Who Needs Internet Maps?

Remember the old days when you would go on vacation with the folks.  Dad was driving and Mom was unfolding a ridiculously large road map in an attempt to find your route and destination.  Those days are gone with the wind.  These days, Internet maps are the key to finding a destination ahead of time. Well to remember that an internet map is only as good as the information you put in! For example make sure you spell right or you could end up miles from where you want to be!  

With the modern technology of GPS systems and online mapping, paper road maps have become obsolete when traveling near or far.  Most of us no longer endure the teeth-grinding agony of locating our path of travel on a large, folded up piece of paper. 

If your vehicle doesn’t already have a built-in GPS system, you are probably like me, and take advantage of the free websites like Mapquest.com and Yahoo.com, which offer directions to anywhere you want to go.  With a simple start point address and destination address, you can create a personalized map specific to any trip.  Suddenly, you not only have the quickest route to take, but you also have the total distance and time it takes to get there. 

I made use of Internet maps when venturing from Oregon to North Carolina a couple years back.  This was a long trip, but I didn’t get lost.  I simply punched the addresses in the computer, it gave me a route to follow, and I printed it out and took it along.  It’s as easy as that.  Even if I travel 15 miles to a particular shopping plaza or doctor’s office, Internet maps still prove handy if you don’t know exactly where you’re going. 

Since the Internet took over the world with its unlimited access to all that is good and bad, users such as myself have certainly taken advantage of its never-ending information and short cuts.  We currently thrive on benefits such as Internet maps and email.  From what I can tell, there simply isn’t a sufficient downside to this deluge of data.  As for the old-school paper maps, I do think they’re slowly becoming a thing of the past.  It’s hard to compete with the new age of technology and cyberspace.  Before we know it, GPS systems will be standard in all vehicles, but until then, the rest of us can surely make use of the free directions provided for us with Internet maps.