Your anxiety around getting lost is totally preventable. In fact, poor decisions before heading out mean it was actually your choice to get lost! The trick is to make the right choices and avoid the annoyances that conspire to lead you astray – or even make you leave your guide at home! So, feed your curiosity, explore wherever you like and find yourself back on track by avoiding the 4 map niggles below!
Many are familiar with the teeny weeny squint at screeny maps. Try any electronic guide, from watches to phones, and you’ll find them blandly sitting there. The area of view is so limited you can never perceive the big picture of your journey, nor hope to see the detail. You become a victim of the “blue dot” in the middle, itself obsessed with your immediate surrounds only. With your trust subordinated to the unseen and loosely connected apps and services, an uneasy feeling can easily ruin your outing. The feeling deepens when you check your battery life.
Wishy-washy maps lack the detail you need. Often they’ve been designed for the sake of design, bowling us over with clean lines and clever features. In these maps a new material, or novel style are prioritised way above any practical navigation use. Love them for what they are, then put them back in their neatly designed package and step out with something designed to guide.
Foldy-woldy plastic-coaty maps convince us of their invincibility! You can buy big A0 sized creations or make your own A4s. But, while their content may be great their structure’s not your mate! Laminate edges have claimed many a trouser and their unyielding bulk and leaky folds mean they’re a challenge to carry and a contribution to plastic pollution when frequently disposed.
The ONLY option you may think, is good old fashioned pen and ink. But do beware that drizzle snaps make mushy-wushy paper maps. Repeated folding, tucking and sealing could soon have you hit the ceiling. This medium just won’t make sense and costs you dear in pounds and pence or, worst of all, in time of need, the bit you want is hard to read.
So what indeed is the solution? Where has the map found evolution. In this world survives the fittest. Stand agahst, the answers British!
We’ve designed-away the niggles to make the maps inspired by Biggles. SplashMaps knows that what you want is big, detailed, scrunchable maps you can wash!
Washable, wearable, all-weather worldwide Maps. Experience true confidence in your adventure.
