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Print Maps Give you the Big Picture-There’s Nothing like It Online
Williams & Heintz Map won a 2017 Q Award from the Printing and Graphics Association Mid-Atlantic, (PGAMA) for printing Tom Hedberg’s College Map. The American Higher Education Map shows the location of every university and college in the country.
I love reading about maps in the news, especially printed maps. So, I was pleased to see this article in the Star Tribune about Tom Hedberg: Who needs GPS and Google? Minneapolis map publisher is ‘master of cartography’.
s article starts out with a great example of Tom Hedberg’s creative and useful maps.
Sure, your phone is a great navigation tool.
But can it show you all of the dog-friendly breweries in the Twin Cities? The location, times and what’s playing for the Music & Movies program in Minneapolis parks? Or display at a glance where every college, minor-league ballpark or airport in the country is located?
You can have that information at your fingertips thanks to a Minneapolis man named Tom Hedberg.
At a time when we increasingly rely on GPS to tell us our place in the world, Hedberg is still doing navigation the old-fashioned way — making maps, not apps.Maps, as you may recall, are big pieces of paper, often folded in a complicated accordion pattern, that everyone used to keep in the glove boxes of their car.
Earlier this year, Williams & Heintz Map won a Q Award from the Printing and Graphics Association Mid-Atlantic, (PGAMA) for printing one of Hedberg Maps. The American Higher Education Map shows the location of every university and college in the country.
The Star Tribune article includes a quote from Sue Luse, an Eagan-based consultant to students planning college applications.
“I haven’t found anything else like it online, I give them to every single one of my clients.”
Chin
Thank you Tom Hedberg, for choosing Williams & Heintz to print your maps so that we can win prizes! Definitely read the article if you are into maps. It go into detail about the changing business of maps, as GPS and google grab up market share. Like me,
Hedberg is optimistic. He likens his maps to LP records, saying they won’t completely disappear because they’ll always appeal to a niche audience.
That’s partly because paper maps won’t break or run out of batteries. They can unfold to a view of the world more expansive than the screen of even the largest cellphone.
“Paper is a really good hard-copy backup,” said Andy Mickel, a Minneapolis software developer who buys Hedberg paper maps and atlases. “Sometimes it’s good to stare at the big picture.”
One if by Land, Two if by Sea
The New York Times just published (February 11, 2016) an opinion piece about using the GPS: Ignore the GPS. That Ocean Is Not a Road. By Greg Milner.
Milner gives us some great examples of people who have been led astray by faithfully following their GPS directions for hundreds of miles, across countries, to wrong cities, and into oceans.
Why do people unquestioningly follow their GPS device into the ocean or off a cliff?
Their use weakens our mental maps.
Most of us use GPS as a crutch while driving through unfamiliar terrain, tuning out and letting that soothing voice do the dirty work of navigating. Since the explosive rise of in-car navigation systems around 10 years ago, several studies have demonstrated empirically what we already know instinctively. Cornell researchers who analyzed the behavior of drivers using GPS found drivers “detached” from the “environments that surround them.” Their conclusion: “GPS eliminated much of the need to pay attention.”
The GPS is a great tool. So is a printed map. They complement each other. I like to use both.
I am not alone in that view. Over on the Practical Sailor Facebook page, they published an article from the Coast Guard News, announcing the approval of the official electronic chart.
“The Coast Guard will allow mariners to use official electronic charts instead of paper charts, if they choose to do so. With real-time voyage planning and monitoring information at their fingertips, mariners will no longer have the burden of maintaining a full portfolio of paper charts,” said Capt. Scott J. Smith, the chief of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Office of Navigation Systems. This technology will also allow mariners to take advantage of information and data to enhance situational awareness during voyage planning and while underway.
They ask, “What’s your opinion on digital vs. paper charts?” The comments say it all! The sailors want printed paper charts to use with their electronic navigation systems.
So,
One if by Land: Be sure you take a look at your map and check put the big picture before you jump in the car, program your GPS, and tune out.
and
Two if by Sea: Keep an updated paper chart for backup!
As always, Williams & Heintz would be pleased to give you a quote on your map printing project or print a NOAA POD Chart for you.
What is a Map? Maps Provide the Big Picture
What is a map?
A map is a way to present information on music, history, science, and the arts in new ways. A map is a tool that helps you make connections between different places; to connect the dots.
What is a map?
A map is Like the International Map Industry Association: IMIA is all about the business of maps. IMIA helps you make connections between different people in the map business.
What is a map?
A map is about how to make a living; a creative endeavor to put food on the table for us and our employees. Printing maps was my Daddy’s and Granddaddy’s business. It is mine still.
What is a map?
A map is something that my Daddy and Granddaddy made at work. Every morning they went away. Every evening they came home. Sometimes, with a great big printed paper map. It is to put on the wall, a gift for friends and neighbors. A map can be an artistic expression and a marketing tool.
Some may say that the printed map is done for, but it is a mistake to see it as a print vs. digital media competition. The greatest result is achieved when the two are used together. The printed map provides the “big picture” and the resulting spatial awareness shows you where to crunch down for detail using the mobile device. Without the digital, you lose the enormous resources of the internet. Without the printed map you don’t know what to do with the mobile device. Electronic devices are not replacing printed products, but they complement each other, and make each more effective.
This post was originally published on the IMIA Blog
Happy International Print Day
A map is tactile. Many people find that there’s just something enjoyable about holding a printed map in their hands.
Print is Gloriously Tactile
NO WONDER IT DELIVERS RESULTS
Humans were designed to touch and feel. Print—an extremely tactile media —caters to this need.
While much of the marketing world’s attention seems to be turned to the digital arena, print continues to be an extremely effective part of the marketing mix. When you think about the emotional impact that print’s physicality has, it’s easy to see why print works.
Perhaps it’s because it exists in the physical world that print is so capable of grabbing our attention. From the map of your favorite event, or magazines sitting in the doctor’s waiting room, to the newspapers in the rack at your favorite coffee place and the letters and fliers that arrive in your mail, print has a way of calling out to be picked up and read.
Many people find that there’s just something enjoyable about holding a printed piece in their hands. Print stimulates the senses. You can feel the texture of the paper, turn the pages, see the colors as they were meant to be seen. Print can be shared, thumbed through and dog-eared. Coupons and articles can be cut or torn out and set aside. Plus, of course, print is always available, no connectivity required.
Print not only provides a warm and friendly experience that no other medium offers, it also offers a sense of permanence that simply feels more trustworthy. In fact, recent studies show that consumers find print ads quite a bit more trustworthy than those they see online. While 60% of consumers trust newspaper and magazine ads, just 48% trust search advertising or online video ads, and only 42% find online banner ads worthy of their trust. (1)
The tactile nature of print undoubtedly contributes to the effectiveness of newspaper and magazine ads. One recent study shows that newspaper ads rank noticeably higher than ads on radio, TV or online-only sites when it comes to measures of advertising effectiveness such as “usually notice ads” and “likely to purchase.” (2) Another recent study shows that magazines outperform TV and online for critical purchase drivers such as brand awareness, brand favorability and brand purchase intent. (3) In contrast, social media—the darling of the marketing world—may not be that darling after all. In a recent survey of more than 1,700 social media marketers, less than 8% were actually happy with their efforts and 21% were so dissatisfied that they’re ready to replace their social spend with more traditional buys. (4)
Print is gloriously tactile, which makes it capable engaging audiences in a way that other media simply cannot.
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1 Nielsen, Global Trust in Advertising and Brand Messages, September 2013
2 Nielsen, 2013 National Cross-Media Engagement Study
3 MPA, Magazine Media Fact Book, 2013-2014
4 iMedia Connection, The Declining Value of Social Marketing, Jan. 15, 2014
Nautical Charts for your Phone and Tablet
How would you like your map? Paper or plastic? Folded or flat? On the wall or on your computer screen? How about on your phone or tablet?
Williams & Heintz Map Corp. specializes in printing large paper and plastic maps. We sometimes publish too. We publish the Maryland Cruising Guide and Virginia Cruising Guide, nautical chart books of the navigable waters of Maryland and Virginia.
This year the new printed chart book will come with links to take you to an App, so that you can have the Williams & Heintz Cruising Guides on your iPhone, iPad, or Android phone too. The digital charts, for your phone or tablet, are free with the purchase of the Virginia or Maryland cruising Guides. You can also purchase individual charts separately.
It’s easy:
First, install Avenza’s FREE PDF Maps App. It is available from I-Tunes or Google Play or at http://www.pdf-maps.com/get-pdf-maps.
There are three ways to download the charts:
- Open the app and search Maryland Cruising Guide
- Use the codes for the free charts that come in the new 2014-2015 Williams & Heintz Cruising Guides
- Go the the Williams & Heintz Cruising Guide web site to scan the QR code that corresponds to the chart you wish to download.
Printed paper maps will always be part of mapping. The App is not replacing printed products; it complements the printed charts. The app has functionality for locating (via GPS), measuring, plotting points, importing and exporting points. This spatially referenced map shows exactly where you are. And with the paper chart, you know where you’re going.
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- Washington D. C.
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- Washington D. C.
Here Be Cats
My cat, Sneazer Agustus, is enjoying perusing the 2006 Antique Style World Map. The map was published by American Map Corporation, printed by Williams & Heintz on 80 lb. Aged Parchtone.
In early cartography, map makers used mythical beasts and said, “Here be Dragons,” when they came to a part of the world that was a mystery. They filled the page with fantastic beasts. Maybe even cats? Here be Cats!
Sneazer Agustus Cat on the map
Another reason why map makers may leave information off maps is because they do not wish to make a political statement with their cartography. They may go out of their way to make the map so that the name or boundary is not included, or is not legible, to stay out of the conflict. “What’s in a name? that which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.”
This beautiful map, on parchment like paper, is out of print but a quick google search of “2006 antique style world map” will take you to several sources to purchase. Go ahead, we’ll print more! 😉
Here be Cats!
The Map Experience
What if you had never seen a printed map? What if all you only knew about was electronic devices? This tongue in cheek video is an introduction to “a new bio-optical knowledge recording and dissemination system, responding to the trade name: Map.”
Created by The Regional Centre for Geographic Information Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (CRIGE PACA). It was shown during meeting, a conference called SIG La Lettre.
Watch the video which helps you to understand “the use of maps.” It is full of great information about map features like:
“Here’s how it works: Map consists of a large window, integrated in a flexible cellulose pad, and compressed hundreds of times, thanks to the FUF technology: folding/unfolding.
“Map” is able of storing millions of information bits, which are then optically scanned, and thus directly transmitted to the brain.
Thanks to a particularly ergonomic navigation interface, based on an intuitive forearm supination and pronation mechanism, pans, zooms and rotations are performed without image degradation, smoothly, with a refresh rate of a few picoseconds.
It has a 100% toutchpad allowing simultaneous use of 10 fingers.
Color stability is perfect, whatever the light conditions.”
In Today’s world of security worries, the Map video playfully reminds us, without a direct comparison to our digital devices, that that people are not likely to steal your map on the subway and:
“Map” respects users’ privacy: impossible to hack, and without any antivirus or firewall, annotations are locally stored and never sent to any server.
And “Map” is unbreakable!
Finally, the video reminds us that a print map is great for decorating, and is a recyclable, sustainable, product.
Happy watching! (Link here)
‘Map is an unprecedented technological revolution: Without cables, without electronics, without connection, compact, convertible and portable.
“Map” can be used everywhere: at home, at the office, in the car, by bicycle, horseback riding, even in extreme cold!
“Map” is available at any time… without battery, nor socket.
“Map” does not crash ever.
“Map” does not need to be reset nor updated.
“Map” can also prevent an unwanted encounter.’
Bring a Printed Map to the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area
MapPrinters, Holly and Mark, take a trail ride at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area
Last month, Mark and I flew to Las Vegas, Nevada, for the International Map Industry Association (Americas) (IMIA) Strategic Planning Session.
IMIA (Americas) has some really great things planned for an exciting 2013 Global Conference and Member Showcase, September 8-10, 2013, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This conference will be:
- Where new tools, technology, products, and services meet the mapping industry’s leading business professionals to monetize the product
- Where to find the exciting opportunities in the business of maps
- Where maps and money come together.
More on that in future posts.
We flew in early, with enough time for an adventure before the meetings. We got a rental car and set out for Cowboy Trail Rides, in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. If you want to visit this beautiful place, bring a printed map. We went over a low hill, and on the other side, we had left Las Vegas and the WI-Fi behind.
PAPER because agrees:
Paper because a lot of places worth going to don’t get a signal, and hopefully never will. High in the mountains, out in the country, even your nearest nature trail are just a few places that are more enjoyable with a simple map, your senses, and no distractions.
Print also has the power to revive a sense of adventure and challenge those of us who have come to rely on step-by-step directions to that charming country inn and where to eat when we get there. With the classic road atlas, there’s no voice urging us to go one way or another, or system recalculating how to get us back on our original course if we get sidetracked. We’re free to change your route on a whim and see where the road takes us. The map will still get us where we need to go, it’s just a bit less bossy…
Set yourself free to go where no signal can, where the only roaming is in your mind or at the end of your pen. Who knows where you might go and what you might find…
Seasons Greetings with Paper Snowflakes: a New Way to Fold a Map
Williams & Heintz Map Corp. is decorated for the season with giant paper snowflakes made of maps.
Season’s Greetings!
I have taken the time out to do something creative, a release from the stress of the season and political climate: to make something beautiful in response to the sorrowful news in Connecticut.
My wish is to share some joy with you.
Williams & Heintz Map Corp. is decorated for the season with giant paper snowflakes made of maps. I have made a “how to” video, so you and your family can fold six sided snowflakes too. Don’t forget to recycle your paper scraps.
Below is the invitation from the Connecticut PTSA, and the PTA and community leaders in Newtown and Sandy Hook Elementary. to make snowflakes, to create a winter wonderland for when the Sandy Hook children return to school in January.
Snowflakes for Sandy Hook: Please help the students of Sandy Hook have a winter wonderland at their new school! Get Creative!! No two snowflakes are alike. Make and send snowflakes to Connecticut PTSA, 60 Connolly Parkway, Building 12, Suite 103, Hamden, CT 06514, by January 12, 2013.From the Connecticut PTSA.
Yours,
Holly
More re-used map decorations found here , here, and here.
Update: They have enough snowflakes and cannot accept any more.
Thank you to everyone who has donated snowflakes on behalf of the children of Sandy Hook Elementary School and the community of Newtown. We know that each snowflake represents the emotional outreach of the person making it. We have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of generosity from around not just the country but the world. At this time, we have enough beautiful snowflakes to blanket the community of Newtown. Therefore, with regret we must close the snowflake project to further donations. Please take this idea and your snowflakes and create a winter wonderland of your own in your community as a show of solidarity for our Newtown families. Please share your winter wonderlands with us. We would love to share your pictures with the families of Sandy Hook and all the other participating communities. Also please read the message below from the PTA of the Sandy Hook Elementary School for another wonderful way to help. Thank you for your heartfelt and amazing creations and for all of your magnificent notes and kind wishes for the Newtown community.
With respect to maps it’s a mistake to see it as a print vs mobile media competition. The greatest result is achieved when the two are used together. The printed map provides the “big picture” and the resulting spatial awareness shows you where to crunch down for detail using the mobile device. Without the mobile device you lose the enormous resources of the internet. Without the printed map you don’t know what to do with the mobile device. A salesman once explained it to me as follows: He had covered sales territories using both printed maps and using his gps. In both instances he could get from point A to B and back again, but when only using gps, he never really knew where he was. That sounds to me like missed opportunities.
Yesterday SI Live published an article titled: “Paper trail: Staten Island lawmakers push legislatures to go paperless”. It contains several misleading environmental arguments on going paperless in favor of electronic communication, including this statement by the author:
“Whole forests are destroyed to comply with this quaint and, in this day and age, entirely unnecessary tradition. It’s a colossal and, frankly, shameful waste in a time when government is supposed to be more environmentally conscious. “
Below I address the main points, but I would also encourage people in the print and paper industries of NY State to voice their concerns to:
- U.S. Congressman Michael Grimm
- City Councilman James Oddo
- Assemblyman William Magnarelli
- State Senator Andrew Lanza
- Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis
As a private forest owner who has made his living in the forest and paper industry, this type of misinformation really disappoints me. I wish that more people…
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hollybudd
markbudd
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