[reaperducer]

Cell phone maps are utterly useless in too many situations. A lack of reception being one. Or equally as bad -- too much reception, as in competing GPS and cell triangulation signals bouncing off buildings in a dense urban environment.

People always make the excuse that you can just download the maps into the phone. But that wouldn't have helped me in the places I've been over the last two weeks when my phone repeatedly went into thermal shutdown because the ambient air temperature was too hot. (No, I don't have a case that traps the heat.)

If I relied on electronic maps, I'd be lost or dead or both by now.

(Even better than paper maps are maps printed on cloth, which you can get wet, roll into a ball and stuff into your jeans, etc... But those are kind of rare.)

[kalleboo]

If you're going into a situation where you'll end up lost or dead, then certainly yes do not rely on electronic maps.

For the average GPS-using situation, the worst case scenario is they you to start reading road signs or stop ask for help. In these cases, a GPS navigator can be very handy, such as on a road trip I took last year through an area where an earthquake had shut down a significant portion of the road network. Either I sit for hours and pour over lists of road closures and construction dates and cross them off my paper map (the info changes monthly so there aren't any preprinted maps), or just use an app that already knows everything.

[ptaipale]

I don't need reception to use a cell phone map. I often load up PDF maps of the area where I am, as well as public transport route maps.

Of course there are situations where cell phone or similar devices don't work well -- particularly, rain or frost. Apple devices in particular are hopelessly bad in cold temperatures.

Just don't rely on GPS always telling where you are.