I had a Garmin. Actually, I had three, because they kept getting stolen out of my car. Before that a brief period of printing directions. Before that, road atlas or paper map.
Before that was the good times. The AAA TripTik. Many fond memories of those!
@narfcake I was just gonna say “thomas brothers”. Brian worked a lot of homes in the southern California area (high end glass work) and had maps from the different areas in his truck.
@lisaviolet 1995 is newer than some that I have! LA and OC was pretty built out already, but the IE like tripled in size by the 2000s. Even then, there were significant changes; the 7 and 11 turning into the 710 and 110 and the 105 didn’t exist yet in the 1980s. And things that are the same decades later – like the Metropolitan Bypass Freeway (now named High Desert Corridor) that still doesn’t exist yet.
AAA used to give you Trip Tix books, they made a small book with a sprial binder and you would turn the page as you drove. You would order them about a week in advance and you would go to the club and pick them up
When you said “before that”, I thought you meant before Garmin, GPS, and the kind. You know, when the interstates were first being completed over the regular US highways. If you remember Ike’s administration, you probably know all this anyway, so go to the next post.
Back in those days, sonny, you could get actual paper road maps from most name brand gas stations, as a “service”. They were even once free, before they realized they could sell them for a couple bucks each. You could usually still get good free maps if you traveled the interstate between your start and finish. Most state border crossings would be within a few miles of a “welcome” stop along the way, set up by the states themselves. (Some smelt better than others.) Pee first, wash your hands, then get a new current map.
Actually, I don’t remember anything much that was free once you got into Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York. You paid to use the interstate (toll roads operated by the states – not sure what they spent the money on – usually the roads had their share of patched potholes, roads much worse than ones when coming out of Tennessee or Kentucky.) You had to pay to go into a stall in the rest rooms. The food was extra high-priced. And who remembers automats? First I ever saw prepared meals coming out of vending machines. The gas pumps listed extra high state fuel taxes there. I think maybe the water fountains were free to use.
@phendrick
Omg I’m crying inside! I’m feeling OLD, like ancient kind of old! I remember ALL of that! On the bright side at least I CAN REMEMBER!
Just last night I was telling my guy how young I feel inside my mind and asking WHEN did we get old? Living the dream as they say, it’s a nightmare! With hallucinations!
Lol
@hammi99 We had one of those (I think ours was a Microsoft product). I remember once using it in eastern South Dakota. There in the rural flat plains most of the roads are straight for miles and laid out in a north-south and east-west grid. But unfortunately most of the intersections look pretty much the same to a non-resident, so finding your turn can be confusing sometimes.
Anyway, at one point I made a turn from a N-S road to an E-W road and the GPS sounded an alert. The map showed us driving 20 feet off (and parallel to) the road. Next 90 degree turn, all was well again.
I don’t really count GPS devices as “before phones”, and I actually still use my Garmin in lieu of my phone. Primarily because I prefer the dedicated nature of the GPS and not having to worry about an incoming call at an inopportune time. I can still answer the phone hands free and the keep the map visible. In addition, I think the Garmin maps are more reliable than the iPhone’s.
@DrWorm Yup, still use “real” GPS as well. Also works without cell phone service, if you’re in a remote area. And no usage of your “data plan” if, like me, you’re too cheap to pay for “unlimited data” (which isn’t really unlimited anyway).
And in Alaska, “The Milepost,” a big printed book that came out yearly (or thereabouts), and covered mile-by-mile important information on the Alaska highway and other highways in British Columbia and Yukon Territory. This was 30 years ago. I still have the book.
Thomas Guide for local trips. A spiral-bound book of maps. Kind of like a “choose your own adventure” maps. As you traveled off the edge of the map, you would turn to that page to continue.
@sjk3 Reminds me of the old Mapsco maps my father used when he worked for the City of Dallas. Wikipedia has a pretty interesting article on them.
“By the late 80s, Dallas police were reporting that Dallas Mapsco street atlases were the most stolen item from unlocked cars.”
Sample page from a Ft Worth version (note the margins):
And the lettered pages would have more details and similar insets and margins.
We used Hagstrom maps in New York City and environs. One of the first things I bought when we moved to the suburbs were several Hagstrom map books that covered the nearby counties with detailed street maps. Ironically, a neighboring town was the headquarters of the Hammond Map company.
Um … road signs? They tell you direction and distances to places and where to turn and everything. It’s been a while since I was on a long road trip. Do road signs not exist anymore?
@ircon96 I live in a rural area, and most roads have nothing but a number if they have anything at all. We like it that way in an “if you don’t know where you are going then you shouldn’t be here” kind of way. For a road trip in a rural setting, I’ve always been good at reading a map of the area and keeping the map in my head. Plus I really dislike being given directions by that “bored GPS voice” that seems to be saying: “I am giving you directions very slowly and distinctly because, let’s face it, you just aren’t very bright.”
And I live near a state park, so I get befuddled tourists stopping to ask for directions because there’s usually no cell service in the area.
@ircon96@rockblossom We live in a mountainous rural area. Some years ago, one of the popular mapping apps (I think it was Mapquest) used to try to send delivery drivers up an unimproved logging road to get to our house. We’d get calls from distressed drivers who were stopped at a big mud hole on a dirt logging road in timberland, wanting directions. (Granted, it was the shortest route. )
We’d tell them to find a wide spot to turn around, retrace their steps back to the highway, proceed north another 1/2 mile to the nice paved county road and follow it to our address.
Fortunately, today’s mapping software directs them to the better (but slightly longer) route.
Added: Amazon opened its own delivery point in the area a couple of months ago, and things have been going … um. So far, I have had three packages shown as “out for delivery” that got about 10 miles from my house before being returned to the distro point. Relying on cell phone maps only works when you have cell service.
@macromeh Heh. Up until a couple of years ago GPS systems in my area showed the shortest route to a nearby city going through the state park and the national forest. That is actually the shortest route if you don’t mind dirt roads with no road signs and side trails (not on the map) adding to the confusion. Residents and park employees were happy when the route changed to follow the interstate and state highways.
@macromeh@rockblossom Yes, GPS & phone turn by turn directions leave much to be desired, and rural areas tend to have sucky signage, so old school maps are usually the way to go in that situation. As for getting lost or ending up on bad roads, my rule was always, as long as you’re on a paved road with painted lines, you can’t get into too much trouble.
@rockblossom Btw, did you see that weird bot post (a few entries below) that copied part of your original comment? They’ll let anyone into the forums these days!
@ircon96@rockblossom That’s really weird. You’re right, user joined 5 hours ago with 0 history and the 1 comment. First time I’ve seen something that blatant. And to what end? No toxic link or anything. Maybe a test run of someone’s new bot software?
I also was wondering if it was near April 1st, but no, that doesn’t match either.
My company started randomly sending fake phishing email decoys to us, and we are supposed to not click the fake toxic link, but instead press the “Phish Alert” button. I guess it’s pretty cool when you think about reinforcing the message to be vigilant. But I have no idea what the new fake Meh user is up to.
@mediocrebot@pmarin@rockblossom Well, I’ve heard he IS an asshole, so it wouldn’t surprise me! … That’s a great idea, more companies should do that kind of stuff, esp the ones that keep compromising everyone’s personal data!
@ircon96@mediocrebot@pmarin@rockblossom
What’s going to happen the day someone decides to make the “phish report” button the one that directs to a link for the payload??
@macromeh@rockblossom I’ve got a friend who’s house doesn’t exist on most digital maps, and this is in town. I’m guessing it’s because the street changes names at a (gentle) bend in the road in front of his house.
He has to tell people not to use electronic maps, or they’ll wind up a mile or so away.
When I did a lot of rural construction work I can remember going to the county office and buying a countywide road map that included every pig trail in the county. They were flat sheets that were at least the size of a regular map, so it was up to you to fold them to fit in a glove box…
@blaineg They make (or made) map books for every city & town in England. Only London’s was in color.
Most were the same scale, but I got caught out by the Southampton map the first time I used it on foot. Everything was about twice as far as I thought it was.
Before nav systems, we would stop at the first Welcome Center or rest stop over the state line and get the free state map published by the state’s DOT. Fed requirement for taking those sweet, sweet taxpayer handouts.
True story. Bought my 2011 Sonata brand new, the Nav System was a $2500 add-on.
5 years later, the maps were so out of date and Gmaps wasn’t quite done killing in-car nav systems, so I looked into an update. Sure, just $250! Dealer-only source, proprietary system, no-OEM source, and crypto DRM’d up the wazoo, of course.
So I wait another three years (2018), and phones are wiping out nav systems. I look up the price. Wahoo! Down to $150! I cave, the nav system is useless now (new highways all over, construction it wanted to route around was long finished) and so I bite the bullet. I figure $20/year was a decent value to hold out for.
Two more years pass. I check in 2020, and mobile maps have completely eradicated the (offline, dedicated) Nav System from cars, along with dash nav units. Things are way more reasonable now. The whole Nav System software support/maintenance business has been sold back to the manufacturer’s supplier. They realized people won’t pay dealer new prices for updates to 20-year old cars, and now, updated are $25.
And, updates are annual. So now, it’s a no-brainer every couple of years.
We always got free maps at the gas stations we stopped at while traveling. Now I’m digressing as this wasn’t asked but my parents were able to buy us toys from various gas stations that advertised their gas — like the Texaco fire chief fireman’s helmet with a microphone built in the helmet. Mobil gas stations gave out free plastic horse shoes that stuck on your cars.
@AttyVette Correction above— it wasn’t Mobil that gave the horseshoe stick ons but rather Gulf oil. Also, Exxon had a slogan about grabbing the tiger by the tail so they gave out free tiger tails to their customers to hang from the gas cap on their cars! We had one !
My phone has a map? Is it under the battery?
An actual map.
Send a telegram to the shop owner requesting directions.
GPS unit e.g. Garmin
Before that: paper maps, road atlases, Thomas Guides, and others.
No one remembers Garmins, TomToms, or Magellans? Prior to that, AAA provided trip maps complete with road construction zones.
/giphy road atlas
@hchavers Trip-tiks, I think.
I had a Garmin. Actually, I had three, because they kept getting stolen out of my car. Before that a brief period of printing directions. Before that, road atlas or paper map.
Before that was the good times. The AAA TripTik. Many fond memories of those!
/image Thomas Guide
@narfcake I was just gonna say “thomas brothers”. Brian worked a lot of homes in the southern California area (high end glass work) and had maps from the different areas in his truck.
I just pulled this from a pile on his desk.
@lisaviolet 1995 is newer than some that I have! LA and OC was pretty built out already, but the IE like tripled in size by the 2000s. Even then, there were significant changes; the 7 and 11 turning into the 710 and 110 and the 105 didn’t exist yet in the 1980s. And things that are the same decades later – like the Metropolitan Bypass Freeway (now named High Desert Corridor) that still doesn’t exist yet.
AAA used to give you Trip Tix books, they made a small book with a sprial binder and you would turn the page as you drove. You would order them about a week in advance and you would go to the club and pick them up
https://images.app.goo.gl/zzHyUQVvrFmfHSRg6
When you said “before that”, I thought you meant before Garmin, GPS, and the kind. You know, when the interstates were first being completed over the regular US highways. If you remember Ike’s administration, you probably know all this anyway, so go to the next post.
Back in those days, sonny, you could get actual paper road maps from most name brand gas stations, as a “service”. They were even once free, before they realized they could sell them for a couple bucks each. You could usually still get good free maps if you traveled the interstate between your start and finish. Most state border crossings would be within a few miles of a “welcome” stop along the way, set up by the states themselves. (Some smelt better than others.) Pee first, wash your hands, then get a new current map.
Actually, I don’t remember anything much that was free once you got into Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York. You paid to use the interstate (toll roads operated by the states – not sure what they spent the money on – usually the roads had their share of patched potholes, roads much worse than ones when coming out of Tennessee or Kentucky.) You had to pay to go into a stall in the rest rooms. The food was extra high-priced. And who remembers automats? First I ever saw prepared meals coming out of vending machines. The gas pumps listed extra high state fuel taxes there. I think maybe the water fountains were free to use.
@phendrick
I’m feeling OLD, like ancient kind of old! I remember ALL of that! On the bright side at least I CAN REMEMBER!
Omg I’m crying inside!
Just last night I was telling my guy how young I feel inside my mind and asking WHEN did we get old? Living the dream as they say, it’s a nightmare! With hallucinations!
Lol
@Lynnerizer @phendrick Yeah, in many ways getting old kinda sucks.
But I guess it beats the alternative…
@Lynnerizer @macromeh Like the shirt says, “It’s weird being the same age as old people.”
@Lynnerizer @macromeh @phendrick
FWIW Alabamastill has free (paper) maps at the welcome centers…
@chienfou @Lynnerizer @macromeh @phendrick
So does Texas.
@macromeh @phendrick
Oh that’s good, never heard that one before.
One nice thing about getting old is that every time I look in the mirror I get to see my grandmother!
My mom has always had a problem with getting old, she’s been celebrating her 21st birthday for the last 60 years!! Lol
We were early adopters. We had a GPS unit hooked up to laptop for navigation.
@hammi99 We had one of those (I think ours was a Microsoft product). I remember once using it in eastern South Dakota. There in the rural flat plains most of the roads are straight for miles and laid out in a north-south and east-west grid. But unfortunately most of the intersections look pretty much the same to a non-resident, so finding your turn can be confusing sometimes.
Anyway, at one point I made a turn from a N-S road to an E-W road and the GPS sounded an alert. The map showed us driving 20 feet off (and parallel to) the road. Next 90 degree turn, all was well again.
Gas station maps.
I don’t really count GPS devices as “before phones”, and I actually still use my Garmin in lieu of my phone. Primarily because I prefer the dedicated nature of the GPS and not having to worry about an incoming call at an inopportune time. I can still answer the phone hands free and the keep the map visible. In addition, I think the Garmin maps are more reliable than the iPhone’s.
@DrWorm Yup, still use “real” GPS as well. Also works without cell phone service, if you’re in a remote area. And no usage of your “data plan” if, like me, you’re too cheap to pay for “unlimited data” (which isn’t really unlimited anyway).
@pmarin Spot on. I also thought about cell phone service after I posted.
I def did not buy my dad an updated Rand McNally road Atlas when I was a kid for Christmas. Nope.
@unksol I dont have one in the back of my suv “Just in case”
@tinamarie1974 @unksol Which I think is a damn good idea!
@Kyeh @unksol thanks, I tend to think it dates me, but you never know when you will need it!!! Like what if my cell phone battery dies or something
@tinamarie1974 @unksol Yeah, or find yourself in a place with no cell service …
And in Alaska, “The Milepost,” a big printed book that came out yearly (or thereabouts), and covered mile-by-mile important information on the Alaska highway and other highways in British Columbia and Yukon Territory. This was 30 years ago. I still have the book.
We used the free gas station maps during our family road trips.
Thomas Guide for local trips. A spiral-bound book of maps. Kind of like a “choose your own adventure” maps. As you traveled off the edge of the map, you would turn to that page to continue.
AAA maps and Trip Tix for longer journeys.
@sjk3 Reminds me of the old Mapsco maps my father used when he worked for the City of Dallas. Wikipedia has a pretty interesting article on them.
“By the late 80s, Dallas police were reporting that Dallas Mapsco street atlases were the most stolen item from unlocked cars.”
Sample page from a Ft Worth version (note the margins):
And the lettered pages would have more details and similar insets and margins.
We used Hagstrom maps in New York City and environs. One of the first things I bought when we moved to the suburbs were several Hagstrom map books that covered the nearby counties with detailed street maps. Ironically, a neighboring town was the headquarters of the Hammond Map company.
Every state has a welcome station and I’d get maps there. It was a challenge to see who collected the most when I was in college.
I’m older, so AAA Tripticks…the GPS.
Cut strips of AAA regional maps to put on my (motorcycle) tank bag.
Um … road signs? They tell you direction and distances to places and where to turn and everything. It’s been a while since I was on a long road trip. Do road signs not exist anymore?
@rockblossom I’m guessing you don’t do a ton of driving in rural areas, AKA “the boonies”
@ircon96 I live in a rural area, and most roads have nothing but a number if they have anything at all. We like it that way in an “if you don’t know where you are going then you shouldn’t be here” kind of way. For a road trip in a rural setting, I’ve always been good at reading a map of the area and keeping the map in my head. Plus I really dislike being given directions by that “bored GPS voice” that seems to be saying: “I am giving you directions very slowly and distinctly because, let’s face it, you just aren’t very bright.”
And I live near a state park, so I get befuddled tourists stopping to ask for directions because there’s usually no cell service in the area.
@ircon96 @rockblossom We live in a mountainous rural area. Some years ago, one of the popular mapping apps (I think it was Mapquest) used to try to send delivery drivers up an unimproved logging road to get to our house. We’d get calls from distressed drivers who were stopped at a big mud hole on a dirt logging road in timberland, wanting directions. (Granted, it was the shortest route.
)
We’d tell them to find a wide spot to turn around, retrace their steps back to the highway, proceed north another 1/2 mile to the nice paved county road and follow it to our address.
Fortunately, today’s mapping software directs them to the better (but slightly longer) route.
Added: Amazon opened its own delivery point in the area a couple of months ago, and things have been going … um. So far, I have had three packages shown as “out for delivery” that got about 10 miles from my house before being returned to the distro point. Relying on cell phone maps only works when you have cell service.
@macromeh Heh. Up until a couple of years ago GPS systems in my area showed the shortest route to a nearby city going through the state park and the national forest. That is actually the shortest route if you don’t mind dirt roads with no road signs and side trails (not on the map) adding to the confusion. Residents and park employees were happy when the route changed to follow the interstate and state highways.
@macromeh @rockblossom Yes, GPS & phone turn by turn directions leave much to be desired, and rural areas tend to have sucky signage, so old school maps are usually the way to go in that situation. As for getting lost or ending up on bad roads, my rule was always, as long as you’re on a paved road with painted lines, you can’t get into too much trouble.
@rockblossom Btw, did you see that weird bot post (a few entries below) that copied part of your original comment? They’ll let anyone into the forums these days!
@ircon96 @rockblossom That’s really weird. You’re right, user joined 5 hours ago with 0 history and the 1 comment. First time I’ve seen something that blatant. And to what end? No toxic link or anything. Maybe a test run of someone’s new bot software?
@pmarin @rockblossom Yeah, i was wondering the same thing. Bizarre.
@ircon96 @rockblossom Maybe @mediocrebot is messing with us?
I also was wondering if it was near April 1st, but no, that doesn’t match either.
My company started randomly sending fake phishing email decoys to us, and we are supposed to not click the fake toxic link, but instead press the “Phish Alert” button. I guess it’s pretty cool when you think about reinforcing the message to be vigilant. But I have no idea what the new fake Meh user is up to.
@mediocrebot @pmarin @rockblossom Well, I’ve heard he IS an asshole, so it wouldn’t surprise me!
… That’s a great idea, more companies should do that kind of stuff, esp the ones that keep compromising everyone’s personal data!
@ircon96 @mediocrebot @pmarin @rockblossom
What’s going to happen the day someone decides to make the “phish report” button the one that directs to a link for the payload??
@macromeh @rockblossom I’ve got a friend who’s house doesn’t exist on most digital maps, and this is in town. I’m guessing it’s because the street changes names at a (gentle) bend in the road in front of his house.
He has to tell people not to use electronic maps, or they’ll wind up a mile or so away.
@ircon96 @mediocrebot @pmarin @rockblossom And now that mystery poster just added the spam link (which I’m going to report to the mods)
Also Microsoft streets and trips. By the time we had a computer that was an option
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Streets_%26_Trips
Rough hand-sketched map of the local area on an index card.
When I did a lot of rural construction work I can remember going to the county office and buying a countywide road map that included every pig trail in the county. They were flat sheets that were at least the size of a regular map, so it was up to you to fold them to fit in a glove box…
That’s “A to Zed” for furriners.
@blaineg They make (or made) map books for every city & town in England. Only London’s was in color.
Most were the same scale, but I got caught out by the Southampton map the first time I used it on foot. Everything was about twice as far as I thought it was.
Forgot about the route chart.
@blaineg
or one of these
@chienfou The difference (well, a difference) is I’ve used the roll chart.
Before nav systems, we would stop at the first Welcome Center or rest stop over the state line and get the free state map published by the state’s DOT. Fed requirement for taking those sweet, sweet taxpayer handouts.
True story. Bought my 2011 Sonata brand new, the Nav System was a $2500 add-on.
5 years later, the maps were so out of date and Gmaps wasn’t quite done killing in-car nav systems, so I looked into an update. Sure, just $250! Dealer-only source, proprietary system, no-OEM source, and crypto DRM’d up the wazoo, of course.
So I wait another three years (2018), and phones are wiping out nav systems. I look up the price. Wahoo! Down to $150! I cave, the nav system is useless now (new highways all over, construction it wanted to route around was long finished) and so I bite the bullet. I figure $20/year was a decent value to hold out for.
Two more years pass. I check in 2020, and mobile maps have completely eradicated the (offline, dedicated) Nav System from cars, along with dash nav units. Things are way more reasonable now. The whole Nav System software support/maintenance business has been sold back to the manufacturer’s supplier. They realized people won’t pay dealer new prices for updates to 20-year old cars, and now, updated are $25.
And, updates are annual. So now, it’s a no-brainer every couple of years.
We always got free maps at the gas stations we stopped at while traveling. Now I’m digressing as this wasn’t asked but my parents were able to buy us toys from various gas stations that advertised their gas — like the Texaco fire chief fireman’s helmet with a microphone built in the helmet. Mobil gas stations gave out free plastic horse shoes that stuck on your cars.
@AttyVette Correction above— it wasn’t Mobil that gave the horseshoe stick ons but rather Gulf oil. Also, Exxon had a slogan about grabbing the tiger by the tail so they gave out free tiger tails to their customers to hang from the gas cap on their cars! We had one !
@AttyVette IIRC, the Esso/Enco/Exxon slogan was “Put a tiger in your tank!”