Paper maps: Amid GPS boom, nostalgia finds a place - ABC 33/40 - Birmingham News, Weather, Sports

Many of you traveling for the July 4th holiday will probably reach for technology before you unfold or try to refold a paper road map.

Transportation agencies around the country have noticed that fact, so they're printing fewer maps to cut costs or just because public demand is down.  Despite the boom in affordable GPS devices and built-in navigation on smartphones, there is nostalgia for paper road maps.

At a recent collectors' association exposition, hundreds of old road maps were on sale to give customers a glimpse into the era of romanticized advertising, promising sunny Florida, or Chicago's famous skyline.