Who Needs Maps Anymore?

Once upon a time, maps were valuable. I remember this one time when we were going back home from Noida and I referred to Eicher Maps to find the way. I was so impressed with Eicher Maps, both its accuracy and its level of detail.

With the advent of the smartphone, wrote Justin O’Bierne:

“An unprecedented level of detail is now available to the average person, for little or no cost.”

You’d expect this to be the “golden age of maps and map-reading”.

But as Nick Carr points out:

“Even as the map is becoming omnipresent, the map is fading in importance.”

Huh? But how can that be? Driving (or walking) directions are the culprit!

“If your phone will give you detailed directions whenever you need them, telling you where and when to turn, or your car or other vehicle will get you where you want to go automatically on command, then there’s no need to consult a map to figure out where you are or where you’re going. If a machine can read a map, a person doesn’t have to.”

And so:

“As a navigation aid, the map is becoming a vestigial organ.”

And this is the key: once we stopped using maps as a tool to find directions, the “universal map” (aka Google Maps) began to change. The next time you open Google Maps, notice how little it shows: sure, the details are there but they become visible only when you zoom in. But why?

1)      If you don’t intend to use the map to find a route, then who needs details anyway?!

2)     To de-clutter the maps as seen on our smartphones:

“Adapting to “mobile” is the bane of the modern interface designer. (And let’s not overlook the fact that the “cleaner” Google Map provides a lot of open space for future ad placements.)”

And so I find myself in agreement with Carr’s conclusion:

“It’s a great irony: The universal map arrives at the very moment that we no longer need it.”