3 Reasons You Still Need a Road Map in Your Car

We’re in a cyber age, and there’s nothing we can do about it. Almost everything we do depends on technology and electronics. Traveling is no exception, especially road travel. We all pretty much have a routine we go through when we travel. Get the address, no matter how far away, put it into the GPS and follow directions. This generation is so used to the GPS, they may not have ever had to use a good ‘ol fashion physical road map! While GPS are great, now is no time to abandon the road map all together.

Top 3 Reasons You Still Need to Keep a Road Map in Your Car

1. Road maps keep you more aware of your surroundings.

The best way to travel, anywhere, is to plan ahead. Part of planning ahead, is getting an overview of your entire trip. When you’re using a navigation app on your smart phone, or in your car, the screen will only reveal a piece of your trip. The way GPS works, driver are kind of driving “blindly,” in a way. Well, maybe not blindly, but they can’t see where they’re going 50 miles from where they currently are.

How many of us are surprised by a new site that you had no time to prepare for? Maybe it was a small town or a body of water that you wanted to avoid, but your GPS did not tell you about it beforehand. You would easily be able to see these things with a road map.

2. Road maps never lose service or signal.

If you’re used to getting around by just following whatever your GPS tells you, chances are you would be in trouble should your cell phone or GPS lose signal! And of course a cell phone doesn’t lose signal in a well populated area with plenty of people around to help you find your way, oh no your cell will lose signal when you’re out in the middle of no where, with no idea where you’re going. If you don’t have a good ‘ol fashion map stored in your glovebox for times like this, you could be out of luck!

3. Road maps can’t run out of battery.

As we all know, batteries die often, and at the most inopportune times. Cell phone screens can freeze, and stay frozen for unknown reasons. There are numerous things that can cause your electronic GPS and map services to fail, leaving you lost and confused. A road map can really come to the rescue during these times! Road maps are still necessary, because GPS and electronics are far from fool proof.

Don’t get us wrong – GPS devices are definitely helpful inventions! But there are many times that they can become obsolete, and you will need to fall back on your trusty old paper map. So where ever you’re traveling, it’s always a good idea to keep a physical map in your glovebox where you know you can easily reach it. They’re inexpensive and can really help you out of a pinch!