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I'd dispute this. I built a vector tile package out of OpenStreetMap a couple of years ago. This gives you offline building level mapping for the entire globe o

I'd dispute this. I built a vector tile package out of OpenStreetMap a couple of years ago. This gives you offline building level mapping for the entire globe on an SD card, and can be displayed on a smartphone app. Whilst OSM isn't perfect and coverage is variable, one would have to get pretty far off the beaten track for it not to be of at least some practical use. So with this capability all you need is a charged phone and you can travel anywhere in the world knowing you have at least some sort of mapping even without a network connection. I suspect one would need a truck to transport the equivalent in paper maps.

chrisseaton 7y ago
What are you disputing about the arguments I made though? There's no point having the whole world on an SD card if you can't see the device at night, can't see it through your optics, and you can't display the map on a wall or a table for everyone to get around.
- growlist 7y ago
  Ok but I'd say your headline isn't supported, i.e. 'There is no way that digital maps are anywhere near as practical, let alone more practical, yet.' - it's possible that all of the things you said are true, and that it is still more practical to use a digital map due to the disadvantages of paper maps i.e. fixed scale, inability to restyle or interrogate data on the fly, data currency, etc. And I think the example I gave is pretty compelling - put a dataset like the one I created on your phone, and all you have to worry about is keeping your phone charged in order to have mapping anywhere in the world, or carry a battery charging brick. There's a pretty huge gulf between the inconvenience of having to carry a battery brick versus a truck full of paper maps. The range of activities where the arguments you made hold versus those in which they are not of concern is becoming ever narrower - I'd struggle to think of much beyond recreation/extreme environments/military examples, and these are very much a minority compared to the rest of the digital mapping world. Don't get me wrong, I love paper maps too and have seen some pretty amazing examples - in the atrium of one facility I visited they had a two-storey high printed OS style map that was quite something - but the world has moved on. Perhaps e-ink displays will marry the two back together at some point.

chrisseaton 7y ago

What are you disputing about the arguments I made though? There's no point having the whole world on an SD card if you can't see the device at night, can't see it through your optics, and you can't display the map on a wall or a table for everyone to get around.

growlist 7y ago
Ok but I'd say your headline isn't supported, i.e. 'There is no way that digital maps are anywhere near as practical, let alone more practical, yet.' - it's possible that all of the things you said are true, and that it is still more practical to use a digital map due to the disadvantages of paper maps i.e. fixed scale, inability to restyle or interrogate data on the fly, data currency, etc. And I think the example I gave is pretty compelling - put a dataset like the one I created on your phone, and all you have to worry about is keeping your phone charged in order to have mapping anywhere in the world, or carry a battery charging brick. There's a pretty huge gulf between the inconvenience of having to carry a battery brick versus a truck full of paper maps. The range of activities where the arguments you made hold versus those in which they are not of concern is becoming ever narrower - I'd struggle to think of much beyond recreation/extreme environments/military examples, and these are very much a minority compared to the rest of the digital mapping world. Don't get me wrong, I love paper maps too and have seen some pretty amazing examples - in the atrium of one facility I visited they had a two-storey high printed OS style map that was quite something - but the world has moved on. Perhaps e-ink displays will marry the two back together at some point.