The Road Atlas Rides On

Few people can see a road atlas without thinking of vacations, adventures, or other memories of travel. And fewer can resist flipping through one, looking for the familiar or dreaming of exploring new places.

The road atlas has a long tradition as a trusted information source on road trips long and short. Modern technology can provide alternatives for maps and directions, but atlas loyalists cite lower cost, reliability, ease of use, portability, and detailed available information as advantages of the printed format.

An up-to-date road atlas can also contribute to a safer journey, as travelers can avoid finding themselves lost or on the wrong road, and it is considered an essential item to keep in a vehicle at all times.

The auto traveler on a leisure trip may be the most frequent user of a road atlas, but it has a varied following. Hikers, bicyclists, and even a gentleman crossing the U.S. on a riding lawnmower have benefited from the guidance of an atlas. It has accompanied traveling businesspeople, struggling bands on the road, those on an undefined life journey, and hapless criminals whose atlases detailing their plans became evidence.

Also not recommended is the use by a British sailor who has had to be rescued numerous times while attempting to navigate the Irish Sea using a road atlas of Great Britain.