When I was a kid, I was nurtured on TV westerns, so it’s not too surprising that I longed to explore a ghost town. Since my family lived in the shadow of Vermont’s Green Mountains, however, it didn’t seem very likely that I’d get the chance. But then I visited my Grandad’s Adirondack cabin for the first time, and I discovered a ghost town on the doorstep. It took me a while to recognize the signs, of course. (I was only 10 years old. I had a lot to learn.) The bronze bell on the roof of Grandad’s cabin was the first clue. The bell’s once-lustrous surface was hidden beneath layers of verdigris, hinting at great age. More evidence soon came to light. A river ran close by Grandad’s place, and while on the cliffs above the rapids, I found holes drilled deep into the solid rock. Some were empty. Others contained rusty iron rods. And back in the woods, away from the river’s edge, cables as big around as my arm lay half-concealed in the duff. Further along, down the winding jeep road that served as the local thoroughfare, weed-choked ruts veered off into stands of stunted spruce and hemlock before petering out in tangles of blackberry brambles. Following those old tracks was always exciting. The unknown waited around every corner….

The land holds many secrets about the past, both recent and ancient, and maps are the keys we need to unlock that history. Now maps are moving off the printed page and onto digital displays, prompting some thoughtful folks to wonder if our history isn’t in danger of vanishing before our eyes. But while there’s some reason for concern, there’s no need to despair. Yet. The digital age has opened dusty archives to the scrutiny of paddlers everywhere. Once upon a time these resources were the jealously guarded precincts of a handful of scholars. Now they’re available to all. So history hasn’t been lost. Not so long as we can read the clues, at any rate. It’s still on the map. You just need to know how to look for it. Are digitized maps extinguishing history? Read more about this timely topic here…

Tags: history, maps

 
The digital age is revolutionizing the art of navigation. Is this a good thing or a bad? What have we gained? What are we losing? And what’s the bottom line? A recent news story got me thinking about just these questions, and I’ve come to some conclusions. But first, a little background…

Maps have always captivated me. Paper maps, that is. This isn’t surprising. I’m surrounded by them. They adorn my walls. They spill out of the filing cabinets under my desk. They sprawl untidily—half folded, half open—over tables, chairs, and bookshelves, accumulating in ever deeper drifts that totter precariously and sometimes cascade spontaneously to the floor. Imagine my dismay, then, when I heard a recent BBC interview with Mary Spence, the president of the British Cartographic Society, who made the disturbing assertion that GPS receivers and mapping software were literally robbing us of our history, “diluting the quality of the graphic image that we call a map.”

The president of the Royal Geographic Society seemed to be suggesting we were entering a world in which the rich, informative tapestry of paper maps was rapidly being degraded to a crude, pixilated caricature—a sexed-up, dumbed-down, just-show-me-where-to-turn black box, good for little but navigating from burger franchise to shopping mall to subdivision (with maybe a quick stop at the bank to withdraw the last of the cash left in the rainy-day account). And at first I feared that she might be right. Soon, however, I began to reconsider. After all, I’m no knee-jerk technophobe. I write on a computer, e-mail articles to my publishers, use a PocketMail® device on trips (with its acoustic coupler, the PocketMail Composer is itself something of retrotech wonder), and carry a cell phone wherever I go. I even use a small GPS receiver on occasion. Moreover, I’m considering buying an iPod touch®, as much for its capabilities as a “portable media player” as its utility in the role of “wi-fi mobile platform.” No doubt about it, then I’m a Digital Girl. Whether I like it or not.

So what’s the bottom line? Which is it to be? The old tradition of paper maps and magnetic compasses? Or the new tradition of GPS receivers and digitized maps? But do we really have to choose between them? Why not use BOTH? Read more…

Tags: digital age, maps, navigation