Free Satnav for all!

For hundreds of years the presentation of maps and atlases remained largely unchanged in terms of technological advances. People relied on printed mapping - from detailed street maps to smaller scale atlases of the world.

By the late 20th century, everything was starting to go digital, including mapping. The recent trend for satnav systems is the most obvious application of this ‘technological progress’. They began to appear in cars everywhere as they became more affordable, consigning the trusty road atlas to the boot. The big satnav companies capitalized on this digital revolution, providing units that could pinpoint a destination on the screen and give the turn by turn instructions to get there.

But, they are not perfect. We have all heard and seen the horror stories of people driving down muddy tracks, or even to the edge of cliffs before getting that sinking feeling that they may have taken a wrong turn. Or a poor motorist has mistyped a place name without realising. Or typed the right name but picked another similarly named place hundreds of miles away. Also what happens if the maps used are out of date or the unit breaks?

In fact as sales of bargain road atlases have risen in the last few years, perhaps more people are starting to realise that a printed road atlas is still an essential motoring accessory?

However, as before, with ongoing advances in technology and the thirst for more subscribers/users, powering new business models there now comes a threat to the ‘traditional’ satnav business. As 2009 ended the likes of Google and Nokia announced free navigation software for your mobile phone.

These free alternatives differ from the satnav ‘box’ in that they use your phone's internet connection to stream the mapping or download and store on your device. Of course the usual issues of the quality/speed of internet connection, software updates, screen size and availability are major factors. It will be interesting to see how satnav deals with this new rival.

Music has also been through dramatic change, away from vinyl through the CD revolution and in more recent years to digital, from mp3 to ogg. But purists will still insist that nothing beats good old vinyl. And in more recent years everything from Amazon's Kindle, to Apple's new iPad are hoping they can do for books what the iPod did for music. But there is still much resistance to the ebook reader - how can they possibly replace the feeling of picking up that un-put-downable book?

So with all that said, I think there's plenty of life in printed map and atlas yet. These digital advances should perhaps not be seen as threats at all, but as opportunities. Most maps these days are created from the same digital data that is used in satnav and mobile map systems. Maps still need designing, the data still needs editing and checking – all vital cartographic skills. And, now more than ever the saying that ‘Content is King’ is applicable to all mapping formats!