Digital Maps or Paper Maps?
By RJ Johnson February 1, 2019
There was a great article posted by the Chicago Tribune (Click Link Here), which discussed digital maps versus paper maps. At Tri-land, we believe in the power of the paper map We have had entire offices, rooms and even vacant retail space dedicated to paper maps. I have been asked many times, “Why don’t you just use Google Maps?” Or, “Why don’t you just digitize that?”. I believe this article helps answer that question…
Your Brain on Maps (excerpts from article):
- Cognitive researchers generally make a distinction between surface knowledge and deep knowledge. Experts have deep knowledge of a subject or a geography; amateurs have surface knowledge.
- Digital interfaces are good for acquiring surface knowledge. Answering the question, “How do I get from the airport to my hotel in a new-to-me city?” is a pragmatic problem that requires only shallow information to answer.
- If you want to travel meaningfully, deep knowledge of the geography will help you to navigate it and to understand its culture and history. Print maps help you acquire deep knowledge faster and more efficiently.
- Reading in print makes it easier for the brain to encode knowledge and to remember things. Sensory cues, like unfolding the complicated folds of a paper map, help create that cognitive map in the brain and help the brain retain the knowledge. The same is true for a simple practice like tracing a hiking route on a paper map with your finger. The physical act of moving your arm and feeling the paper under your finger gives your brain haptic and sensorimotor cues that contribute to the formation and retention of the cognitive map.
So, the conclusion is simple…We achieve deep knowledge in markets by using our proprietary Quarter Mile Cell System (which uses giant paper maps and lots of “big data”)!
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