In my last post, I set the stage to talk about how we at MacKay Sposito use technology to assist our energy and transportation field work spanning multiple states and crossing many a remote area. At the end of that post, I asked folks what tool they use most to get from Point A to Point B and below are the results of that survey:

While this is a non-scientific study based on a small sample size, it still seems noteworthy that 58% of the respondents use some form of GPS-enabled device to navigate around town or the far reaches where our work takes us.  But we should not proclaim the death of the paper based road map just yet.  The paper map has completely reinvented itself in our business.

How have they reinvented themselves?  You make them yourself.  Using GIS applications and whatever data you can obtain, you control exactly what your paper map looks like:  everything from the size of the page to the scale to whether an aerial photo or a USGS quad map is the background…and that's just the tip of the iceberg.  The real power comes when you add your project-specific data.  If GIS data exists for your client's assets, this can be added and labeled as well as easements showing the legal routes to be traveled.  Data generated from other consultant partners such as wetland delineations or critical habitat can be shown to eliminate impacts to a project area.

Here’s a tip we’ve found incredibly useful:  when making a custom map to review our project data in the field, we add several inches of white space on either the top or side to give ourselves room to take notes on each map sheet.  Want to know more about how we’re creating and using maps to meet our clients’ needs?  Please shoot me an email or give me a call.

As you can see, the paper map is far from dead.  But there may be one casualty of this map revolution, the difficult to master art of folding a map may soon be completely lost.