Maps R Us
Back in 2001 when I moved from Nanaimo to work for the Coquitlam School District, I recall having to buy a “good” map book to find my way around the District and the lower mainland. I would use online maps increasingly to figure out routes but would write the turns down or print them. It wasn’t elegant but I managed to get by. My recent change to join the Vancouver School Board takes me to many schools and other places in the city that I’ve never been to. Thankfully, my iPhone with Google Maps exists! I plug in an address and pick the best route, press Start, and off we go. The GPS “person” is very patient with me even when I pick route elements I think are “better”, ‘she’ recalculates the route and gets me on track. I also love how I can speak to my phone, ask SIRI to plot a route to a place, eg a business or restaurant location, and it does it. What a difference a decade of change makes for maps. My son and I were talking the other night about how online maps significantly