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Jay writes:
I just came to a realization while sitting at my desk at work (slow Friday before a 3-day weekend). It’s now 2009 and everyone (except me it seems) has a GPS stuck to their windshield. I still have my Rand McNally Road Atlas from 1998 in the map pocket of my 2006 Fusion. My question is, if no one buys maps anymore and everyone seems to have a GPS, why does almost every car made today still have map pockets on the backs of the seats? And if they are there for a reason, why do we still call them map pockets?
34 Comments on “Ask the Best and Brightest: Are Map Pockets the New Glovebox?...”
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They still have map pockets so your kids can put crayons and trash in them. At least that’s what mine kid used them for. The wife uses them as fast food napkin dispensers and CD holders.
I’m still stuck in the 80’s and buy road maps. I have no desire for GPS.
Kind of like the glove box, I have never seen anyone store gloves in them.
Just another place to put “stuff”.
I stick magazines back there, usually surf mags.
If you have kids, they hold all the stuff that goes with them, or food wrappers, and general litter.
What is a map? Or a CD? :)
Actually, I don’t know that I’ve ever made use of this feature on any of my cars. Putting anything in there usually stretches out the pocket and makes the interior look worn.
Mine just keeps an umbrella handy.
Cds, Napkins, and occasiaonly anything that will fit. I like my pockets, they look nice, that is why I keep them cleaner, then my big glove(and anything else) box.
I’m 28 and I still rely on maps. I had a TomTom GPS but it kept malfunctioning so I stabbed it with a ballpoint pen while driving through Saskatchewan last year.
Until I get an in-dash GPS, my “map pockets” will be filled with maps. I’ll just have to try not to bring any pens on board when I get a new car.
The map pocket in my 90s Ford Club Wagon was used by small kids as an assist strap to help them heft themselves into the car (despite their father’s constant griping about it). I must say that Ford built a pretty durable map pocket.
You STILL need a paper backup map in case your Nav screws up.
My old nav frequently overheats and shuts the screen down automatically, (but still continues to give voice directions). Other times it tells me I am outside of its “grid”. But this was probably the Nav that came with my 98, which I bought in 05 from its owner. ANd the CD has not been updated since 05-06.
I have in-dash GPS. Still carry a small map in the door, but don’t ever use it.
As far as the map pocket goes, mine works very well for holding a couple of those reuseable bags being hawked at many grocery, pharmacy and retail outlets now.* Of course, since they’re behind me I pretty much always forget them.
* I do not have kids. If I did, the map pockets would doubtless be filled with all manner of kid detrius.
Map pockets, like gloveboxes, will probably be a term that lasts forever even though that really isn’t their purpose any longer. I’ll predict what’s next when you follow that logic: Turn signals should be renamed “Optional Clicking Device to Let People Know When They Will Cut You Off,” but the turn signal name will stick around!
Also map pockets are great for work related paperwork. It keeps things organized and the papers won’t fly around when the windows are down. It’s also hard to believe that after almost two decades of standard dual airbags, some automakers haven’t figured out how to design a glovebox that isn’t reduced to a mail slot since the airbag is directly above. I guess their focus is on cupholder technology!
I loathe GPS units. Sure they are great for tight navigation in unfamiliar places… but for long- and medium-distance routefinding I still prefer a map.
I like to find roads I’ve never driven. Roads with interesting curves and elevation changes. Scenic view points and places of historical interest.
GPS gets you from place to place. A Map lets you explore.
–chuck
+1 Goolsbee
While I have an in-dash unit, I really – really – enjoy planning a long road trip with a paper map spread out on the floor. Often there’s a laptop open next to it, to work out distances (and chart the route), but there’s no better way to plan than with paper. Ok, and the terrain view in Google Maps.
Still wouldn’t trade the GPS for anything save a good copilot (who’s familiar with the area) for driving in urban areas, though. This summer, my wife and I navigated our way through a good part of central Italy, including Bologna, Florence, the Chianti Classico region, and (briefly) Rome. We planned the general route on paper, but there is absolutely, positively no chance we could have done the actual driving without a GPS and kept the griping at each other to a minimum.
I keep air sick bags there, because of the way I drive.
I suppose that’s why they eliminated Opera Windows after the Malaise Era. Who watches opera anymore?
+2 Goolsbee
GpS is fine if you just want to get somewhere but a map shows you the shape of the land – offers you chance to explore. I’ll live with a saggy map pocket (as I get older I think I have to).
Great place to carry the Glock.
I keep an atlas in there and that is it. I don’t have any spawn to fill them with other items, though.
I do recall the map pockets on my mom’s Yukon wearing out quickly and looking terrible. That is probably why I only keep an atlas in there.
Map pockets are great for slobs with a creative flair-like me.Just about anything will squeeze in there.I think you could fit a Smart car motor in there with proper technique.
http://www.mystarcollectorcar.com/
I keep map books of all of MA east of Wista. My Tom Tom has pretty much obseleted them. I use it for work navigateing around Boston But it is great for for road trips along with more road atlases for attractions, etc.
I’m 27 and use paper maps.
Call them storage sleeves, or anything you want – let me tell you a middle-aged woman keeps all manner of things in those “map” pockets. My wife has her 3 or 4 pairs of sunglasses (you never know which colour of frame you’re gonna need, ya know), CDs she never listens to, empty CD cases, CDs without cases, extra makeup items and the list goes on. There’s not enough storage in the car. And even if I bought her a car that had enough storage, her stuff would soon fill all available space.
+++ Monty
I shudder every time I look at the clutter (boy, is that putting it politely!) in my wife’s car. Driving it is sheer torture–I literally have to move junk out of the way just to use the shifter … and there’s always some unsecured object flying at me at a bad time. Of course none of it has anything to do with driving (or even her destination). To her, a car is basically a portable junk closet.
The most depressing thing is the knowledge that, unless she reforms her ways, I’ll never achieve my goal of having a Lotus as a daily driver. That plan depends on her having a decent set of wheels that I can use for those times the Lotus won’t cut it (ferrying passengers, snowstorms, long trips, etc) … but until she cleans up her act she’s sentenced to an Accord.
Personally, I don’t know how anyone can stand having a GPS unit stuck in the middle of their windshield, blocking the view like it does. A few months ago my best friend and I took my HHR down to Indiana to visit the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum, and we borrowed a Garmin unit to use. Sure it was mildly entertaining, but I will always keep either my 1996 AAA Atlas or my 2003 State Farm Atlas in the back of my car. And speaking of map pockets, I find they are great places to shove stuff when you need to make room for the occasional back seat passenger!
I use the seat back pockets to store the window sun shade thingy. There isn’t any other good place in most cars to keep such things. If you don’t live in a sun belt area, you might not understand.
Ask the B&B is a series I usually look forward to reading. But I gota say, this is seriously weaksauce.
My car with a map pocket behind the seat has a street atlas in it because I am too poor/cheap to buy a GPS, and I believe land navigation with a map and compass is a vital skill. When I was a kid the gas stations still gave away maps and my parents always had a wallet with road maps covering all of the neighboring states plus a local street atlas.
“The map is not the territory” but a paper map still provides a far more tactile and visceral sense of place than a bunch of pixels.
My ancient London A to Z provides a far stronger link to past visits than a Google map.
I keep an Atlas and a Phone book in mine. I don’t have a Sat Nav and not sure I want one, mostly because I have enough people in the car telling me what to do and where to go, don’t need to buy another.
The map pockets in my 328 are about 1/4″ too narrow to fit a a standard atlas. I think that passes for a joke in Germany.
Maps are much better in Texas, where even good nav systems are confused by the access road system. Now I just have to put up with the damned thing sliding across my back seat every time I take a corner.
I’m resisting the GPS revolution. I enjoy being spatially oriented. I keep my atlas in the map pocket (despite the fact that Ford downsized the size of map pockets to save costs).
Ask somebody to meet you somewhere. Then when they arrive, take their GPS away, and tell them to get home.
Good luck.
I keep a strap-on visor extension in there. My sun visors will only block sun from the side if you’re short enough to have the seat all the way forward. It seems on most trucks you can extend or adjust the visor; why not on the Mazda3?
I have no GPS or MP3 player, so I’m still using maps and CDs. I keep a selection of maps in the trunk, as I don’t use them often and I plan any trips out ahead of time.
John Holt wrote:
Ask somebody to meet you somewhere. Then when they arrive, take their GPS away, and tell them to get home.
Nope, wouldn’t be a problem. I have a good memory for maps–probably from staring at them so much as a kid. Before I leave for an unfamiliar destination I take a look at the route on Google maps on the iPhone and I rarely have to refer to it again before I arrive. And I’m pretty sure I’ve never, ever had to use it for a return trip. Even when I go back to a city I haven’t been to in years–I can usually find my way around without needing a map again.
I’m sort of straddling the GPS debate. I’d never pay for an in-dash unit that’ll be obsolete long before the car is … and I hate the portable systems that suction cup to the windshield and spit out turn-by-turn directions. On the other hand, I like having the orientation functionality (and location-dependent apps) in my phone. But it’s the Google maps themselves that are the real win for me … searchable maps for everywhere in my pocket … no clutter in my car.
I don’t use the pockets behind the seats, but my door map pockets are both full. I’m 19 and don’t like using GPS thingies. I normally plan my route before heading out somewhere new, maybe jot down some directions in case I forget, and then I’m good. I don’t even pull my maps out that much but I’ve got one for everywhere I might go.
Sorry, but the underlying premise of your article (that GPS will replace maps) is incorrect. GPS will no more replace maps than computers will replace books.
What GPS units replace are the collections of scribbled directions people used to use to find someplace. Maps are still valuable for a number of reasons (not the least of which is that they work fine without electricity.)
My GPS is a relatively ancient (2005) handheld unit that doesn’t have the usual turn-by-turn type navigation anyway.
A GPS complements a map, it doesn’t replace it.