alt Hacker NewsAlso old enough to have been pre-internet:
> Paper maps were absolutely horrible…
No, and still not horrible. I jeep a trucker's atlas in my van for road trips. Siri and Google Maps (Gigi, we call her) don't seem to realize I want to stay on interstates making distance. Wandering some two-lane country road diagonally through Kansas might save me 10 minutes but having oncoming traffic and the possibility of a rock into the windshield (or worse)—not worth it.
I plan my routes with the paper map.
> In practice it was mostly an annoying game of attempting to guess where people were. You'd call their job, they had left. You'd call their house…
That does not ring a bell at all with me. Sure, I'd call and someone wasn't home, but that was the end of it. If someone else answered, it was "Hey, have them give me a call…" And of course answering machines became a thing…
You know, there was just generally less of an urgency to get a hold of someone then.
And you know what sucks now? Someone able to get a hold of you whenever, wherever. (Unless I go out of my way to shut off my device.)
I used to laugh at a family member and spouse. They were early mobile phone adopters and I watched them call one another constantly with, "When are you going to be home?" I finally commented, "You know what would have happened if you had not called? They would have just shown up in 10 minutes or whatever."
Urgency, expectations… too high these days.
> Cassettes are the worst way to listen to music ever invented.
Except for creating portable playlists, sure.
Anyway. <rant off>
Replies
maybe give comaps a go. it uses openStreetMap for its map data. i dont know what routing algorithm it uses or how it compares to google/apple but i do like how easy it is to start routes with this app. and if it goes off course is fairly easy to just tap another road and the click "add stop" to have it re-route
another plus is being able to download as many map areas as you would like, and unlike google its actually giving you the full map data (although i havnt used google maps in over a decade now but i remember downloading a map once but then certain POIs would only show up when i had data/cell turned on)
> Urgency, expectations… too high these days.
Hear hear.
I was amused to watch the trajectory of all my older relatives, from "I don't understand why you spend all your time on that computer" to "I texted you some idle shower thought ten minutes ago, and it's frankly rude that you haven't replied yet".
Lots of people seem to have lost all sense of perspective.
>> Cassettes are the worst way to listen to music ever invented.
>Except for creating portable playlists, sure.
I think it was the frontman for Phish that said something like “metal sounds great on cassette”, referring to 80’s thrash, and I have to agree. I’m sure part of it is nostalgia, but I feel like 70’s rock/prog sounds perfect on vinyl, and 80’s thrash sounds great on cassette.
Google and Apple maps are terrible at showing you back roads which actually go through. So I carry Delorme Atlas books. On the other hand, I'm glad I no longer need a Thomas Guide (or whatever your local urban mapbook was called.)
I've stopped submitting quality reports to Apple Maps because they're all met with "while we couldn't make the change you suggested, we hope you continue to waste your time reporting these".
The issues are egregious too, like blatantly incorrect lane guidance that would send you in the wrong direction, or diverting me off a highway onto an unmarked, narrow country road that no one with any knowledge of the local roads would take ever.
Though I'm confident whatever BPO slaves they have processing reports 5000 miles away have a better understanding of the roads than I, as they are wholly incapable of even using Google Street View to confirm details (probably by policy) so they always demand I provide a photo or video a month after the fact. Because when you're lost in the middle of nowhere your first thought should be "Let's backtrack so I can grab some pictures for Apple".
This is the way. I use printed maps when on vacation. Then I laugh at tourists who are hysterical because their smartphones ran out of power.
I print my boarding cards and then I laugh at hysterical people who's smartphonse do not work.
When I walk around on town, I do not take my phone with me, so anyone looking for me has to leave a message on my answering machine or send me an email, and I'll get back to them when I feel like it.
Have I ever, for many decades, missed anything important because someone just had to get hold of me this second? Never. Magically, everything always sorted itself out.
The idea that we must be available 24/7 is a mind virus that needs to be eradicated.