Can you read a map?


Just keep it clean please....

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 5160

Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:28 pm

Location: Lyman, IA

Post Tue Oct 15, 2019 2:14 pm

Can you read a map?

Iowa is re-naming I 680 into two different names. 680 runs from North Omaha NE, to I 29 and runs concurrent with I 29 north to Loveland where it branches off and runs due east to I-80 near Shelby.
All of this because people can't read a map, only follow GPS!
This year I 29 and I 680 have been closed a few times due to flooding of the Missouri river. The detour was to take I-680 east to I 80 west back to Omaha.
I guess many can not read a map so they are re naming the section from Loveland to Shelby as I 880!
I don't remember when 680 was built, but it has been around for around for at least 50 years, it is only since the GPS revolution that it has become a problem.

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

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Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2012 12:45 pm

Location: Canada's left Coast

Post Tue Oct 15, 2019 4:24 pm

Re: Can you read a map?

I'm guessing that you don't have GPS because it is not available in 6 volts.
Nothing changes here other than the ever increasing traffic volume.
I would rather have tools I do not need than to need tools I do not have
Thinking risks being controversial and possibly being offensive

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 5160

Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:28 pm

Location: Lyman, IA

Post Tue Oct 15, 2019 5:08 pm

Re: Can you read a map?

nikkinutshop wrote:I'm guessing that you don't have GPS because it is not available in 6 volts.
Nothing changes here other than the ever increasing traffic volume.

Most are 5 volt (USB powered), so I guess I'll need a resistor to drop the voltage!

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 8936

Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2012 12:45 pm

Location: Canada's left Coast

Post Tue Oct 15, 2019 7:06 pm

Re: Can you read a map?

Our news sometimes reports persons driving their cars into the ocean. The news story goes on to say the driver was following GPS, GPS was not updated to a road change.
I have GARMAN, and GPS on my cell. GPS is correct about 50% of the time, until I get onto the main roads.
I would rather have tools I do not need than to need tools I do not have
Thinking risks being controversial and possibly being offensive
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Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 964

Joined: Sat Dec 01, 2012 8:06 pm

Location: Saskatchewan

Post Tue Oct 15, 2019 8:48 pm

Re: Can you read a map?

For sure I can still read a road map just as I learned as a kid in the 1960s. Some of my maps might be a bit out dated by now but its ok as I don't go far from home. Only a 5 gallon tank in the Merc. :-). I guess every generation sees the old skills being lost by the younger generation. I don't know how to harness a team of horses or run a steam engine either. But it is a little disturbing how dependent some of us have become on modern devices to do our thinking and driving for us. I doubt some kids can even tell time if it is not in digital format.

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 866

Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2018 1:50 pm

Location: Northern New Mexico

Post Wed Oct 16, 2019 1:25 am

Re: Can you read a map?

I consider myself a map guy, I have tons of them, highway, forest service, topographical, BLM, etc. I do a lot of adventure travel by motorcycle in my spare time both off road and on strictly by map and compass. I can also navigate to a degree by the sun and the stars. The last bike I bought for that kind of travel the former owner included a Garmin GPS with it. I thought it would be fun to put it in my truck for awhile for daily use to see how it worked. The thing was laughable. It put me only on main routes and almost doubled the distance to my destinations. Yes it would get you there for the most part but the nagging voice alone annoyed the hell out of me. I know there are probably better maps that could have been down loaded into it but a week later I put it on Craig's list and sold it. I'll finish out my days with paper maps but I'm also the guy who still wears an analog wrist watch and refuses to own a smart phone or be a smart phone zombie in public. I'm not completely anti tech or I wouldn't be here now typing this but I try to limit my time at home that I spend on my lap top to necessities and a little bit of fun like visiting this site.
56 S120 4x4,

Rusty Driver
Rusty Driver

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Joined: Mon Jul 10, 2017 8:50 pm

Location: Below the pinky finger of the Mitten

Post Wed Oct 16, 2019 7:00 am

Re: Can you read a map?

I try to tel the kids "you know how to get to the highway and head east or west, know your exit and hit the GPS from there". It's easier to load it at home and burn Dad's data all the way. Grrrrr

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 5160

Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:28 pm

Location: Lyman, IA

Post Wed Oct 16, 2019 9:53 am

Re: Can you read a map?

I have a map program in my computer that I use to estimate distance and drive times, but it is useless for directions.
Sometime it will direct me down a dirt path that may or may not be passable or even there and at the same time miss a major truck route that is the shortest route and has been since at least 1942, according to Montana's antique road maps. The funny thing is you can "force" the map program to use this route (a 42 mile road) by picking no less than three data points along this route. If you pick less than three points, it will show going up the route, then back tracking around to a longer route and then coming back to the route from the other end and back tracking again!
Electronic devices can be helpful, I often turn to Google maps, to find ways to customers that I haven't been to before. Satellite views can be esp helpful when looking to see if a large truck can navigate the area.
I used to collect old maps but many were lost in one of my many moves. My wife had a atlas from the early 70's and I was really upset when she tossed it as being "too old to be useful".
If you travel up US 212 from Alzada MT, the mile posts are descending until Broadus, where the mile post goes from 79 and jumps back to 102! This had always been a question in my mind until I saw an early map. For much of the time, 212 continued north to Miles City and state route 8 continued west to Crow Agency (the present route of 212). They changed to routing but not the mile posts.

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 5160

Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:28 pm

Location: Lyman, IA

Post Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:11 am

Re: Can you read a map?

Kinda on the same topic, I was eating dinner in a little cafe in Wolf Point, MT and talking with an oldtimer who was also there. He could remember as a kid when Steamboats would ply the Missouri as far up as Ft Benton, MT. He remembered it was a big deal when they stopped in town, as it ment new goods would be available at the stores.
I can remember when the Missouri was Navigable and marked as far as Yankton, SD.
I was delivering to a ranch elsewhere in MT and the owner remembered when the locals would take a twice a year train ride to the "big city" to stock up for the next 6 months. In between you either made it yourself, or made do with what you had, there wasn't a choice. So much has changed in a generation and a half.

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 8936

Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2012 12:45 pm

Location: Canada's left Coast

Post Wed Oct 16, 2019 5:57 pm

Re: Can you read a map?

Ralph says he does not now much about harnessing a horse. That may be so. The days of horse skills have left a mark on our language. How many horse idioms slip into conversation in Saskatchewan?
Here is a link to some of the harness related idioms that remain in our language.
http://fle135-idioms.pbworks.com/w/page ... with-Horse
I worked for a foreman who was responsible for their being more horse's a$$es than there are horses.
I would rather have tools I do not need than to need tools I do not have
Thinking risks being controversial and possibly being offensive
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