Before SATNAV & GPS ......

[Stig / Major Tom]

and the discovery of E.D. - riders used a tank bag with a clear pocket for the free Esso map of the USA.
You stopped for a wee in the shrubbery....and folded it over as you crossed into another State.
Life was simpler then...no ACL tears, Tommy Johns, concussions....or E.D. !
I kinda miss the oil shortages.... and mini skirts.
not Stig*
(sometimes Mrs Stig checks in here....)

[Mr. Paul]

Life was simpler then, but richer. I started working for a well-known overnight delivery service about 25 years ago. They would give you a truck full of freight and a map book. You had to figure it out on your own, quickly! Now with GPS the new hires cant even find their behinds with both hands!  I still like maps. GPS will tell you where to go, but only a map can tell you where you are. In my opinion we are giving away our intellect to machines.  BTW, E.D.? What E.D.?

[Scooter Dan]

I must say that being in a big city like San Francisco, it is so nice to have phone gps. I personally like the new mapping technology but like you said Paul, we should know how to use both. It's not a matter if electronic mapping is going to not work but when. BTW, still use paper maps when traveling on a bike. Phone screens too hard to see in bright sunlight. If following a route, one can write directions on 1" blue masking tape and stick on windshield. Stays put and easy to remove. Got this idea from a Goldwing rider friend of  mine


Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

[CROSSBOLT]

As a blue water Navigator for Uncle Sam's Canoe Club there were times I woulda give vital body parts to have had an etrex in my shirt pocket to ease the stress of not seeing the sky for days. The early 70s had a thing called NAVSAT by John Hopkins University on trial in one ship we travelled with. Some fixes were coincident with visual fixes and radar when close to land and celestial at sea. Some were in left field! This device on the other ship was the size of a small refrigerator. Printed its answers on adding machine tape. The satellites were pretty worked out but this thing was not. What we have today is vastly improved BUT does NOT absolve the user from cross checking. The big problem today is map database input.

Karl

[jeeves]

This wasn't that long ago (or am I getting old...?)
First big motorcycle trip in 2004, went to France. No GPS, bought maps along the way. No digital camera at the time either.
Remember stopping randomly after memorising a village name or river or whatever that I would just pass, stopping, lighting a cigarette,taking out the map and thinking to myself : "Where the hell am I?" [emoji1]


Sent from my Redmi 4 using Tapatalk

[Snorvey]

The time honoured way was always to use a map to get you roughly in the area where you want to be and then stop and ask a pedestrian for final directions to where you wanted to get to*.

The big problem was that whoever helped you out tended to know the area whereas you did not, so 'turn left at the post office, round the roundabout, straight on under the bridge, right at the town clock, left, left and then left again, right, straight on at the town hall then right, straight on, right, right and it's the second on the right mate' meant little to you. At best, you got the first 3 directions, then spent the next 20 minutes finding another local to help you get a little closer.

* I realise that asking a stranger in Canada might mean having to ask a bear or a moose. In the US, it might risk 'getting a cap busted in yo ass', but those are the risks you had to take back in the day.

Right, I'm off to refit my back wheel. I'll see you...whenever.

[CROSSBOLT]

Yup. They been there. They got it! I always loved maps and charts. I haved always loved to travel, land sea or air. Loved the journey probably more than the destination. Loved and loving the means of travel. Something real and personal. Not just a device. Sorta like a horse is a living, breathing being, our travelling machines are a part of us. The combination allows us to move along great distance to places so unfamiliar we realize we areoff track, disoriented, LOST!

Karl

[ole two wheels]

It all started with the advent of hand held calculators why back in the 60's Now nobody can count. Then came the huge portable phones and the PC's with heavy monitors, that worked at a snail' s pace. Now nobody can read. Now we have evolved to smart phone that can do it all, everything, except wipe our butts. I thik it's called dumbing down. Gee, the older we get, the smarter we was.

[GLV55]

I LOVE maps .... and mini-skirts 

[ScooterWolf]

Me too. Am I the only one left who doesn't have/use a cell phone? (or cable TV?). My wife and I went on a ride today into Camden, NJ, just for fun and to explore. We got off the main streets in favor of the ones we never ventured down. I hate being lost, but not my wife. She has real wander lust. 30 minutes of epic potholes and micro-looks of aggression and we remembered why we didn't venture into Camden often. We headed back home and stopped at a local brewery.

Getting lost is fun. Surviving it is better.

- Wolf

[GLV55]

Me too. Am I the only one left who doesn't have/use a cell phone? (or cable TV?)....
Getting lost is fun. Surviving it is better.

- Wolf

No smart phone for us, nor cable TV. You aren't alone!

[randyo]

No cell phone here either

[ScooterWolf]

Good to know I'm not crazy!

- Wolf

[de dee]

Good to know I'm not crazy!

- Wolf

   well come to my time zone,   would like to have a GPS back in the fortys while  tramping through the rocky mountains,  A TV to watch a show , but we had 15 cent theater shows,  5 cent pop-corn,. 

[Tiny]

At my work when ever somebody needs a street looked up they head to a computer for a Google look up. Me I head to my backpack for my map-book. 
 And whats even funnier is that the people doing the looking up are way older then me and cant read a map.
I even bring a map with me when I do the MadBastardScooterRally even though they provide a route map but its never really precise when you get a little lost. Saved my but this year when wife's GPS instructions said we were 10Km off course when we were on the correct route an 1.5Km from the next stop.
 GPS like it but can live without it. Map works best for me every time.