You will definitely need some sort of navigation whether you’re riding your own bike on well known routes or renting one and visiting new places on a guided or self directed motorcycle trip. The most widely used gadgets these days are GPS units whether they are stand alone units or mobile phones with integrated GPS receivers. Both of them are simple to use, have excellent accuracy, and don’t require you to stop to check your heading. All fantastic benefits of motorcycling. So why would you require a paper map in addition to your GPS unit?
GPS Device
A sleek, smart, somewhat nerdy gadget? It’s true. But like a lot of contemporary innovations, it’s become a valuable traveling companion for motorcyclists. How come? Points of Interest (POI) are, well, simply fantastic. If you still believe that knowing where to go at a glance isn’t that significant, try using a “paper map” to find your way out of a large city during rush hour. It hurts. When cycling, calculators for altitude, speed, distance traveled, and other parameters can be quite helpful. Another time-saver is the ability to make a tour on your computer and import it into the gadget. The MotoTrip team schedules all of their self-guided tours in this manner; you only need to choose the day and begin having fun. Every day’s rides are preprogrammed.
“Oh well, it’s a GPS; it will lead me there,” you think to yourself. You reach a bit of a dead end after thirty kilometers. You turn around and head back to the questionable turn while exchanging pleasantries with your GPS.
Paper Maps
Traditional paper maps that are low-tech and traditional. No music inside, no POI. However, they will perform the task in terms of navigation. They never lose signals or run out of battery life. That’s crucial. You can nearly guarantee that you will find your way, even when off-roading, if you use a reliable map and compass. Using maps to design your daily itinerary and save them as a memento of your motorbike journey, complete with comments on the back, is another useful application for them. When seen in that light, it has some potential utility. You don’t have to worry about it being stolen because they are extremely inexpensive.
The drawback is that you will almost certainly have to stop and refold it before putting it back into a tank bag because they are nearly impossible to read while riding. Remember that folding it at the conclusion of a daily trip is a science unto itself, which is why you frequently wind up with a torn map.
The one issue, though, is that you are not carrying a paper map. Using your GPS, you look for a nearby store and purchase a paper map of the region. Later, while having dinner at your destination, you highlight the route you take every day on your new map and discover the intersection where you took the incorrect turn. It appears that the GPS was accurate after all; you only needed to choose “find bypass” on the gadget to locate the route, which is probably still under construction. Who would have known that, really? Mr. GPS, please pardon my French.
Using a GPS Gadget and Paper Maps Together
The various benefits and drawbacks of paper maps and computerized GPS systems were discussed above. Since you’ll probably succeed with any of them, we made an effort to be as objective as possible when discussing both strategies. Of course, it is essential to have a preloaded or updated map of the region you are riding in. What happens, though, if your GPS actually does die? If you misplace your map?
When it comes to motorcycle navigation, we’ve found that having a GPS installed and a map open at the top of your tank bag provides the finest experience possible, no matter where you ride. In addition to the benefits of technology, you’ll have a “backup plan” in case something goes wrong. Ultimately, isn’t it occasionally enjoyable to unfold your paper map over a large table and see the entire area you’re traveling through? It appears that mixing the two is the most effective!
