I like maps. I like the way the colours on a map sort of compliment each other: the green of parks; the blue of rivers, lakes and ponds; and the gray of streets and buildings. I like old maps, new maps, country maps, city maps, heck when it comes to maps I don't discriminate- I love 'em all! I even chose what seems to be a VERY old map of Edmonton for my blog. If anyone is still reading this they will have by now come to the very obvious conclusion that I. Love. Maps.
A love of maps is very different than an ability to follow them, though. A couple summers ago I went to Europe with a friend. We did seven cities in five weeks. I got to use the map once. Some might infer from this that my friend was a control freak, map-hog. This is not entirely true. In fact this was not at all the case. I confess, in the words of my mother: I could not find my way out of a paper bag, map or no map.
I was very thankful that this week we were only looking at maps, not following them.
I had planned on creating a map of my Edmonton, but did not get a chance as I recently transferred over to a Mac and have been unable to discover the Mac equivalent of paint. If I am able to figure it out I will post a map of my Edmonton sometime this weekend.
I am very much the same way with maps! I have very specific memories of my map-reading experiences ... because it's only happened twice. No one trusts me with one, and rightly so. I admit that I entered this class totally hostile to the idea of maps, but creative cartography is doing a lot to remedy that rift!
ReplyDeleteI don't know of a straight-up equivalent for MS Paint, but I've heard that GIMP does the job? It's free, and open-source, I think.
I live in a constant terror of going anywhere without a map, since my dad would "find a shortcut" at some point, but when he attempted said shortcut... nnnggghh...
ReplyDeleteThat said, no one ever said I'm outstandingly good (I get by, but my terror of strange places tends to interfere) at following maps myself, but I've yet to truly test the theory outside of Edmonton...
Also, your troubles are because it's a Mac, foolish mortal. Mwahaha. :P (Windows to the core.) I'd be very intrigued to see a self-drawn map, though. ♪