper versus Digital Maps

ON-LINE MAPPING AND CONTEXT DEFICIT DISORDER

I have a very large collection of maps and guidebooks. I can't read the maps for beans, but I cling to them in hope that somehow their order and accuracy will seep into my head like marinade into flank steak. I have maps for places I plan to go and places I've been, and sometimes just because the map is cool-looking. When I don't have the right map I have to search for it.

My first experiences with digital maps on computers involved Expedia and MapQuest's trip planning maps. These are found on their web sites and include functions for routing from door to door anywhere in the United States. The actual map shown is relatively small, a bit larger than 6 by 4 inches at 72 dpi resolution. Being gif files they're easy to doctor up pixel by pixel for use in web pages, and you can email them. Expedia's maps are graphically colorful and attractive. (If one can't be entirely informative, one can always be colorful and attractive, I always say.) Outside of their cyber domain, when rendered to a printed page, they are inferior to high-resolution print maps. In other words, a disappointment.

In order to really show a route using on-line maps, it takes a detailed street map, then another city map to show the larger area, then maybe another map to show the region. Context was probably my biggest complaint. Yes, I can look up my friend Donna's house on a street somewhere near Columbus, Ohio, but where in Ohio is Columbus? Zoom out one. Nooo... Zoom out again. Okay, zoom out one more time. Now... why was I looking at Ohio again?

Why check out digital maps at all? The vast amount of information they can hold and the route computing abilities are far beyond paper maps. If the street-level information on a CD ROM of the United States were on paper, it would occupy half a ton of atlases. (That's a guess on my part, but think about it) If only there were faster delivery... if ooonly....

STREET ATLAS USA FOR WINDOWS

The Get Lost Magazine publishing empire (my two computers) is Macintosh based, so I had to find a Windows machine. (DeLorme does have a new Macintosh version of Street Atlas USA, which was unavailable at the time I got the Windows version. As far as I know, DeLorme has the only digital map products for the Macintosh. This earns them big points from the Orphans of the Computer World.) Street Atlas USA comes with two CD ROMs. First I loaded up the program and selected data from the first CD onto the computer. You can choose coordinates for things like schools, hotels, restaurants, and parks, and you can choose data by state. I chose Washington, Idaho and Montana. This occupied something like 60 megabytes on the hard drive. Then I put in the second CD, which is a run-time thing which contains the map itself. Instantly the whole United States came up on the screen with the interface.

Here's a simple zoom test: Show me the streets of Index, Washington, a town that has maybe 100 people in it. It's three streets, a little store, a tiny grade school, and its name is probably less a name and more a plea to be included on any map at all. It's a pretty place, a railroad whistle stop near the Skykomish river on the way to Stevens Pass. First I'm looking at the entire US, then I zoom in tight once, twice, and there it is. All the streets in Index by name, a few logging roads, and the bridge across the river to it. No features were listed, like the town hall / sportsman's club, or the one store. Listing the nearest gasoline station in Gold Bar would have been handy. Out toward Stevens Pass, gas is hard to find. Don't ask me how I know this.

Nevertheless, I was blown away by the speed and detail. THIS, I said to my coworkers, is what computers are good for. They crowded around. "Let's see Albion, Washington! It's almost all trailers!" "No, no! Monte Cristo! It's a ghost town!" Zoom. Zillah. Zoom. Oysterville. We were shriekingly happy, drawing spectators over with cries of "Watch this! Heeere's... Washtucna!" "Here's mile marker 15 between Polson and Bigfork, Montana!" The world (or a schematic of it) was instantaneously ours for the clicking. The ability to go from finest detail out to half a continent was amazing to us. One co-worker was so excited by Street Atlas' potential he ran down the street at lunch to Metzger's Maps in Pioneer Square and got a copy of for his wife, a programmer who travels all over the country for a living with a big laptop computer. To give her the means to have directions to anyplace in the nation, all in one place without carrying a ton of extra paper maps was just perfect for her. Of course, she is already carrying a laptop.

Then we REALLY gave it the test.

The route interface takes a short time to figure out, even without the manual. You can easily search for locations by asking for a zip code, a street, an address, a geographic feature, or some combination of information. Then you can place markers on these places you find. You can then select one of your found places and define it as a starting place, ending place, or point on the way.

I plotted out the route from my home in urban Seattle to my friend Tory's house in the orchards of lesser Selah Heights, Washington. I wanted to stop at the historic Brick Tavern in Roslyn (tragically, not a listed restaurant in the Street Atlas USA database) for a Brick burger, and go through Yakima Canyon to see if I could spot some Golden eagles. The program was like lightning. You can opt for scenic, fastest, or shortest distance routes with just a click. It did not have an option for "route with fewest left hand turns for old trucks with crooked mirrors and no visibility" but that might be asking a bit much. In a separate window there would be exact and detailed driving instructions with turns and mileage, generated in about five seconds.

DeLorme has email links on the company web site, where users can report data revisions when they come across them.

UTILITY ISSUES

As a pre-planning tool, and as an alternative to 50 paper atlases, Street Finder USA is a marvel, a bargain, and a thrill to use. It's terrific for researching new places and getting driving directions. Of course, if I'm on the road without a portable computer in the car or in my backpack, I'd have to plan my route ahead and print out maps and directions. This doesn't really allow for much spontaneity or exploration, or, dare I say it? the kind of Getting Lost we're prone to.

By itself, it doesn't allow for creating map data of one's own. How come there's no mention of such notable cultural features as "Judy's hostile geese that chase cars" or "That hellish satellite dish Pete put up and then painted a Seahawks logo on it?" The answer: DeLorme DOES make products that will help you do this.

MAKE YOUR OWN DIGITAL MAPS, AND STOP WHINING

You can carry directions and wee maps in a Palm Pilot or CE device, make your own map notations and way-points in the field, receive guidance from a GPS unit, see maps in dazzling 3D, and more. (In fact, recently, DeLorme introduced a new product that combines USGS quads with their own technology, which would have saved us much splicing and dumb-ass experimentation with our giant map of the Potomac.)

Next month we review Topo USA, Solus Pro, Mapmaker, and DeLorme's Earthmate GPS unit as we bog around the Skagit valley mapping the turf of the wintering trumpeter swan. Stay tuned.

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Leslie Strom brings you more high-tech mapping hijinks in the March Get Lost Magazine.