[hnriot]

It's odd that you're on hackernews if you don't have a phone and use paper maps. That just seems like an odd combination.

I actually find it very hard to believe that someone who develops for a living wouldn't use google maps, which are far superior to paper maps (traffic, for one thing). I'd be very suspicious of your code!

[sliverstorm]

Tech worker here. I discarded my smartphone in favor of a brick dumbphone. I have a car GPS unit that I use sometimes, and I also use Google Maps, but I am starting to use paper maps quite frequently. Both for the backcountry, and driving around in the backcountry.

Personally, I am trying to be selective about the technology I employ, based on what I get out of it. Vacuums? Check. Digital cameras? Check. Smartphones? Not sold on it, and I had one for a few years.

There's more of us than you think, and we don't appreciate the jab at the quality of our work.

[ejain]

Google Maps is quite useless for navigating in the backcountry, especially now that they appear to be dropping the "terrain" maps. But that doesn't mean all digital maps are useless.

[hnriot]

Luddites among us! Run for the hills...

A smart phone is a digital camera.

Paper maps are like horse drawn carriages - sure they still work, but they are outdated, inaccurate and a relic of the past. It's like saying you still pull out an encyclopedia.

You can argue all you want about how hipster it is to use a dumb phone, and you're entitled to reject any technology you want, but I'm still highly suspicious of your work, out of band Luddite tendencies are a red flag.

[sliverstorm]

A smart phone is a digital camera.

You show me a smart phone with a telephoto lens, and I'll show you a smart phone that is a camera.

they are outdated, inaccurate and a relic of the past

Paper maps don't run out of batteries at the least opportune moment. At the very least, they are a good backup for your tech in the backcountry.

ou can argue all you want about how hipster it is to use a dumb phone

You make this much too complicated. A smartphone costs more money, and offers me no added value that I care about. Is that Luddite-ism? Or is the Luddite-ism the part where I don't feel compelled to tweet or "check in" every where I go?

[BSousa]

I lost my smartphone about a month ago. I bought a cheap 20 euro dumb phone as a quick replacement until I decided to buy a new iPhone. To be honest, I'm loving the dumbphone. And the fact the battery lasts more than a week in a single charge is just the icing on the cake.

I'll probably end up buying a new iPhone as I develop for it, but for now, I'm quite happy with it.

[evan_]

Why must a camera have a telephoto lens specifically? Maybe you meant to say "interchangeable lenses" but that would still ignore the vast majority of cameras, point-and-shoot cameras with a built-in zoom or fixed lens.

Maybe a cell phone camera would not be useful to you but I reject your snobbish assertion that a "camera" is defined by anything beyond its ability to capture and store photon information.

Btw they make lots of clamp-on lenses for iPhones et al. Some are even telephoto. I suppose it's still not a camera because it doesn't have a prism or a hot shoe or some other nonsensical thing you want to fixate on.

[sliverstorm]

Hah, you are really feeling quite insulted aren't you!

I suppose I should clarify; a camera I can use. I didn't mean to say "interchangeable lenses", although I like those too. Certainly other people get by with smartphone cameras, but they do not meet my needs. Is that so hard for you to accept?

[_delirium]

(Not the original commenter.) I'm a fan of interactive maps and use them much more than paper maps, but I've been rediscovering an appreciation for traditional fold-up maps lately, especially when traveling.

A few reasons, some of which only apply in some situations:

1. When traveling in Europe without data-roaming, I printed out some maps ahead of time to navigate. I sort of liked the experience; compared to doing point-to-point routing on demand, it was more of a lay-of-the-land thing where I studied the map to get a feel for how things fit together, where I should be heading, and how I could recognize where I was. It felt like I got an idea of the area faster, whereas when routing is always available it's like when you're following someone else who's navigating: you don't really learn how things fit together because you're just following them.

2. Having done that, I found that, while sometimes unwieldy, a traditional fold-out map is typically much better designed than the collection of one-page views I printed off of Google Maps. For one thing, a good one will have some useful insets, visible landmarks both marked on the map and in an index, and much more reliable printing of street names (if you print out a map from Google Maps, the names of streets will infuriatingly often be left off, depending on the zoom level and density).

3. The online maps' data quality is often worse than a paper map for an area. A few weeks ago I was using a Google Maps map to navigate in Crete, and the "road" I thought I would be taking dead-ended and turned into a footpath with a gate, resulting in an inconvenient 5-point turn and detour. The transition from road to footpath wasn't marked on Google maps, which showed the whole thing as a thru road. A paper map of Crete I switched to did not have this mistake. Sometimes—in areas with many editors—OpenStreetMaps is better in this regard, especially if you want to find footpaths or stairs, which Google Maps often omits. But in Crete the OSM data was not good either.

4. I find it easier to discuss locations with other people by pointing to a paper map than by us both looking at a smartphone screen. Admittedly, the larger screen of a tablet might solve this problem.

[kaybe]

to 1. For hitchhiking in Europe, that's all one needs - one coarse map with the main roads so one can figure out which roads can be taken and what to tell potential rides ('Are you going to Paris? - doesn't make sense if you're on a road to Rome.').

This lay-of-the-land feeling you're talking about is really important when you're not in control of your own vehicle and have to make decisions such as where to get off. It's like some fun game, really.

footnote: I don't recommend hitchhiking for anyone who's not sure they want to do it. It's dangerous. (For others though, I can definitely recommend, since it's great fun and the amount of lone people driving their cars all over the continent for business appointments is insane. Sometimes you get a tour guide intoduction to the local landscape, sometimes there's an in-depth introduction to elevator construction in dams.)

[oinksoft]

Regarding mapping, note I said I don't rely on point-A-to-B directions for local trips. For long trips where I am not familiar with my destination, I typically plug it into Google Maps (that might change now, though I know of no appropriate substitute) and study the route, comparing alternatives. I write my route, both ways, on a single piece of paper. By studying my route, I am aware of confusing interchanges and such ahead of time. If I think a turn will sneak up on me, I write down the preceding streets intersected. Often the act of writing my route down means I never have to refer to the paper on the trip, a nice perk. I always could call the place if I get a little lost.

On not using smartphones and being on this website ... I don't see the contradiction. I am a software developer, mainly working on sever-side software and some desktop development tools. The skills I claim to know (Erlang, JavaScript, Python, software design in the large ...) I know very well. No conveniences or lack thereof are going to change that. I don't really develop for mobile, except incidentally. My computing happens at a desktop or on a laptop, and I don't feel my experience or knowledge are limited, except in the mobile sphere. Even if all consumer computing were to move to mobile, there would still be lots of server-side software to be programmed.

There's a whole lot of computing that happens outside of desktops, mobile devices, and networked services. I know little about firmware development and manufacturing software as well, for instance.

I noticed you suggest you wouldn't care for my code ... it's true that best software I've written has not been open source, and I have a nasty habit of pulling down any project I am not very proud of. Peruse at your leisure: https://github.com/oinksoft

[spearo77]

From http://fieldnotesbrand.com

"I'm not writing it down to remember later, I'm writing it down to remember now." – Unknown.