When I was 13, I think, we studied map reading as part of geography at school and then got taken into the countryside and left in groups of four with a map and a compass to find our way to a pick-up point. It was a lot of fun, we even managed to read the map successfully enough to find our way where we were supposed to (eventually). I’ve been an advocate of map-reading in the school curriculum since then. On the other hand, my eyesight now is so bad I can’t switch from looking at the map to looking at the real world very fast, so opening a map while out and about is more a body-language cry for help from friendly passers-by. It works too!

I love the distinction you make between maps and GPS, Eva. I think I might steal it!
:-9

We have a couple of file boxes with old maps – street maps, public transport maps, walking maps. As you say, they have histories and memories. We have a street map of Sofia from 1982-83 when we lived in Bulgaria which we hoicked out when a young Bulgarian colleague of Mrs SC’s came for a meal. He was fascinated by the street names, most of which have have been called something quite different in his lifetime.