It’s not just youth, it’s people across the entire population that have issues reading maps.
I work in 911 dispatch, obviously a big part of the job is all about location. We spend a lot of our shift looking at maps on our screen trying to figure out where people are so we can send them help.
In training for a couple days, they busted out paper maps of our county and had us locate different intersections, landmarks, etc. our class skewed a bit younger, mostly millennials at the time (this was about 6 years ago) but also some Gen x and boomers. I’d say only about 3 out of the 12 of us were really proficient at all at reading a map.theru wasn’t any particular age bias, really what it seemed to come down to is “who was in boy scouts”
And it’s not a new thing, a lot of people have had a hard time with maps probably since maps were invented. It takes certain kinds of spatial reasoning skills that some people just struggle with. My boomer mom could never read a map, a lot of my grade school years were the days before GPS and half of my class always struggled with it when it came up in history/geography/social studies, it’s been used as a joke in movies for decades. It’s probably gotten somewhat worse since people don’t use paper maps as much anymore, but there’s also a “use it or lose it” aspect, I noticed that my own map and compass skills have degraded a little recently while hiking a new trail with a paper map, there’s probably a few older people who used to be pretty proficient at reading a map but would have a hard time with it since they haven’t had to in over a decade.
It’s going to depend a bit on the agency, different places use different systems and have different policies available to them.
Where I work, we used to have Google maps integrated into our CAD (Computer Added Dispatch) so it would sync to the built in map in our CAD. I believe it was some sort of 3rd party plugin, not something the cad developers officially supported, so it was always kind of slow and buggy, and some update that happened a couple years ago totally broke it so we no longer have that.
We do use Google maps through a web browser pretty frequently. We have most of the businesses, parks, schools, cemeteries, etc. loaded into our CAD, but they’re not labeled on the map, and sometimes being able to ask “can you see the Starbucks from where you are” can be kind of useful, and the satellite view is really useful for our more rural areas where they may not be many obvious landmarks and it’s all fields and trees.
Some departments have some stricter internet usage policies and such and may not be able to use Google maps.
Street view has its uses, mostly for narrowing down the exact address. Most of the time it’s not super necessary, we can send police out to the nearest intersection if needed, and they can find “the big house with a red door” or whatever themselves, but if we can narrow down the exact address, sometimes we may have important caution note attached to the address, and of course it can sometimes shave a few minutes off of our response time if our responders don’t have to go hunting for the right house.
One of the times street view came in particular handy for me was one time I had a 3rd party calling about something for a friend. They weren’t sure of the exact address, but they knew the road and some nearby landmarks that had it narrowed down to about 2 or 3 blocks. The caller kept saying that there was a “big yellow walkman” on the front porch, and was too worked up to really elaborate on what she meant by that. I turned to street view and just kind of went down the block looking at porches until I found one that had one of those fluorescent yellow/green “children at play” signs people put in the street that are shaped like a kid walking and it clicked that that was what she meant.
Probably about as many who can’t do digital maps. They aren’t different, except you don’t get a “you are here” dot or the ability to zoom. Everything else is the same.
There’s no need to go back to paper maps if it’s just GPS and mobile Internet that are unavailable. Osmand works just fine without them. It’s the map application I always wanted, none of that always-online nonsense.
To be more specific, I wonder how many people rely on GPS turn-by-turn navigation, vs being able to read and navigate by a map be it a paper map or electronic map (without ‘my location’ or other GPS functionality.)
It’s not that people just don’t have the ability to use paper maps, that can be solved relatively quickly, it’s that nowadays we’re used to departing for somewhere without looking up the route, it’s faster than it used to be; if we have to go back, that’s something we’ll lose.
I’m in my 50s and I can’t do paper maps. I can navigate just fine without Google maps but I navigate by landmarks while paper maps seem to rely on knowing road names, which I don’t.
That too. I actually didn’t think of that because roads here aren’t in a grid like ever so I failed to understand how numbering your roads would even make it easier.
I don’t think they’re that disparate, and my background isn’t ant different than yours. I work in ArcGIS every day and have played video games and ttrpg for 30 years now.
Do you go outside and use the maps? And navigate in the field with a compass? I am sorry but yes, obviously using a computer program is going to be somewhat similar to playing a video game.
Making maps and using maps are not the same skills.
Do you? ArcGIS and navigating in the field are not the same thing. I assume you don’t, or else you wouldn’t have brought up a tangentially related skill?
You’re just saying my mind is made up because you don’t have anything to contribute to the discussion lol
I said I use the maps I make, you assume I’m a liar based on the fact I won’t provide exponentially more evidence than your own for the basis of my opinion. I’m not going to dox myself nor write a dissertation for you. This isn’t a discussion. Your mind was already made up when I disagreed with you.
I wonder how many youth can’t do paper maps.
It’s not just youth, it’s people across the entire population that have issues reading maps.
I work in 911 dispatch, obviously a big part of the job is all about location. We spend a lot of our shift looking at maps on our screen trying to figure out where people are so we can send them help.
In training for a couple days, they busted out paper maps of our county and had us locate different intersections, landmarks, etc. our class skewed a bit younger, mostly millennials at the time (this was about 6 years ago) but also some Gen x and boomers. I’d say only about 3 out of the 12 of us were really proficient at all at reading a map.theru wasn’t any particular age bias, really what it seemed to come down to is “who was in boy scouts”
And it’s not a new thing, a lot of people have had a hard time with maps probably since maps were invented. It takes certain kinds of spatial reasoning skills that some people just struggle with. My boomer mom could never read a map, a lot of my grade school years were the days before GPS and half of my class always struggled with it when it came up in history/geography/social studies, it’s been used as a joke in movies for decades. It’s probably gotten somewhat worse since people don’t use paper maps as much anymore, but there’s also a “use it or lose it” aspect, I noticed that my own map and compass skills have degraded a little recently while hiking a new trail with a paper map, there’s probably a few older people who used to be pretty proficient at reading a map but would have a hard time with it since they haven’t had to in over a decade.
I’m curious, how much does 911 dispatch rely on Google maps? (Street view at all?)
It’s going to depend a bit on the agency, different places use different systems and have different policies available to them.
Where I work, we used to have Google maps integrated into our CAD (Computer Added Dispatch) so it would sync to the built in map in our CAD. I believe it was some sort of 3rd party plugin, not something the cad developers officially supported, so it was always kind of slow and buggy, and some update that happened a couple years ago totally broke it so we no longer have that.
We do use Google maps through a web browser pretty frequently. We have most of the businesses, parks, schools, cemeteries, etc. loaded into our CAD, but they’re not labeled on the map, and sometimes being able to ask “can you see the Starbucks from where you are” can be kind of useful, and the satellite view is really useful for our more rural areas where they may not be many obvious landmarks and it’s all fields and trees.
Some departments have some stricter internet usage policies and such and may not be able to use Google maps.
Street view has its uses, mostly for narrowing down the exact address. Most of the time it’s not super necessary, we can send police out to the nearest intersection if needed, and they can find “the big house with a red door” or whatever themselves, but if we can narrow down the exact address, sometimes we may have important caution note attached to the address, and of course it can sometimes shave a few minutes off of our response time if our responders don’t have to go hunting for the right house.
One of the times street view came in particular handy for me was one time I had a 3rd party calling about something for a friend. They weren’t sure of the exact address, but they knew the road and some nearby landmarks that had it narrowed down to about 2 or 3 blocks. The caller kept saying that there was a “big yellow walkman” on the front porch, and was too worked up to really elaborate on what she meant by that. I turned to street view and just kind of went down the block looking at porches until I found one that had one of those fluorescent yellow/green “children at play” signs people put in the street that are shaped like a kid walking and it clicked that that was what she meant.
Very few of us most definitely (me too, 23), but if necessity brings us back to paper maps, then we are going to get used to it, just as you were.
Probably about as many who can’t do digital maps. They aren’t different, except you don’t get a “you are here” dot or the ability to zoom. Everything else is the same.
You can zoom in and out of a paper map.
Just hold it closer or further away from your face.
Yeah but on a phone we can just pinch, and on a computer we have that little icon of a penis with a + on the balls.
You mean a magnifying glass? lol
🔍
Yeah, that’s my whole point.
There’s no need to go back to paper maps if it’s just GPS and mobile Internet that are unavailable. Osmand works just fine without them. It’s the map application I always wanted, none of that always-online nonsense.
To be more specific, I wonder how many people rely on GPS turn-by-turn navigation, vs being able to read and navigate by a map be it a paper map or electronic map (without ‘my location’ or other GPS functionality.)
GPS is irreplaceable in stuff like modern day aviation and shipping though.
I heard they’re teaching the navy to use sextants, just in case.
Isn’t that part of officers training in many navies. Why they train on the sail ships and keep one of those old ships around?
I’ve not had the displeasure of using paper maps in my life, but I can navigate without turn by turn quite easily.
It’s not that people just don’t have the ability to use paper maps, that can be solved relatively quickly, it’s that nowadays we’re used to departing for somewhere without looking up the route, it’s faster than it used to be; if we have to go back, that’s something we’ll lose.
I think I recall some years back that the American Automobile Association stopped offering paper maps at their offices.
You can still print out maps, but those have an index to find roads, are useful to do road navigation.
That being said, a computerized map without satellite positioning system is probably the most-realistic alternative, but since you mentioned paper…
I’m in my 50s and I can’t do paper maps. I can navigate just fine without Google maps but I navigate by landmarks while paper maps seem to rely on knowing road names, which I don’t.
This is why numbered roads are better. 5th St? Guess what’s coming next, 6th St!
Only works if your roads are built in a grid
That too. I actually didn’t think of that because roads here aren’t in a grid like ever so I failed to understand how numbering your roads would even make it easier.
It’s because one road is indistinguishable from another while malls, towers and tall buildings in general are quite memorable.
Lots of games use “paper” maps, so it’s probably not as dire as you think.
as someone who grew up playing DnD and video games, and also does navigation in the outdoors for work …
these are two entirely different skill sets be fucking for real lmao
I don’t think they’re that disparate, and my background isn’t ant different than yours. I work in ArcGIS every day and have played video games and ttrpg for 30 years now.
Do you go outside and use the maps? And navigate in the field with a compass? I am sorry but yes, obviously using a computer program is going to be somewhat similar to playing a video game.
Making maps and using maps are not the same skills.
It doesn’t matter if I say I use the maps I make, your mind is made up.
Do you? ArcGIS and navigating in the field are not the same thing. I assume you don’t, or else you wouldn’t have brought up a tangentially related skill?
You’re just saying my mind is made up because you don’t have anything to contribute to the discussion lol
I said I use the maps I make, you assume I’m a liar based on the fact I won’t provide exponentially more evidence than your own for the basis of my opinion. I’m not going to dox myself nor write a dissertation for you. This isn’t a discussion. Your mind was already made up when I disagreed with you.
This is literally the first time you have said you use maps, so yes, you are a liar? Literally?
It’s not a discussion because you’re not bringing anything to the discussion lmao
I had to reach the police station in a town in Italy, which turned out hard to find on my own, so I asked people on the streets.
All of them, old people who have probably lived there for many years, told me to look on my phone.
These habits affect everyone.