What I find kind of amusing in a “no, I’m not actually a Luddite” kind of way is that I make plenty of use of mapping, but very little of GPS. Oh, I definitely use it to pinpoint me on the maps I’ve downloaded, but I’ve only used turn by turn navigation a couple of times just to see what it’s like. My normal procedure hasn’t changed since I was a kid playing “turn by turn navigator” on family trips: pull out the appropriate map, figure out where we are, figure out where we want to go, eyeball a route while noting general direction and guesstimated travel time, pick out a few things that will signal we’ve gone off track somewhere, and go.

I spend enough time in places where there is no cell signal that I always have downloaded maps available and refresh them before I might have to depend on them, the same way I used to stop at gas stations and tourist information booths to pick up current maps.

My primary use for GPS is to track my routes on the water and my fishing spots and, to a lesser extent my hiking, neither of which actually requires actual charts or maps. Although I do find the charts and maps useful.