In our transition to smart phones, we find the mapping apps to be real lifesavers, especially when only one parent is in the car.
We will always be big fans of traditional paper maps. We love how they show a wide and detailed perspective of part of the world. We love their old school simplicity. We love their tactile nature.
But we have found that our phone app maps are indispensable when traveling solo, as recently happened in our family when only one parent could take the kids in and out of Chicago.
Whether encountering construction delays or making a wrong turn, the mapping apps we use (GoogleMaps and AppleMaps) help us avoid having to pull over, locate ourselves on paper, and determine a new course. It’s much simpler to find our position through satellite on the phone app and automatically get a new route, or see our options. And thanks to street views and 3D images, it’s also relatively easy to determine exactly where we are and what direction we are facing.
With two parents in the car, we typically run a standard driver/ navigator dichotomy that works very well for us. In that situation, we lean towards paper maps with a mapping app as our back up. But when solo on the road, we can’t express enough thanks for our mapping apps!