last edited Aug 27, 2020
Guides and Maps
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Travel Guides
Over to you: Online guides vs. paper guides, or how the internet is transforming travel guides.
Maps and Plans
The Travel Companion
While travel guides are an obvious choice for most people setting off on a trip, the same can’t be said for maps and plans—yet these too can help you discover a country, region, or city, or even engage in certain activities.
Often overlooked, it’s true that traditional travel guides usually include one or more maps of the places they cover, not to mention the maps and plans you can pick up here and there during your journey or while preparing for it. In short, many travellers consider these options sufficient.
However, a detailed map or plan can prove useful—if not essential—when travelling by vehicle, exploring a large city, or, even more so, when hiking.
Scale
Each map serves a different purpose, so before choosing (a paper one), it’s worth determining your cartography needs. Scale is, in a way, the key element of a map or plan. Depending on the activity planned, you’ll need specific scales...
Online Maps
With the rise of the internet and new technologies, cartography has undergone a major revolution. The static "paper" map has been replaced by virtual, interactive, and customisable mapping, offering useful features like distance calculation and route planning. Among all the options, Google was undoubtedly the pioneer in this field.
Having Your Own Cartography
Logically, via the web or various mobile apps, more and more travellers now have their own maps and plans for their trips. And it’s true that if you need a general map (even a fairly detailed one) or a city plan, you can simply print the results of your search or even view them on your phone.
However, online cartography still has some limitations. For hiking or trekking in nature (roughly equivalent to a 1:50,000 scale), the options aren’t always sufficient. For example, contour lines and trails don’t always appear on the maps, making them difficult to use.
GPS and Apps
GPS (Global Positioning System) has also revolutionised travel, whether for road trips, hiking, or even just exploring a city.