March 2010 | Rebecca Rego Barry

Are maps obsolete?

Our Fine Maps columnist, Jeffrey Murray, sent this engaging article to me this morning. It's a piece by John McKinney in Miller-McCune magazine about the decline of the map paper in the age of GPS. From the article:

But the rush to online mapping is causing some problems. Studies by the British Cartographic Society show that high-tech maps get the user from Point A to Point B but leave off traditional features such as historical landmarks, government buildings and cultural institutions; this could lead to a loss of cultural and geographic literacy, the august body warns.