to Find a Place, do you buy a map or make your own.
By suspenseful
@suspenseful (40193)
Canada
October 4, 2007 11:01am CST
First the question: when you go somewhere or plan to go somewhere you never went before, do you buy a map or do you make your own using the Google, Mapquest, or Yahoo once you know each destination?
Now for the explanation as to why I am asking.
Before we went on our trip, my husband had bought one of those book maps at the Canadian Tire, and so I had to go from this page to that, since it seemed all so mixed up. We had to stay on the inter=state all the time, and the only places we got to see were motels, Burger kings, Taco Bells, Wendys, etc. and maybe a small general store or so. The only time we got to see a Mall was when we got lost and round up in a mall parking lot and when we went to the Columbus Mall.
Now it seems that all the inter-states, and traffic circles bypass the cities and if they do not, go through the business parts of the city and not the residential, unlike in Canada where the main highways will do so.
I did not use the Google or Yahoo to draw the directions, because this was a spur of a moment and I did not have a laptop with me, and besides my husband did not tell me what states he was going through. (He said we were going to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore, but we did not.) He was in a hurry to get home.
So do you depend on these fold out or book maps or do you construct your own?
8 people like this
16 responses
@3lilangels (4639)
• United States
4 Oct 07
well when me and my family are going anywhere that we are not too familiar with we always use mapquest on line and also we have a gps system to put in the car,this thing is so great and you could never get lost.
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
4 Oct 07
We used to have onStar, but did not use it as it was a bit too expensive. That gps sounds like a good idea, since our car is already paid for.
2 people like this
@3lilangels (4639)
• United States
4 Oct 07
we got our gps system from ebay for only $100 and if you go to the garmin site they are way more expensive.but they do come in handy and work great.hope this help you out.
3 people like this
@ssh123 (31073)
• India
4 Oct 07
Unlike in Europe, USA, Canada and other advanced countries where the infrastructure is developed so much, and it has been very well mapped down to the location of individual house, in India, hardly anyone uses the road map to locate a place. Why, many people just like that arrive with only a name of a person or firm and ask for addresses or location. Though a city like Bangalore where I live has grown into an international standard city, still shopkeerpers, policemen and postmen are of great help in indetifying the place or a person or a thing quite easily and off late many flyovers have come and it is difficult to direct any one to take one route because it may turnout to be round about trip. But still I do not see any map in anyone's hand except some foreigners who take the map with them and enquire location showing in the map.So it may take another decade or so for people to get used to read the map and locate the place here.
3 people like this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
5 Oct 07
We use those book maps or fold out map, but I never could get them straight. We would like to ask people, but especially in America, unless you go to the motels, it is hard to ask perfect strangers. I prefer finding places by the scenery, but if I have not been there, I have to rely on my future memory.
2 people like this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
4 Oct 07
Same here. I am saving for a laptop and I want a really good one, not one that will be obsolete in a year or so, then we can make a map, but then we will have to get a printer to keep in the car as well.
2 people like this
@cupoftea (714)
• United States
4 Oct 07
I use Mapquest all day every day, My husband is a driver and can get pretty much anywhere without a map so we use it mainly for finding peoples homes that he delivers to. We find mapquest pretty reliable, but sometimes we have to use another site.
3 people like this
@lidan0825 (33)
• Hong Kong
4 Oct 07
well maybe asking someone seems more efficient,but i prefer to make my own.i am good at finding directions on a map.
by the way,i don't think using internet is a good idea,expect that the location you search for is too small to find on a map.
@inked4life (4224)
• United States
5 Oct 07
I hate the prospect of getting lost so I generally plan ahead and print off directions from Mapquest. I also recently bought a GPS navigator for the car which is great but I still take a print-out as back-up.
2 people like this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
5 Oct 07
The print-out is a good idea, and if we had the money, we would get the GPS.
@artemis432 (7474)
• Abernathy, Texas
9 Oct 07
Btw, going on a spontaneous trip like that - how fun!
!!
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
11 Oct 07
It sure was. I wish we went into the towns, I am an inveterate window shopper, and when we got to the Columbus Mall, we could not do any shopping because the stores were not open (except for Pennys and Sears) besides my husband kept to the highway and drove like he does when we have gone to Saskatoon and are rushing to get home, very fast, just a little above the speed limit so I did not think we were going to stop anywhere.
I got the feeling he was trying to avoid going to the cities and meet people.
@writersedge (22563)
• United States
5 Oct 07
There's still a Canadian Tire up there? I'll be darned.
Anyway, I sometimes get a map from triple A and other times, I make one from Mapquest. It depends, mostly on whether I'm going to be near Triple A and need something anyway, or I'm on the computer and my computer isn't going so slowly that I need to "get out and push it."
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
5 Oct 07
Still is. My husband has a Canada Tire Optinum Master Credit Card and if he shops at Canada Tire, he gets points. We also get our gas there. I usually go to Staples, where I get points. I suggested he go to the latter and pick up a map there, but he had to go to Canada Tire and spent half and hour looking for the map selection before he found it.
@fab315 (1231)
• Philippines
5 Oct 07
Hello!
I'm not very good when it comes to looking at any map, i'm not a good navigator, i'm a disaster when it comes to directions. LOL!! My father always have a map in his car just in case and my hubby too, but I prefer drawing as I love to draw or asking some people around about the area and ask for some landmark or any signs. But from time to time I do try looking at the map for directions and the internet is very good that you can search and look for some direction details which are very helpful too. Have a great weekend! *smile*
ciao! c",)
2 people like this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
5 Oct 07
I sometimes think we just need the map to start with, because on the roads, they have all these signs, and directions that the next exit is for such a such a place, but my husband insists I look at the map to make sure, even though he finally decided to write down each turn and each road on a piece of paper.
@nyumix (1658)
• Belgium
5 Oct 07
Me and my husband normally will check first on the Internet about the route from the map from mappy, and then in the car we also have a map which is really helpful when we need to find a place, since we are living in the new neighborhood at this time. But sometime, my husband also try to find his own way to make a short cut.
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
5 Oct 07
My husband has to do the whole map thing. He's terrible at short cuts, always getting lost that way.
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
5 Oct 07
I just got too sick at having to look through the book map, and squint at those small lines and small numbers and have him ask, "could you see if we are still on I-90?" when it is obvious by the traffic signs along the interstate that we are.
@dianne17k (587)
• Philippines
16 Nov 07
The last out of town trip I had, I bought a fold out map which proved to be worth it for me and my companions. We were all new in the place, you could clearly spot us as tourists in the place because we were looking at the map every so often. The map really did help us a lot and we didn't need to ask for directions as much. Because of the map, we maximized our stay at Baguio.
1 person likes this
@secretbear (19448)
• Philippines
9 Oct 07
I haven't done any long travels but i've gone to a few far places here within the country. and I usually don't encounter problems coz I'm always with someone who knows the place I'm going to. ^__^ so I guess, it will be travel guides for me. rather than a map.
but of course, its not always possible to take a guide when you're on a private trip, I could go for a map but I think its better to have a gps. but i've heard its too expensive. ^__^;; but one thing for sure, you should always get an updated map. I think some maps sold in bookstore are not updated so we have to careful when buying one. ^__^
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
11 Oct 07
We would probably get a gps but then my husband will tell me to look on it to see where we are going, just to make sure it is correct.
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
16 Nov 07
I've used MapQuest quite often but like some other posters have said the directions aren't always accurate. The last one I used was a different site and it was perfect but I can't remember the name of it right now...lol. I've got it save on my computer though, so I'll find it eventually. Getting the directions printed out sure does beat trying to unfold and read a big bulky map.
Annie
1 person likes this
