Maps
Often taken for granted, maps will be an essential element for gathering intel, navigation and planning in a SHTF world. Have you ever thought about the effort and resources it took to make a map? Cartography has got to be a difficult thing to do after a SHTF event. Who has time to draw maps when you are fighting off zombie hordes or biker gangs just to get to a clean water supply?
GPS is going down so don’t count on your Garmin for navigation. I doubt the US will have the resources to keep the civilian GPS satellites flying when they have limited resources just to keep the country running. Forget google maps too. The Internet has an infrastructure (somewhere) and without Cisco and the cable companies maintaining the cables and switches, there will be no Internet (I don’t know how I will make it!) So it is back to the good ole paper maps!
Here is the good news … maps are usually cheap (or totally free if you belong to AAA) and they take up very little space in your car, G.O.O.D. bag or other SHTF stash. When you think about what it would cost to prepare a detailed map of just your own town or city after SHTF it makes NO sense not to stock up now. Maps have a long shelf life and even maps that are 20 -30 years old will give you 90% of what you need.
Make sure you have a detailed map of your city in ALL your SHTF bags and vehicles. Keep a couple extra in your home. When you start using them a lot they will get worn. A map will be critical for planning any sort of operation outside your home such as resource gathering. Ever seen a military CP (command post)? They are full of maps! Maps are essential for planning any sort of coordinated exercise. Get maps for all the areas that you may travel in. Get one for where you work, where your parent’s or brother lives (mistress?) whatever. Keep those in your vehicles. If you have a retreat, be sure to have maps for your city and your retreat area and everywhere in between. You never know when you are going to have to hoof it!
If you are on foot a map and map reading skills will be very handy. Avoiding cities and tracing the outskirts of a populated area are a proficient way of making your way while trying to remain undetected. Be sure you buy a couple compasses. Not the electric kind that have an ipod attached from the Sharper Image. Get an old fashioned mechanical compass. Have some fun with it to practice. See if you can navigate home with the kids one day after going on a walk or coming home from baseball practice.
Remember information is power in today’s world and it will be after the S hits the fan. Take out a cheap and easy insurance policy and get yourself all the relevant maps you need. They may be worth their weight in gold someday!
-SP
Filed under: SHTF, suburban survival | Tagged: compass, maps, navigation
I am a land surveyor and cartographer by profession - choose USGS topgraphic maps. These are the most useful for any area.
Considering I can get all my maps for free, I need to stock up. This is a important part of my prepper job.
To really practice using your compass skills, try going letterboxing w/ your kids. http://www.letterboxing.org. This uses compass to guide you to certain letterboxes.
Great post. One thing to add is some states offer you maps for free too. When you cross over state line visit the info centers…..
The first commentor is right. The advantage of topo maps is that in addition to road names and layout they will have geographic features and elevation contour lines. The benefit of these is that if high winds or disaster destroy road signs you can still navigate unfamiliar territory using geo-landmarks. The contour lines that tell elevation are also useful in flooding situations where you may have to find high ground or a route that is not submerged. You con order custom topos at http://www.offroute.com at reasonable prices on waterproof media. I have several of these and they are very nice.
Dear SP:
I enjoy your site as my wife and I are currently STUCK in the outskirts of the Phoenix valley taking care of her mother. As an avid hunter/forrest explorer I have been using the Delorme’s (any state Name) Atlas & Gazetteer, which who can buy at any major outdoors retailer or your local B&N bookstore in your state, or on their web site, http://www.delorme.com. These are 11″ X 15″
gloss cover bound booklets that break down a state into 50 to 80 quadrants (depending on size of state). Each quadrant on its indidual page. This is important, because if you want to explore a specific area, you can cut out a page or two to easy fit into your back pack for the trip. I take the individual page to the local printing/copy store and have the individual pages laminated to protect them from damage and rain.
The reason I use onlt this product is the amount of info Delorme provides. Like all maps it shows the main highways, secondary roads, railroad tracks, towns, burgs, rivers, lakes ect, but they also show topography with elevation levels, all forest service roads, all hiking trails, camp sites - public and private, washes, mineral mines, public forest bounderies, Indians reservation bounderies, lookout towers, but most importantly every wild life potential watering hole, every natural spring - improved or not, and every well and watering tank. Check one these books out for your state, you will be amazed at all the info shown in these colored map booklets. jdinaz
+1 for the Delorme’s Atlases.
That said, when one has lived, hiked, hunted, and so forth in a given area for 30+ years, a map for that area really is no longer a necessity.