Happened to check the local Wal-Mart after work today and found the 2011 Rand. Here are some of the changes:

Symbology changes:

  • Old style exit numbers have been replaced with a green box with white lettering, just like AAA
  • Incorporated and unincorporated places are now differentiated by different town circles. Incorporated places are still the black dot with unincorporated places now being a hollow circle
  • Subtle difference in the shields in this edition. Three digit U.S. highway shields look wider now
  • Symbology now shown for Historic U.S. 66, The Lincoln Highway, The Lewis & Clark Highway, and The Great Circle Route. The Great River Road symbol has also been improved
  • Time zone boundary has been re-symbolized
  • Scales for the maps have been changed
  • POI’s in city insets such as golf courses are now green instead of red

Some Road Changes (not all) (listed by state):

  • AR: U.S. 67 is now shown as complete to AR 226 in Craighead County and U.C. up to AR 230, which is now shown with a shield on the map
  • AR: The forever proposed extension of U.S. 270 is finally off the Hot Springs inset
  • CA San Diego inset: CA 905 is now shown as complete along the eastern portion west of CA 125.
  • CA San Diego inset: Also shown is the completion of CA 52 to CA 67 (though I am not sure if this will be done this year
  • IN: U.S. 24 shown as freeway now, but not quite to I-469 near Fort Wayne
  • PA: I-99 now shown as complete and also shown in the College State inset

Some other changes include what looks like an improved map base (though it is missing many newly completed alignments). Routes look more authentic to how it is aligned in the real world than they have for the past several years. My first comparison at Alabama showed a difference in the alignment of Alabama 24 from 2010 and 2011. The 2010 edition showed a portion of Alabama 24 as a straight line between Russellville and just west of Moulton where the 2011 edition now shows a more proper alignment (with bends in the alignment). Also, there is more road detail in adjoining states. I noticed that some of the city insets have been shuffled around, such as Flagstaff and Prescott. Their positions have been switched for the 2011 edition, probably for better geographical continuity.

Now onto some of the more notable errors and road completions/roads under construction NOT shown:

  • MD:
    [ERROR] Rand has decided to resurrect I-170 in the Central Baltimore inset!!! (look towards the upper left edge)
  • GA and SC: I-520 is still not shown as complete (in either state nor the Augusta inset)
  • LA: No new U.C. for Future I-49 north of Shreveport
  • IN: [ERROR] U.S. 27 has been once again extended north of Fort Wayne along I-69!!!
  • MS: [ERROR] U.S. 98 still goes to Natchez according to Rand
  • MO: I-64 is still not shown as being completed as a freeway to I-70
  • NC: [ERROR (sort of)] I-295 is shown on the state map now. This is still a Future route and should not be shown
  • PA: For all you I-279 fans, it is still intact and I-376 has not taken it over, nor PA 60, unlike the real world…
  • WA: The proposed U.S. 395 freeway in Spokane is not shown at all…

My take on this years edition is that while there were some subtle improvements, overall, I am not impressed. The integrity of the atlas has gone by the wayside in my honest opinion. When you have many important road projects that have been completed (i.e. I-520, I-64 as a freeway) and no proper research and/or push to show these improvements is taken to show them on your product, it shows me that profit is the only thing in the masterminds at Rand, and nothing more. Having worked at a couple of mapping companies, it pains me to look at these atlases now days and be disappointed page after page at the lack on integrity on the cartographers part…

I give the mapping industry a few more years before there is only one or two left, and its very unfortunate I already know who those are more than likely going to be…

Anyway, if you see any other improvements, errors, blunders, etc., feel free to post them here!!