Despite Mr. Squirrel's observation about women and maps (and I am
going to have to have a talk with R.J.), I dearly love maps and have
quite a collection of them.  My jobs always seem to require finding
remote places - whether I'm doing archaeology or working as an on-call
nurse in the middle of the night.  I find maps and GPS to be
complementary but I don't rely solely on just one of those
technologies.  I have two GPS units - a Garmin handheld and a Garmin
unit with a map display that rides in the car.  They don't always do
the job in rural areas, and a map isn't always totally accurate
either.  When doing the nursing job, I rely on whoever did the
original recording to give good directions.  That is often very
frustrating when trying to locate a home in the middle of the night.
Information such as "turn left at the red mailbox" or "turn in 1.6
miles" are helpful.  Both kinds of data are useful.  Not useful (and
I'm not making this up) are directions that say "black jeep in the
driveway."  So, was it up on blocks???!!!!  No, it actually belonged
to a visitor who was only there on the day of the original visit.  If
you are giving directions, be specific and throw in whatever landmarks
that might be helpfpul.  Also consider that not all odometers are
exactly accurate - or even working!

Maggie